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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFlying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission - 07/12/2007 APPROVED MINUTES FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION THURSDAY,JULY 12, 2007 7:00 P.M. CITY CENTER Prairie Room A & B 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Rick King, Vice-Chair Jeff Larsen, Commissioners: Joe Harris, Greg McKewan, Mark Michelson (arrived at 7:05 p.m.) and Kurt Schendel COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: Brad Stratton VISITORS: Scott Skramstad, MAC STAFF: Scott Kipp, Senior Planner Janet Jeremiah, Community Development Director Carol Pelzel, City Recorder I. CALL TO ORDER Chair King called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Schendel moved, seconded by Larsen, to approve the agenda as published. Motion carried, 5-0. III. PUBLIC COMMENT IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. May 10, 2007 Minutes King asked that in the May 10 minutes, the date referred to on Page 9 in the third paragraph be changed from the July 10 meeting to the July 12 meeting. MOTION: Schendel moved, seconded by Harris, to approve the May 10, 2007 minutes as corrected. Motion carried 6-0. B. May 31, 2007 Minutes Harris asked that in the May 31 minutes on Page 7 in the last paragraph the acronym APO should be AOPA. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES July 12, 2007 Page 2 MOTION: Schendel moved, seconded by McKewan, to approve the May 31, 2007 minutes as corrected. Motion carried 6-0. V. DISCUSSION ITEMS A. Airport Security Report King explained that a draft Security Report for Flying Cloud Airport was included in the Commissioner's agenda material. This report had been compiled by Kipp and Schendel and King asked the Commissioners to comment on the draft so that they can prepare a final draft for the City Council. He said he anticipates that the final copy would be ready for the City Council the first or second week of August. The report would be submitted as a staff report from Kipp explaining that this report is based on questions raised by the City Council a few months ago. King summarized the report explaining that it includes testimony presented at the Airport Advisory Commission meetings and includes numerous suggestions made by this Commission. Information gathered from the testimony presented indicated that the single best deterrent is the watch program. King also reported that this Commission did not hear about anything that needs to be done that wasn't already being done. MAC did commit to updating their security document and to improve signage at the airport. Harris reported since their May 31 meeting, MAC has been working hard to move as quickly as they can on some of the initiatives discussed. They have met with their sign department and are having approximately 250 signs made including some replacement signs and some new signs for airfield safety and also some general airfield signage. Harris said they hope to install most of the signs within the next couple of weeks. It is their hope that these signs will get their tenants to think about security. He explained that the signs would be placed at the end of the alleyways reading "stop—no vehicles beyond this point" and at the bottom of the sign they ask that any suspicious activity be reported by calling 911. These signs should also help to keep vehicles off of movement areas. Harris said they are also working on updating their security guide. They are referencing their guide with the TSA document as well as with the documents from all of the groups within aviation. The process is moving forward but is taking some time. It is their plan to distribute this document to their commercial operators at their annual fall meeting. Harris further reported that a bulletin board has been added at Flying Cloud to post notices but basically, they choose to communicate directly via their web site. They are planning to include in the security guide a request to register e-mail addresses with MAC so that when they have something to send out those who have registered will immediately receive the notice. Harris explained that MAC is working with the City's Chief of Police and Fire Chief to get in line with the City's Partnership for Emergency Readiness (PER) program and they plan to include the airport users in on that. This will also be mentioned in their FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES July 12, 2007 Page 3 security guide. Prior to this security guide being published, MAC intends to write a letter to the tenants on behalf of the City encouraging them to register for the PER program. Larsen pointed out grammatical errors in the draft document. The first was on Page 3 in the fourth paragraph on line three. The word "there" should be "their" and on Page 4 in the first line of the first paragraph the word "states" should have an apostrophe "s". In response to a question from Jeremiah, Harris explained that initially to help general aviation airport operators understand how they rank with other airports, the TSA established this program with recommendations to help safeguard their airport if they fell within a certain score range. King said he also had some editing items that he had forwarded to Kipp via e-mail. Those items included a change on Page 7 of the report. He recommended that Item No. 6 under Metropolitan Airports Commission be moved below Eden Prairie Fire Department under a new category titled Miscellaneous. Also, under Eden Prairie Police Department he suggested they add the sentence "more lighting is always better" at the end of number 3 of that section. On Page 8, King suggested that under number 7 they add "and `911" notation"behind the word logos and under number 9 on that same page the sentence read "MAC should evaluate the installation of more security lighting ...". King also suggested that on Page 6 of the report number 2 under Metropolitan Airports Commission read "Airport signage will be upgraded for up-to- date information ....". On that same page under number 4, the word "the"be added after"Web Link to". Harris said he feels this document explains what the airport users and MAC are doing with regards to safety and what the City's role is in safeguarding the airport. This report also shows how active the City is with Flying Cloud Airport. Harris said he feels this Commission is shepherding the security process and the support of the Police and Fire and their presence at the airport is outstanding. Larsen suggested that under Advisory Commission Recommendations they add a No. 11 stating that there be an annual review process of this document. MOTION: Larsen moved, seconded by McKewan, to accept the draft Review of Security at Flying Cloud Airport report as amended and to ask Kipp, the staff liaison, to edit the document and prepare a final draft to be submitted to the Commission members via e-mail and Commission members to give final approval of the report by e-mail. Motion carried 6-0. On behalf of the Commission, King expressed his appreciation to Kipp and Schendel for their work in preparing this report. B. Eden Prairie Comprehensive Guide Plan Update on Aviation FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES July 12, 2007 Page 4 Kipp reported that the Commission did previously look at the draft Comprehensive Guide Plan update as it relates to the airport. Staff did ask for feedback from the Commission to include in a report to the Planning Commission when they reviewed the update. Kipp said he did receive three comment pieces to incorporate into the Plan and he felt the Commission should discuss those comments this evening. Kipp pointed out that the aviation section is now included in the Transportation Section of the Plan. Larsen said his reaction to the Plan was the result of some of the discussion this Commission had at the time they were looking at security issues at the airport. He felt that additional items concerning the physical security of the airport should be included in the Airport/Aviation section of the Plan. Larsen said he also reviewed the Commission's top five list and security was not mentioned on that list. He said he believes that there should be more specific things included in the original Plan regarding security. Kipp pointed out that the Comprehensive Guide Plan is just a guide and not a prescriptive document. The City's detail plans are more prescriptive and this information may better fit into those documents. They could add a general statement to the document about airport security such as MAC and the TSA will continue to evaluate security needs at Flying Cloud Airport and provide those types of initiatives as warranted. Larsen said he would also like to include something about the City, through this Commission, reviewing this on an on-going basis. Michelson questioned what the "unresolved liability issues" were and if they should be listed in the document. Kipp said the unresolved liability issues had to do with the acquisition of property. The EIS shows some additional land to be acquired for the safety zone approach areas and the taking of that land without compensation is the unresolved liability. MAC is being encouraged to complete all of their acquisitions identified in the EIS for clear zones and safety zone areas. Michelson asked why those are not addressed in the document. Kipp responded that those are MAC and FAA issues and the City is not involved. Michelson said the agreement between the City and MAC states that the airport's fundamental character will be retained. He feels if they bring in VLF s and extend the runways, the airport's fundamental character would change. He suggested that under the Proposed Expansion of Flying Cloud Airport Section of the document, it be rewritten to include mandatory mitigation. Unless they have mandatory noise mitigation, they will not maintain the fundamental character of the airport. Kipp explained that a lot of the language in this document had to do with the Final Agreement. Changing the document to read mandatory would not be in keeping with the City's Final Agreement with MAC. Michelson said it does not mean they cannot ask for mandatory mitigation. The nature of the airport will change and especially with VLJ's being used by more businesses. Michelson said he feels that without mandatory restrictions the nature of the airport will change and asking for mandatory restrictions would not go against the Final Agreement. Kipp responded that this language was included in the precedent conditions of the Agreement a is a condition of the Final FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES July 12, 2007 Page 5 Agreement and they adopted a Guide Plan that is similar. To add the word "mandatory" fundamentally changes what the City agreed to. Harris said that for the purposes of the Guide Plan, it is important that the language in the Final Agreement be included in the Plan and this is not the place to make changes to the Agreement. McKewan said that if staff feels that the word mandatory should not be included in the Guide Plan,he would have to agree with staff. Larsen said that based on conversations that have been taking place the past few months and the various resolutions that were being considered regarding the airport and how the City Attorney recommended that these resolutions not be adopted because of concerns on how it would affect the Final Agreement,he thinks it would be in the Commission's best interest to not include the word mandatory in the document. Jeremiah suggested that rather than say mandatory they say something to the effect that"without compliance with the agreed upon voluntary mitigation". Kipp said it is his opinion that if they start making word changes they are altering the Final Agreement. The operators and pilots don't have to abide by the voluntary noise mitigation but this Commission will continue to work to encourage their compliance. King said it appears that the consensus is that they not change the wording in Section 6.5. This document will go through legal review and there are certain areas they should not change. He asked if the Commission would be in favor of inserting the wording suggested by Jeremiah. If the City Attorney does not feel that wording is appropriate, it can be removed. King suggested that they leave the wording as is because it is pretty clear as stated. Michelson said that was fine and he withdrew his recommendation. Under the Proposed Expansion of Flying Cloud Airport Section, Michelson said he would like to see the following removed from the document: "The City finds that the commitments contained in the Final Agreement will mitigate the potential adverse environmental consequences of the expansion and maintain the character of the airport. On this basis". Kipp said he did talk to the City Attorney regarding this recommendation and the City Attorney feels this is specific language that needs to be included in the Plan and he recommended not changing it. Schendel said he feels even if the runway is expanded to 5,000 feet the character of the airport is not changed. It is what it is and that is a minor use airport. That will not change. Skramstad pointed out that the character of the airport is defined in the Final Agreement and that is a minor use airport. They are not proposing to increase the weight bearing capacity of the airport. Schendel said it needs to be made clear that the character of the airport is not changing now or three years from now. Technology may change but the character of the airport will not. Larsen said residents may feel differently. They don't want larger jets and increased flights to occur. To them, that is the character of the airport. King said he agrees and the character of the airport is different to different people and he can see both sides. Flying Cloud is a minor use airport and is within the rules of the Final Agreement. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES July 12, 2007 Page 6 Harris said MAC has been working with this Commission over the last one and a half years to change the character of this airport. They want to upgrade the facilities to make it the best possible airport it can be within the community. The character of the airport will change and it has changed over the last five years. King said based on the City Attorney's recommendation,he would suggest that they not delete the verbiage suggested by Michelson. Under the Airport and Aircraft Section, Design Issues, Michelson suggested that the word encourage be used in that paragraph rather than the word support. The word support to some people may infer financial support. The Commission agreed to change the words support to encourage. Michelson stated that he did not understand why there was such a complete rewriting of the Implementation Strategies and Design Issues. The entire meaning of this has changed from preparing a design manual to implementing what appears to be a zoning change. If the City wants to make a zoning change, Michelson said he feels there are better ways to accomplish it. Until MAC actually uses the land, Michelson said he believes it is in the best interest of the City to retain the current zoning. Kipp responded that the Design Framework Manual is a non-binding guide. The City can ask that things be done but cannot require that they be done. The City is looking for some authority and a zoning change would give them that authority. Zoning and its its standards for compliance would be mandatory. Harris explained that MAC does have the authority to adopt standards if they so desire but they fall to the City. Kipp explained that every other district in the community has building standards through the zoning process. King said he is in favor of the rezoning. McKewan said he agrees and believes it would be helpful to MAC. King said he believes it is time to change the zoning. The City has been changing golf course zoning and moving to airport zoning with construction requirements is appropriate. It will start improving the look and feel of the airport over a period of time. Kipp said he does not know for sure if the City Council would ultimately approve the zoning change especially if MAC comes forward and says they will establish certain standards for construction that would meet our expectations. Michelson said that with regard to addressing safety,he does not believe there is anything in the document about the airport being environmentally safe. He questioned if that should be addressed in the Guide Plan. Kipp responded that the EPA looks at this as well as Minnesota Pollution Control. The Guide Plan is how the City wants development to occur and this is not the appropriate document to address environmental concerns. King recommended that aviation be included under environmental consideration in the Plan. Harris reported that they are circulating this document through MAC and they may have some additional recommended changes. McKewan said with regard to design FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES July 12, 2007 Page 7 issues,he suggested that they put a deadline on it. Kipp said it is their intent to get something in place by the time new hangar construction begins. Jeremiah said they do have a work plan and staff will make sure it is in the work plan for 2008. MOTION: King moved, seconded by Michelson, to move forward the amended Comprehensive Guide Plan as written with the suggestions made this evening knowing that they are one of many inputs to this document. Motion carried 6-0. King asked that when the document is updated that copies of it be forwarded to the Commission. VI. EDUCATIONAL ITEMS A. Website Update King reported that one of this Commission's goals was to make the City's website more comprehensive as it relates to Flying Cloud Airport and this Commission. McKewan has worked with City staff in redesigning that portion of the website and will present his recommended changes this evening. McKewan walked the Commission through his proposed changes with the website. Kipp said he likes the idea of creating categories and feels it cleans up the site. Larsen said once the framework is developed they can add to it and improve it month after month. King said he feels the proposed layout maximizes the space available and organizes the information better. He suggested that the Commission clarify and review any text that is written. Kipp suggested that they link the MAC website to every page. Michelson said he believes they need an explanation of what MAC is and the relationship between MAC, the City and Flying Cloud Airport. McKewan said he would add something to the front page linking the reader to a file that talks about MAC and how it relates to the airport. King recommended that they approve the format and that each Commission member provide McKewan with comments on the content and to also include an explanation of MAC. Any other suggestions or recommendations should be forwarded to McKewan by July 31. McKewan asked if he should proceed with updating the website now or if he should wait until he gets it all together. King said that once he has all of the information he can put it on the website and hopefully it will be completed by mid August. King expressed his appreciation to McKewan for all of the work he has done with City staff and complimented him on the organizing of the site making it an easier site to work with. B. MAC Town Meeting Update Harris reported that MAC held four separate town hall meetings with reliever airport users during the week of June 18. At these meetings MAC unveiled their rates and FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES July 12, 2007 Page 8 charges ordinance implementing a new fee structure. The major issues discussed at these meetings included information for individuals who own hangars and are subleasing the space for use within the hangar. MAC is proposing that the owner will have to get a license from MAC to sublease the space and will be charged an annual fee of$150 per aircraft. Right now they do not pay any money for subleasing. Harris said they also discussed charging people to have their name put on the wait list for space. They are proposing a $500 fee and the money will be used as a payment towards the lease. Up to $250 of the fee will also be reimbursable if the person is removed from the list. An additional item discussed was a facility acquisition fee. They will be charging $1 per square foot for the footprint of the leaseholder's hangar. This fee will cover the administration work to transfer the lease. If the lease is transferred into another family members name a facility acquisition fee would not apply. For commercial operators, Harris said they are proposing that the first 20 percent of income into MAC is exempt from the 1.5 percent charge they tax on the gross receipt of sales. For example, if a business does $1 million in annual gross sales, only $800,000 would be subject to the 1.5 percent fee but that operator would be able to use $1 million of gross sales to determine their position in MAC's chart. Harris explained that the most controversial item discussed is having reliever airports be self-sufficient. If expenses exceed MAC's revenues, the shortfall would be assessed back to all reliever airport tenants based upon their leasehold dimension. This is an extremely difficult proposition for all users and MAC. Much of this will depend on how much discretionary money they receive from the FAA and the State for construction improvements. Harris said this proposal would be system wide. Kipp said there has been some discussion about the long-term comprehensive plan for the airport that is in the process and he asked what kind of involvement the City would have in this process. Harris responded that it is in the initial stages and they will be working with the various cities throughout the writing of the document. The cities will be actively involved throughout the entire process. In response to a question from Larsen, Harris explained that the Reliever Airports Advisory Council was created six years ago for aircraft storage tenants. They did not feel that they had an outlet similar to the commercial tenants to voice their concerns to MAC staff. Harris said the group is specific to airport policy leasing and their big issue recently was getting guide signs at Flying Cloud. This group was also influential in getting the gates at this airport. Larsen asked if it would make sense to have the chair of this group meet with this Commission for an update. Harris explained that they are looking forward to having this Council work with them in modernizing the hangars at Flying Cloud. They are the hangar owners. Harris pointed out that the chairperson is new to this position. King asked that Harris talk to the chairperson and ask him if he would be willing to meet with this Commission some time in September or November. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES July 12, 2007 Page 9 VII. FINAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN CITY AND MAC A. Noise Complaints/Stage 2 Operations Report (May-June) Skramstad distributed the noise complaint map for May and June showing where each person who complained is located in relation to the airport. He also presented the noise complaint summary. This summary shows how many times an individual complained, the date and time and the nature of the call. Skramstad explained that there were a total of 103 complaints from 30 different individuals for May and June compared to 135 from 26 people for March and April. Of the 103 complaints, 82 complaints were filed for operations between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Of those 82, 32 letters were sent to operators notifying them that they violated the voluntary agreement. Skramstad reported that one operator received 16 letters, one received four letters, one received two letters and ten operators received one letter. King asked if they meet face to face with the person receiving the 16 letters. Skramstad responded that the person receiving the 16 letters is the life source flights. Whenever possible, they do try to fly the noise abatement route. Harris explained that MAC does have a file of their responses to the letters explaining the nature of their operation and giving a synopsis of their operation. Schendel said he understands the designation differences between medical emergency flights where you don't send a letter but it is not for them to determine whether or not a flight is necessary and whether or not they can go. King said no matter what, they would enforce the rule and would send them a letter. Harris explained that it would be helpful to show this group several of the response letters they have received back from the people letters were sent and he would provide copies at the next Commission meeting. McKewan said he feels it is important that the City Council knows that this group does monitor this and it would be helpful to see the letters received. VIII. NOISE ABATEMENT/AIRCRAFT INCIDENTS A. Life Link III Helicopter Fli!ht Tracks Skramstad presented a copy of a map showing helicopter flight tracks. MAC received 19 complaints from nine residents for May and June compared to 24 complaints from ten people for March and April. MAC will continue to work with Life Link to provide them feedback and to monitor their operation as well. Life Link is more than willing to do everything they can to work with MAC on the noise issue. King reported that one of the leaders of the Life Link organization has left the company and he was the one that made the commitment to work with MAC. If possible, this Commission should have the new person come to a City Council meeting or to this Commission's meeting to meet the Commission and discuss their continuing to work with MAC on noise abatement. King said he appreciates Skramstad's work on this and would like to continue receiving this report on an on-going basis for six or eight months to see if there are any FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES July 12, 2007 Page 10 changes. Skramstad indicated that of the 19 helicopter complaints, 12 were specifically related to Life Link operations. There are four complaints on the map that are not related to Life Link operations. IX. NEW BUSINESS X. OTHER BUSINESS (Various FYI Items) • July 6, 2007 Council memo on MSP runway construction project • June 11, 2007 Council workshop presentation material • Draft Resolutions from Zero Expansion, Chamber of Commerce and Council Member Butcher regarding Flying Cloud Airport and Final Agreement • City of Eden Prairie Quality of Life Survey 2007 —Questions on Airport • June 18,2007 MAC Town Meeting handouts • Various airport related articles from EP News and Sun Current • Scott Neal Blog article on correction to Airport Position Statement • Obituary from the Star Tribune for American Aviation co-owner Stuber • Next Commission meeting scheduled for September 13, 2007 Larsen said he would like to see the Quality of Life Survey including the questions and responses regarding the airport. Jeremiah said they would provide the Commission copies of that survey including the questions and answers. XI. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Motion was made by Michelson, seconded by Larsen, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried, 6-0. The meeting adjourned at 10:10 p.m.