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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFlying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission - 03/11/2010 APPROVED MINUTES FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010 7:00 P.M. CITY CENTER Heritage Room I 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Rick King (arrived at 7:25 p.m.); Vice-Chair Jeff Larsen; Commissioners: Judy Gentry, Greg McKewan, Mark Michelson, Jeff Nawrocki and Kurt Schendel (arrived at 7:40 p.m.) COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: None STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Tanay Mehta VISITORS: Jennifer Lewis, MAC; Dana Swanson, MAC Chad Leqve, MAC STAFF: Scott Kipp, Senior Planner; Carol Pelzel, City Recorder I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Vice-Chair Larsen called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Michelson moved, seconded by Gentry, to approve the agenda as presented. Motion carried, 5-0. III. PUBLIC COMMENT Peter Yao, 15503 Junegrass Lane, said he lives in a townhouse in Hennepin Village and wanted to express his concerns about airport noise. The letters MAC is sending to the pilots not observing the noise restriction are not helping. If they were,he would file a complaint every day if not more often. Larsen reminded Yao this is a voluntary noise program and because of FAA regulations they are unable to fine people or penalize them for not complying with the voluntary noise program. Larsen provided Yao with a copy of the noise information collected by MAC and explained the reports to him. He also stated this is the most difficult subject this Commission has dealt with. There are certain flights that can take place such as emergency medical flights and those may occur 24-hours a day. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES March 11, 2010 Page 2 Yao said he understands emergency flights need to take off and land and they are okay with that. They were told when the runway extension occurred there would not be an increase in noise and there may even be a decrease. That is not the case. Larsen explained the number of complaints has grown dramatically but the number of flights has dropped. They are receiving the same types of calls from the same people every month. If there are fewer flights it would seem logical that the amount of noise would drop but that does not seem to be the case. Yao said he feels the noise is getting worse. Larsen said he hoped the information provided Yao would help him understand the noise complaints received and a historical analysis could be done also. Yao said the information provided does not help him. He would like a comparison between last year and this year for the same period. He would like to know how many flights have taken off and landed between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Jennifer Lewis from MAC said she could compile this information and share it with Yao. Chad Leqve of MAC explained the FAA provides Flying Cloud with funding and when those funds are made available to the airport they come with grant assurance provisions and requires the airport to operate in a certain manner. They cannot close the airport to law abiding citizens. The noise program is a voluntary program and Flying Cloud is pre- empted from restricting those operations. They cannot restrict or close the airport at night. Yao said he understands that. He is only trying to determine if there is a change in patterns since the runway expansion and if there is a change, is there something they can do about it. The noise level has increased since the expansion. Leqve said if the noise has increased, they cannot stop the operators from using the airport. He indicated they will be happy to pull comparison data from last year and provide him with that. Larsen asked Leqve to provide Yao with the historical information he has requested and to provide the Commission with a copy of that information. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. COMMISSION MEETING HELD THURSDAY,JANUARY 14, 2010 McKewan asked that the first sentence of the last paragraph on Page 6 be changed to read "McKewan asked if it would make sense to look at noise complaints to see if it matches up with run-ups in this new area." Larsen asked that the word "the"be deleted from the third sentence of the first paragraph on Page 4 and to read as follows: "..... ultimately proved to be less advantageous than anticipated, and recommended retaining...." MOTION: Gentry moved, seconded by McKewan, to approve the January 14, 2010, minutes as corrected. Motion carried, 6-0. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES March 11, 2010 Page 3 V. GUEST SPEAKERS VI. DISCUSSION ITEMS A. STATUS REPORT—MAC ADDITIONAL PLANTINGS/AESTHETICS Nawrocki reported at the end of last year MAC met with the City and Hennepin Village Association to discuss Flying Cloud Airport. One of the recommendations MAC agreed to at that meeting was to improve landscaping around the airport, specifically at Gate J. Nawrocki provided the Commission with a copy of the landscaping draft concept and what they plan to plant this summer at Gate J and on the perimeter of the airport. Nawrocki reviewed the proposed plan and stated they plan to start work early this spring or summer and also plan to take this design and concept to other reliever airports in their system. It was noted by Nawrocki that the landscape items are under a one-year warranty and that those that have not survived will be replaced. In response to a question from Gentry, Nawrocki explained the maximum height of trees to be planted will be 12 feet. King suggested this Commission take a tour of the airport property between May and July to see how plantings are filling in and maybe cooperatively between the City and MAC identify areas that are not covered as well as they should be and perhaps make some suggestions as to where additional plantings need to be placed to fill in the areas. B. 2009 AIRPORT WEBSITE ANALYSIS McKewan explained the City's software to track web trends is ten years old and does not do a very good job of monitoring hits. He said he has been working with City staff on Google Analytics and has been able to compile better information as to the use of the Commission's website. McKewan reviewed with the Commission the hits made for the various pages on the website from January 1,2009 through December 31, 2009. He said he would be updating the necessary pages. The page addressing the airport expansion needs to be updated as some of the items on the page have been completed. King suggested McKewan also update the departure procedures on the Noise Management and Reporting page. He said the web trends report shows people are looking at this information and the work to keep the website up is valuable. King suggested Mehta work with McKewan in updating the website and he also asked that copies of the reports run from Google Analytics be e-mailed to the Commission. Larsen asked if any other City Commission has as much information on their website as this Commission does. Kipp said he believes this Commission is the most aggressive. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES March 11, 2010 Page 4 C. METROPOLITAN COUNCIL UPDATE: 2030 TWIN CITIES AVIATION SYSTEM PLAN AND FCM LTCP Kipp reported the Commission had previously discussed the Met Council Technical Report recommending changing Minor use airports into Minor I and II categories. Minor II airports would have included Flying Cloud and Anoka County and could have had the potential for future runway extensions. The City passed a resolution in opposition to this recommendation. In addition, staff from Eden Prairie, and a few other cities near the Anoka County airport convinced the Met Council's Task Force to drop the recommendation. The consultant's Technical Report still has the Minor I and 11 analysis,however, the recommendation was revised to keep the current system of minor airports in place. The Met Council's Transportation Policy Plan Update will reflect the current airport system. D. MULTILATERATION PROJECT UPDATE Leqve reported MAC is in the final phase of accepting the Multilateration system. It is up and running and there is an active data feed looking at tracks. Leqve said they anticipate some additional costs above and beyond what was anticipated in order to make the information available to the public. King asked when the Commission would be able to get preliminary data for review. Leqve said information would probably be available to the Commission in the July/August timeframe. The data they are receiving from the system is what they had expected in terms of enhancement. E. FCM JOINT AIRPORT ZONING BOARD UPDATE King reported the FCM Joint Airport Zoning Board (JAZB) will be reviewing the ordinance drafted by MAC staff regarding safety zone locations. Once the ordinance is accepted by JAZB a public comment period of 30 days will be held. VII. EDUCATIONAL ITEMS VIII. FINAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN CITY AND MAC A. NOISE COMPLAINTS/STAGE 2 OPERATIONS REPORT (JANUARY- FEBRUARY) Lewis reported the noise reports for January and February were significantly lower than those reported for November and December. In November and December there were 546 complaints from 28 households compared to 387 from 26 households for January and February. Approximately half of the complaints (197)received in January and February were related to nighttime operations. Lewis also reported helicopter complaints were down from 203 complaints received in November and December with 42 complaints were received in FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES March 11, 2010 Page 5 January and February. Overall, airport operations were down 12 percent. There were 56 total violation letters sent to 14 unique operators. Three of those operators received 39 of the letters of those letters. Mehta asked if it is possible for operators to take a slightly longer route so they don't have to fly over residential areas. King explained departure routes are specified. Leqve said preferred routes are south bound which turns them over Hennepin Village. These procedures were put in place before Hennepin Village was constructed. King said the Commission could look at the different areas impacted and if they felt there are better routes and after City Council approval they could ask MAC to take their route suggestions to the FAA for possible change. This would be similar to what they did for the helicopter routes. King said he felt it would be a good idea for the Commission, with MAC's assistance, to look at the different areas to see if there are any obvious opportunities to find a route that affects fewer residential properties. B. UPDATE ON PROPROSED FCM MAINTENANCE RUN-UP LOCATION AND REDUCTION OF COMPLAINT LETTERS SENT Lewis reported there are three run-up areas for maintenance run-ups at Flying Cloud. These areas have now been included on the Pilot Guide and in the revised Noise Abatement Plan. The new third area is located at the northwest corner of the airport. This Commission asked MAC to try and track use of that new area. MAC has been working with ASI in tracking use of that area for 60 days. Lewis stated so far they have had no documented run-ups that have occurred in the new area. Implementation of this area occurred on January 20 and tracking by ASI will end at the end of April. Lewis said they will present an update to the Commission at their May meeting. Larsen asked that the revised Pilot Guide be sent to all of the people who had previously received it. McKewan said he would also update the Commission's website with this information. King said with regard to the issuance of complaint letters, the Commission did discuss with the City Council modifying the Final Agreement to change letter distribution. The City Council has asked the Commission to study this issue further. King said he will be talking to MAC about making sure they get all of the necessary data to review. Based on the Commission's current schedule, they may want to look at this information in July. Once they have reviewed the matter further, a recommendation will be made to the City Council. IX. NOISE ABATEMENT/AIRCRAFT INCIDENTS X. NEW BUSINESS XI. OTHER BUSINESS FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES March 11, 2010 Page 6 A. VARIOUS FYI ITEMS 1. Approved FCAAC Minutes of November 12, 2009 2. Revised Advisory Commission Meeting Schedule and Topics Listing 3. Various Airport/Aviation Related News Articles 4. News Commission meeting—May 13, 2010 Michelson questioned if a dike will be put up around the St. Paul Airport because of possible flooding. Nawrocki reported they started putting up a flood wall on Monday. Kipp reported the Final Agreement discusses noise testing on certain properties that fall within the 60 DNL and testing is to be done by MAC within that area when the extended airport runway becomes operational. This testing will begin shortly. They will be spending some time this spring and summer on the east side of the airport residential areas to do noise testing. They will not be using actual aircraft noise but generated noise to test sound decibels. Gentry asked if this information will be published in the newspaper so people are aware of what is taking place. King said there will be some articles regarding this testing in the newspaper. XII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Motion was made by Larsen, seconded by McKewan, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried, 7-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.