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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFlying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission - 01/09/2020APPROVED MINUTES FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION TUESDAY, JANJARY 9, 2020 7:00 P.M. CITY CENTER 8080 MITCHELL RD COMMISSION MEMBERS: Chair: Keith TschohVice Chair: Bob Barker Commissioners: Daniel Dorsen; Kurt Schendel (Business Representative); Blaine Peterson (Airport Manager) STUDENT MEMBERS: Amogh Kalyanam; Evelyn Hunter; Troy Johnson COMMISSION STAFF: Scott Gerber, EP Fire Chief Kristin Harley, Recording Secretary MAC STAFF: Robert Dockery; Jennifer Lewis I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Tschohl called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Absent was student member Kalyanam. Tschohl explained the new agenda format. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Dorson moved, seconded by Barker to approve the agenda. Motion carried 5-0. III. WELCOME STUDENTS TO THE COMMISSION Tschohl welcomed Troy Johnson to the commission as a student member and briefly explained the commission’s charge. IV. PUBLIC COMMENTS V. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Dorson moved, seconded by Barker to approve the minutes of the October 10, 2019 meeting. Motion carried 5-0. VI. INTRODUCTION OF BLAINE PETERSON, NEW FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT MANAGER Peterson explained that Mike Wilson had been reassigned and briefly introduced himself. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 9, 2020 Page 2 VII. STANDING DISCUSSION ITEMS A. NOISE REPORT - MAC Lewis distributed the fourth quarter report, which showed a decline of complaints from households from the third quarter, but which also showed an increase from this time last year. There remained a large percentage of complaints from relatively few households, with 71 percent coming from three households. In 2019 there were 4,624 complaints from 94 households, whereas in 2018 there were 3600 from 75 households, for a 25-27 percent increase. The top households for complaints had changed; none of them complained in the fourth quarter. Lewis’s intention in 2020 was to send a letter to every household than complained in 2019 to invite them to commission meetings and to contact the MAC office, which is a departure from the past, and for members of the commission to meet with all complainants. In the past, letters went to only the top five households for complaints. Lewis also planned to hold regular office hours at the airport, perhaps twice a month. Tschohl and Dorson commended Lewis’s ideas, with Dorson saying this would help dissect trends. Tschohl announced a substantive increase in operations queue in 2019 over 2018: a total of 104,405, with 15,378 in the fourth quarter of 2019 versus 13,341 in the fourth quarter of 2018. Complaints per operation were actually down in 2019 versus 2018. Lewis offered to run that analysis. Barker asked if this was presented to the City Council and Tschohl replied it was. Data from the presentation on top ten generated complaints—all hours and top ten generated complaints—nighttime most interested the Council. He added the number of operations per complaint showed different numbers of complaint per type of aircraft. The unknowns in the data had dropped from 50-60 percent to 20 percent. Continued analysis from different metrics options could define why the commission saw such a difference in the data. Barker stated for him the bottom-line metric was the measure of operations per complaint. Since operations could ebb and flow over the months and years this yielded trends and could determine whether complaints were actually growing or shrinking. If Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data allowed the commission to attribute complaints to specific aircraft types the commission could become more surgical in addressing these complaints and seeing trends. Lewis offered to get this data and include it in the standard quarterly briefing. Tschohl urged to at least refer to this a couple times a year: the five or 10 types generating the most complaints. The solution could be a change to the pilot briefings, fewer scheduled meetings on Saturday mornings or greater engagement FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 9, 2020 Page 3 with a charter operator or fixed-base operator (FBO). Lewis agreed to explore this. Dorson noted the per-operation complaints in 2019 versus 2018 did not show such a dramatic increase as the total complaints, but there still was an upward trend. B. ORDINANCE 97 MONITORING – MAC Dockery reported this went well in 2019: there were five aircraft over 60,000 pounds. Repeat offenders had dropped off, in part due to a snowy winter, with 18 in third quarter versus 17 in 2018. The letters were working well, and there were talks between the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) and the City Council regarding second notices for repeat offenders. Tschohl asked for nighttime maintenance runoffs and Schendel reporter there were no issues—no complaints. Dockery asked if Dorson had conversations with the FBOs, and Dorson replied he did; there were still offenders so communication was ongoing. Discussion followed on behavior change through the FBOs. Dockery stated he was looking at better monitoring with the FBOs on existing agreements. Peterson urged continued discussions between the City and MAC, and Dorson agreed. Dockery added the letters did have an effect on pilots and organizations. Tschohl asked where these flights commonly went and Dockery replied they went to MSP (Minneapolis−Saint Paul International Airport), St. Paul and Anoka. No operators replied to the letters. Schendel asked if Dockery could track where they operators went instead if they, after receiving a letter, avoided Flying Cloud Airport. Dockery replied the two operators that were an issue lived in the area. C. AIRPORT INCIDENTS AND OPERATIONAL UPDATES – MAC Peterson reported the construction was going well. There was one incident requiring a response to the FAA regarding a driver running parts accidentally driving through the wrong gate and driving on the runway. There were no aircraft incidents to his knowledge. Schendel asked for total operations numbers for 2019. Peterson replied he had a “soft number” of 106,000 and would have hard numbers later. This was a substantial increase. Tschohl asked if there would be significant hangar development, and Peterson replied there were two; the walls had just gone up on one. New taxiways would also be rehabbed and some moved. Bids would come in March, 2020. Also, a new underground storage tank could go in and an aboveground one constructed. The FAA was exploring mounting a camera to monitor which aircraft used which runways. Discussion followed on the history of FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 9, 2020 Page 4 the conversation to mount cameras and the disadvantages of this. Peterson stated there was still much work to be done before cameras were included. Barker suggested that Bill Ratts visit the commission to present this plan, and Peterson and Tschohl agreed. D. PRIMARY RELIEVER AIRPORTS VISIONARY STUDY - MAC Dockery stated the airport development team was working with a consultant and had just completed Phase I of the visioning study for Flying Cloud, St. Paul and Anoka. Data gathering and research, and interviews with FBOs were completed. He had not brought a copy of the findings but offered to email it to the commission. Phase II, the discovery phase, had begun. He anticipated wrap up sometime in the middle of the second quarter. Completion for the entire project was anticipated for fourth quarter of 2021. Tschohl stated the commission would like to see the Phase I findings. VIII. OLD BUSINESS A. AIRPORT TOUR Tschohl stated the 2019 tour date had been repeatedly bumped. It was typically for new commission members and student representatives. Dorson urged it be pushed to April to accommodate the new commissioners. Discussion followed on a possible date. Lewis stated April 18 was the pilots’ meeting, which would be a good date: 9:00 a.m. was the seminar, with the tour possibly beginning at 10:00 a.m. This was set as a tentative date. B. REVIEW OF OTHER PAST EVENTS I. SEMI-ANNUAL MAC PILOT MEETING - SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 Barker reported he and Lewis gave the presentation, which went well. Whether given once or twice a year he thought it a good forum and a great way to reach pilots and meet with flight instructors. It was always well attended. No simple solutions emerged, but it helped to stimulate new ideas (turns, currency training, et cetera). He asked for other ways to influence flight instructors and pilots. Tschohl suggested the students were saturated and might be reached after their 50 hours flight experience. Barker stated he did not know how much noise abatement came up in training but it could be added to the syllabus. II. MAC PRESENTATION TO THE EP CITY COUNCIL – TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019 FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 9, 2020 Page 5 Barker stated he thought the cooperation between the City and MAC was positive. There were great questions from the new City Council members regarding airport operations. This was an ongoing opportunity to educate the City Council. Tschohl stated he had watched the replay and the relationship between the City and MAC was the best he ever remembered it. He commended the MAC members for their efforts. IX. NEW BUSINESS X. UPCOMING EVENTS AND TOPICS FOR FUTURE FCAAC MEETINGS A. PRESENTATION TO MAC (JANUARY 21ST) Tschohl stated he, Barker and Gerber would present at this meeting, which would also include a public hearing on the $15.00/hour proposal for MAC employees. This meeting would also be streamed live and available on the website afterward. B. CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP PRESENTATION (JANUARY 21ST) Tschohl stated the commission’s annual presentation to the Council would come after the MAC presentation. He explained the change to the workshop format, which would have only three commission presentations this night instead of all Eden Prairie commissions presenting. This would be a 10-15-minute presentation, and dinner was at 5:00 p.m. Interested members would RSVP to Gerber. C. OVERVIEW OF COMMUNITY NOISE MEASUREMENT AND MODELING METHODS Tschohl stated the commission would sometime request this data for a later meeting. Lewis asked if this was a 101 presentation on fundamentals or something more specific to the long-term Comprehensive Plan. Gerber reminded her there would be new commissioners at the next meeting and the presentation should be specific to the Flying Cloud airport. Discussion followed on what had been presented in the past. Lewis agreed to work on a 101 presentation with specifics about what made Flying Cloud Airport unique. Gerber added there would be two open seats on the commission open now. Tschohl’s position was the only other position opening in 2020. Barkers and Schendel’s positions would open in 2021. XI. ADJOURNMENT The next FCAAC meeting will be held on Monday, April 9, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. in Heritage Room I. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 9, 2020 Page 6 MOTION: Dorson moved, seconded by Schendel to adjourn. Motion carried 5-0. The meeting was adjourned at 7:57 p.m.