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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFlying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission - 04/13/2023APPROVED MINUTES FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 2023 7:00 P.M. CITY CENTER 8080 MITCHELL RD COMMISSION MEMBERS: Chair: Dan Dorson Vice Chair: Andy Kleinfehn Commissioners: Bob Barker Marc Morhack Vinod Pillai Nick Rogers Michael Lawrence (Business Representative) Blaine Peterson (Airport Manager) COMMISSION STAFF: Scott Gerber, EP Fire Chief Kristin Harley, Recording Secretary MAC STAFF: Jennifer Lewis Jack Egan STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Aadit Bhavsar Luke Brown Julie Fang Aditya Kshirsagar Landon McDowell Darren Tanubrata Anirudh Vadrevu I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Dorson called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Absent were commission member Kleinfehn and student representative Fang. Dorson had both the new commission members and the existing commission members introduce themselves. Jack Egan, the supervisor of Jennifer Lewis at MAC, joined the meeting. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Morhack moved, seconded by Barker to approve the agenda. Motion carried 5-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION April 13, 2023 Page 2 MOTION: Morhack moved, seconded by Barker to approve the minutes of the January 12, 2023 meeting amended to correct the spelling of Gilles’s name in Item VIe. Motion carried 6-0. IV. PUBLIC COMMENTS Dean Cowdenk, resident at 10410 Spyglass Drive in Eden Prairie, introduced himself and stated he was a past attendee of these meetings to raise the issue of noise. He appreciated the work of the commission; however, he had not seen progress on the noise from jet aircraft at any altitude. He stated the commission had been responsive to his complaints about jet noise, and yet jets were apparently not able to follow the noise mitigation agreement. With the elongation and widening of the runway, he feared jets could not make an appropriate altitude turn and were forced to turn on final approach over residential areas. He suggested looking at the noise mitigation agreement to update it with the future change in runways so that turns on final approach could be made at higher altitudes. Dorson commended this idea, and added the number of trainers over certain residential areas were more numerous, whereas jets were more numerous over Cowdenk’s neighborhood. He thanked Cowdenk for his suggestion. Sherry White, 22-year resident off Dell Road and Highway 5 in Eden Prairie, stated she was a first-time attendee. She noted there had been a substantial increase in traffic since the pandemic, with flight patterns changed, causing more traffic over residential areas. Her concern was the hours of operation. She understood there was an agreement regarding this, and she was not so concerned with emergency transportation as with regular jets leaving and arriving at night and early in the morning. She asked who managed this traffic outside of the guidance hours and was there a directive. Dorson replied there was a voluntary nighttime restriction between10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. which was set by the FAA. White asked when the agreement had “become voluntary,” and Gerber replied this restriction had always been voluntary, and there had been no “change” from a requirement to a voluntary agreement. Morhack stated as a neighbor his standard was his three-year-old child being awakened, so he could sympathize with Cowdenk’s and White’s positions. The increase in medical transports to and from accidents and/or carrying organ transplants in the middle of the night was a significant cause for noise. The commission was keeping track of this. White asked for statistics on types of aircraft flights and Dorson replied this data would be presented in the meeting. Lewis summarized the role of the MAC, which owned Flying Cloud Airport but did not regulate traffic, in responding to noise complaints. MAC had established relationships with operators and collected flight data. She described the online tool (MAC Flight Tracker) and the quarterly noise reports available to the public. She described the case study research her office had done as well. Gerber offered to share the presentation with White. Sometimes operations at night or early in the morning could not be avoided, but FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION April 13, 2023 Page 3 operators did what they could, such as relocating the turn, although this was not always possible, too. V. FOCUS TOPIC FOR THE MEETING a. Airport Appearance Update; Revisit of 2022 Top Possibilities Peterson stated the public viewing area had benches added. This was completed as an Eagle Scout project. A radio here might not be feasible, as it would require a long power run, but landscaping might be a potential Eagle Scout project as well. Morhack reminded Peterson of the suggestion for a sign giving the frequency of the radio tower. The parking area outside of A.G. had been repaved. Flywise was competed, with the grand opening in May. The view of hangars along Pioneer Trail was being explored, perhaps being enhanced with decorative screens or fencing, but wind load was an issue. Thunderbird Aviation had a new banner. L.A. Aviation had new signage and had been power washed, and painting would begin this spring same color theme throughout. Signage would be updated and painting and apron work completed this spring as well. The Blue Airport sign on Pioneer and Flying Cloud Drive had been slated for removal and updating. This was still in the works, as the project estimate was over budget, but Peterson stated the airport was negotiating with signage companies on a solution. Executive Aviation’s sign was being repainted and the lighting updated. Peterson was still working with Hangar Five on updating, but the windows had been cleaned. b. Airport Tour Plan; Revisit of January 2023 Tenant List – Student Commissioners Dorson asked the student commission members for interested from the business list and noted their answers. He replied the commission could focus on learning about the FBO, mosquito control and the control tower. He asked Gerber if the commission could invite the City Council to the tour. Peterson suggested keeping the group’s attendance between 15-18. The proposed date for the tour was Thursday, May 18 at 4:00 p.m. The group would meet at Executive Aviation. RSVPs would go to Peterson. Peterson stated he would send out a map of the tour route. VI. STANDING DISCUSSION ITEMS a. NOISE REPORT – MAC Lewis presented the noise report. Noise complaints were received from her via email, the customer portal, et cetera. This information was published quarterly on MAC’s website and complaints were matched with operations. There were 726 noise complaints in the FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION April 13, 2023 Page 4 first quarter of 2023 from 22 households, compared to 1,130 complaints from 34 households in the first quarter of 2022. The first quarter of 2023 saw 59 nighttime complaints from 14 households as compared to 165 from 24 households in the first quarter of 2022. Two new households lodged one complaint each. Of the households that had previously complained, 50 percent of the complaints came from one household, 29 from another, and then 7 percent; these comprised the top three households for complaints. The bulk of the complaints took place during daytime hours. Of the top three households for complaints, the percentages for nighttime complaints were 11 complaints, 6 complaints, and 25 complaints respectively in the first quarter of 2023. Lewis explained the noise data chart broken down by month. This first quarter of 2023 saw a lower number of complaints than in 2021 and 2022. The number of operations and ambient noise levels were factors in this. 84 percent of the complaints were correlated with piston aircraft, and 7.6 percent were correlated with jet aircraft, with 0.4 percent correlated with unknown aircraft and 0.4 correlated with helicopter flights. The first quarter of 2023 saw 25,841 operations, 806 at nighttime, compared to 25,375 operations, 813 at nighttime, in the first quarter of 2022. White stated the noise statistics seemed low and did not line up with the conversations happening in the community. She asked what could be done to make the process of registering a complaint more accessible, as she had to dig for that information. She had spoken to Lewis some years ago and learned the process, but she requested the commission publicize this more widely. Peterson explained the process of creating an account at the website. Dorson added stakeholder engagement was a part of the long-term planning at MAC. Lewis replied the reports at the website were more interactive online and had more detail and she offered to show these to White after the meeting. All complaints were treated equally, whether submitted for the first time or part of a pattern. Barker pointed out the Eden Prairie website had information on how to file a complaint and links to MAC’s reports. Lewis added most complaints were coming from the east side of the airport. Typically, complaints were fairly balanced. She explained the locations shown on the map. b. ORDINANCE 97 MONITORING – MAC Peterson stated there were two different operators in the first quarter of 2023 with violations in the first quarter and letters had been sent. Neither had been based at Flying Cloud Airport; most violations were from operators not based at Flying Cloud. c. AIRPORT INCIDENTS AND OPERATIONAL UPDATES – MAC Peterson stated there was a fairly large incident: a small plane crashed 2,500 feet short of the runway on a snowy night. There were no casualties or injuries. Gerber stated he was part of the response for that and he commended the good relationships between MAC FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION April 13, 2023 Page 5 staff, City staff, Fire and EMS. This was crucial and effective. The call initially came in as a “smoke in the area” call at 9:48 p.m. The Eden Prairie Fire Department was the first department to respond at Flying Cloud Airport. Peterson stated the tower hours during the winter were 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., but now were 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. The tower had been closed at the time of the crash. Peterson stated there was minor construction to simplify the runway at the RSAT MN Jet Cambria. This involved minor pavement removal and painting, additional signage, and additional lighting. The MAC was removing the collocation of the service road with Spring Lane for safety improvement. He estimated completion by May 8. d. LONG TERM COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE – MAC Peterson stated the team was working on runway alternatives and additional hangar space. Larger hangars were being built on the south side. MAC was working with City leadership to make them aware of this project. There would be an in-depth Comprehensive Plan update in July, and Eric Gilles would again present to the commission. The Stakeholder Meeting would be held May 2, 3:00-5:00 p.m. The Public Open House would be held May 22. VII. OLD BUSINESS a. City Council Workshop Presentation – February 7th Dorson summarized the presentation had gave on priorities, night operations, noise complaints, airport appearance items, long term planning process. VIII. NEW BUSINESS Dorson stated he and Lewis met with ATP staff to encourage fewer touch-and- goes. and also brought up nighttime training issues. White asked if flight training could be conducted without staff in the tower and Dorson replied it could. Lewis added most airports in U.S. did not have control towers. Dorson added the control tower was there for safety, so that was a separate issue. Lewis added that at Flying Cloud Airport when the tower was closed, the north parallel runway was also closed. Dorson stated another point made at the meeting was the issue of turnover in instructors, which was a discussion the commission could have with the ATP every six months. Peterson replied he would consider this Baker stated twice a year the MAC met with pilot groups at the airport as part of the final agreement about the noise abatement. He asked if these flight school FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION April 13, 2023 Page 6 instructors could be invited to the meetings. Dorson suggested an introduction of all the schools. Barker clarified this could not be mandated, but encouraged through their chief pilot. Hermann stated she had brought flyers regarding the Saturday webinars to the flight schools, but had not seen a high response or interest. She offered to do this again. IX. UPCOMING EVENTS AND TOPICS FOR FUTURE FCAAC MEETINGS • Recap of recent flights school meeting at Flying Cloud Airport • Air Expo, July 22 and 23, 2023 • Flying Cloud Barbeque, August 16, 2023 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. • Girls Aviation Day, September 23, 2023 • Flying Cloud Town Hall, May 6 • May 11 was the last meeting for the student representatives X. ADJOURNMENT The next FCAAC meeting will be held on Thursday, July 13, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. in Heritage Room I. MOTION: Morhack moved, seconded by Barker to adjourn. Motion carried 5-0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m.