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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFlying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission - 01/12/2012 APPROVED MINUTES FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION THURSDAY,JANUARY 12, 2012 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Heritage Room 1 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Jeff Larsen, Chair; Mark Michelson, Vice- Chair; Commissioners: Caryl Hansen, John Pratten, Keith Tschohl, Jeff Nawrocki and Kurt Schendel STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: John Bowman and Kevin Gadel COMMISSION STAFF PRESENT: Scott A. Kipp, Senior Planner Carol Pelzel, Recorder VISITORS: Jennifer Lewis, MAC Representative I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Larsen called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Tschohl said he would like to provide the Commission with an update on the Flying Cloud Airport Watch Security Program and asked that it be added to the agenda. The Commission agreed to add to the agenda under educational items, Item 7C. Update on Flying Cloud Airport Watch Security Program. MOTION: Michelson moved, seconded by Tschohl, to approve the agenda as amended. The motion carried 7-0. III. PUBLIC COMMENT A. 2011 FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT OPERATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD— JEFF CONRADI, TCF NATIONAL BANK Nawrocki presented the 2011 Flying Cloud Airport Operator of the Year award to Jeff Conradi of TCF National Bank. Conradi has been at Flying Cloud Airport since 1980 and is a Vice President of the bank and chief pilot for their operations at Flying Cloud. Nawrocki explained Conradi has taken ownership of TCF's operations and has worked to meet voluntary restriction hours. TCF had 130 operations at Flying Cloud and have gone above and beyond noise abatement including providing assistance with airport security issues. Nawrocki said at their own expense, TCF assisted the FAA and MAC in addressing incursion issues. On behalf of the FAA, MAC and this Commission, Nawrocki congratulated Conradi on his selection as Operator of the Year. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 12, 2012 Page 2 A. COMMISSION MEETING HELD THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2011 Tschohl said the title of the group listed in the second sentence of the second paragraph on page 4 should be "Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association". Larsen said on page 2 the last sentence of paragraph 4 should state "Nawrocki explained ...." and should be moved to the next paragraph. Larsen also indicated in the last paragraph on page 5, the seventh sentence should read"Lewis said they do have.....". Motion: Motion was made by Hansen, seconded by Michelson, to approve the November 10, 2011 minutes as corrected. Motion carried 7-0. V. GUEST SPEAKERS VI. DISCUSSION ITEMS A. DRAFT OF 2011 YEAR-END REPORT/2012 GOALS Larsen explained the Commission will be making their presentation to the City Council on May 15 so they have some time to complete their 2011 Year-End Report. He asked Commission members to review the 2010 Year-End Report and to provide Kipp with changes/additions, etc. to be incorporated into the 2011 report. Larsen said the plan is to review the new report at their March meeting. Larsen asked Nawrocki to review the section of the report dealing with the number of operations and to update those graphs and charts. He also asked Commission members to provide Kipp with a synopsis of any meetings or events they may have attended with regard to the airport to be included in the report. He feels it is important for the City Council to know what meetings and events they have attended. This shows the Commission is trying to interact with the airport. Larsen asked Commission members to also look at the Commission's 2011 goals to determine if they have been completed or if they are on-going. Larsen asked what the status is of the Joint Airport Zoning Board (JAZB). Kipp reported in December 2010 the Board approved the first submission of an ordinance to the Commission of Transportation and since that time they have not received any further information regarding the zoning ordinance. Larsen said he would contact Rick King, the Chair of the Board, to determine the outcome of the proposed ordinance change. In response to a question from Hansen, Kipp explained the JAZB included members from the surrounding area to create an ordinance required by the State to provide for safety zones restricting building heights. Larsen explained if the City did not participate the Board would have created an ordinance without any City input. Kipp further explained through this process the City did have some flexibility in creating an ordinance for the City of Eden Prairie. He indicated there is some new language but he is not sure the Commission of Transportation will accept that language. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 12, 2012 Page 3 B. WEBSITE EVALUATION REPORT Larsen explained Pratten and student representatives Bowman and Gadel have agreed to work together in updating the Commission's website. Larsen suggested any items on the site that are three or four years old should be removed from the live site and archived. He also suggested Pratten, Bowman and Gadel set up a meeting with City staff to work on updating the site. Pratten suggested they list the years and the reader can then click on a particular year to get the information from that year. This would clean the site up and make it easier to maneuver. Larsen said they do need to clean the site up and they may want to add some other things. There are some nice photos in the Commission's report but the only way to see those photos is to scroll through the report. Pratten said they could have a dedicated image site and include photos on that site. Larsen said he would also like to see a more direct link to MAC's website and it should also be clearly stated they are leaving the Commission's site and going to MAC's site. It should be made easier for users who go onto the City's website to report noise to get to MAC's site. Larsen said he would like to make it very clear that MAC runs the airport and that the City does not run it. He said it would be great if they could have the site updated for their next meeting. Larsen also said they do not want to delete things like meeting agendas and minutes but to move them so they are not on the home page. He asked Commission members to review the site and to forward any recommended changes and or additions to the website to Kipp. VII. EDUCATIONAL ITEMS A. EFFORTS TO PROVIDE NOISE ABATEMENT INFO TO THIRD PARTIES Larsen explained the Commission is trying to reach some of the itinerant flights coming into Flying Cloud making them aware of the Voluntary Noise Abatement Program in effect. Tschohl and Nawrocki worked on drafting language to be included in various directories and/or resources. Tschohl further explained they wanted to add some information to some of the third party pilot directories that will help itinerant pilots know about the abatement procedures at Flying Cloud. He said they are suggesting adding four short statements to some of the third party directories and those statements are included in the memo handed out this evening. Tschohl reviewed the proposed language with the Commission. He also indicated there are five directories listed that they would like to include this information in. Larsen asked if the four proposed statements meet MAC requirements. Nawrocki said he is comfortable with them. He also explained in discussions with the individuals preparing the directories, they are more than willing to publish information but there is no guarantee they will include all four statements. Nawrocki asked the Commission if they cannot publish all four which statement would be top priority. The information they have prepared is a little bit above FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 12, 2012 Page 4 and beyond what is normally published. Schendel pointed out there is some language included in the Airport Facilities directory regarding noise abatement. Nawrocki explained the proposed language would be for nighttime operations or when the tower is closed. Michelson asked if this language would be in conflict with anything in MAC's Final Agreement. Tschohl pointed out a lot of the material was taken from MAC's own publications. Nawrocki asked if the Commission would be okay with printing only one bullet point rather than four as proposed. He feels the resources will be concerned with printing all of the bullet points and being liable should anything happen and not being able to guarantee its accuracy. Nawrocki suggested they include a statement directing the reader to a link on MAC's website. Information from MAC's website includes text from the actual Final Agreement. This would help with the concern of some of the directories not having to include so much information. All of the points mentioned this evening could be included on that website. Jennifer Lewis, MAC Representative, explained the Noise Abatement Plan is on MAC's website along with the pilot guide which shows noise sensitive areas and noise abatement procedures. She said if they can only include one bullet she would recommend a statement that noise abatement procedures are in effect and that they go to the pilot page on MAC's website. This could also be used at other airports and it would be beneficial to get them to the pilot's page for the area they are operating in. Larsen said he agrees with Lewis. It is short and releases other groups from trying to interpret what each airport is doing with noise abatement. Michelson said if they are able to get additional information in the directories they should consider adding the other three bullet points discussed. Pratten said the advantage of directing the pilots to a website would mean they would only have to update that one site and not several documents or other sites. MOTION: Motion was made by Michelson, seconded by Pratten, to direct Nawrocki to contact the various Airport Directories/Resources to include the following text for Flying Cloud Airport: "Nighttime noise abatement in effect. Procedures and pilots guide available at www.macnoise.com/pilots." The motion carried 7-0. Larsen asked Nawrocki to provide the Commission with an update on this request at their next meeting and, if possible,provide them with a copy of what is actually placed in the directories. B. CONTINUATION OF PRESENTATION ON NOISE RELATED TOPICS Tschohl said he did not have any additional information to present to the Commission on noise. He said he would be happy to answer any questions the Commission may have. He asked that this item be removed from future agendas. Larsen said they appreciate all of the work Tschohl has done on this item and FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 12, 2012 Page 5 they have found the resources to be very helpful. He indicated the information provided by Tschohl will also be very helpful to new members. C. UPDATE ON FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT WATCH SECURITY PROGRAM Tschohl provided the Commission with a brief update on the airport neighborhood watch type security program in the works for Flying Cloud. He said last summer he and Larsen went to a presentation by the Minneapolis Police Department in conjunction with Eden Prairie Police who are interested in developing an airport watch program at Flying Cloud similar to what has been implemented at MSP. Basically, the program allows a group of volunteers to go around the perimeter of the airport looking for things that don't belong. This group provides an extra line of defense for the airport to augment existing law enforcement. Tschohl said they would like to expand this program to reliever airports as well but it will take a different form. At Flying Cloud they have a group of individuals that own or rent aircraft and at this airport security is much more from the inside and going out rather than from the outside going in. Tschohl further reported over the past couple of months there have been a series of meetings held at Flying Cloud with various pilot groups. They are getting the watch program off the ground and it will be modeled after the MSP program. Tschohl said he will be serving as one of the program coordinators and they will start organizing what the differences would be at Flying Cloud compared to MSP. Flying Cloud's main concern is crime and to make sure the gates are working properly, etc. Tschohl said the program will be overseen by MSP Airport Police and eventually by the Eden Prairie Police. Individuals in the program will be required to go through a background check. Flying Cloud is pretty secure but not secured the same as an air carrier airport. Michelson said the Commission is familiar with the idea of a neighborhood watch at Flying Cloud and that is pretty much the norm. He said he is happy to see that they are formalizing this program. Tschohl said this program will bring more coordination. Larsen said this is one of the topics they should include under goals for their 2012 work plan. He asked Tschohl to write up a synopsis of this proposal and his involvement in that program as coordinator and to provide that information to Kipp for the Commission's annual report. A member of the audience said he noticed along the north perimeter of Flying Cloud the fence was removed and placed six feet further out. He asked what the reason was for doing that. Nawrocki responded over the last two years the county was working on the Pioneer Trail expansion and during that project they had to move the airport fence back to keep it out of the construction area. Once construction was completed they had to relocate it to where the original airport fence was located. VIII. FINAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN CITY AND MAC FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 12, 2012 Page 6 A. NOISE COMPLAINTS/STAGE 2 OPERATIONS REPORT (NOVEMBER- DECEMBER) Lewis reported there were 3,454 noise complaints received for November/December, 2011 compared to 298 for the same time period in 2010. There were approximately 1,000 fewer complaints received than for September/October, 2011. She further reported the bulk of the complaints in this report and in the September/October report were submitted by one individual. That individual submitted 91 percent of the complaints. Complaints from that person stopped on November 25. Lewis said she did speak with that resident and shared some information on Flying Cloud and informed them that many of the complaints pertained more to MSP operations. The complainant did not actually observe operations but heard noise and assumed it was coming from Flying Cloud. Nawrocki explained after the Commission's last meeting he worked with Lewis as to the location the complaints were coming from. Nawrocki said he would go to that location periodically and watch for 10 to 15 minutes and would observe flights from MSP. He never saw a general aviation aircraft. Larsen said it appears for the most part the resident's concerns have been resolved. Lewis said their primary concern was hearing this noise and that Flying Cloud was too busy and they felt there was more activity at this airport than what was needed. Lewis said she showed them the flight track tool so if they wanted to look at certain flights they could do so. Pratten pointed out from the report it appears noise complaint calls were coming in every minute. He questioned if those calls were computer generated and how the resident could hear that much noise. Pratten said these calls throw MAC's data off. Nawrocki questioned if they list noise complaint numbers in the Commission's annual report. If they do, they need to add in this scenario. Larsen responded they did talk about showing this information on the Commission's website and how they talked to the complainants about their concerns. Nawrocki said they need to clarify that one person filed 3,000 plus complaints. Larsen said they would have to indicate this is not typical of noise complaints and explain what has been historically filed. Lewis reported in the September/October report there were 249 helicopter complaints filed. For the November/December time period there were 32 complaints submitted by three individuals. There were no flight tracks because there were no helicopter types that came through the data. She said they do know some operations occurred by the red helicopter. They have completed their training and for the most part had stopped flying at Flying Cloud. They did come back in early January but not to the degree they were flying before. Michelson said as part of their components for their Annual Report to the City Council, they may want to include some of this operational information. They had excessive complaints show up this time and the previous time. These complaints throw all of their data off and do not show the true picture of what is happening at the FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 12, 2012 Page 7 airport. He questioned how the Commission feels about eliminating the 3,000+ complaints from the data so they have a level playing field. Michelson suggested if one person files more than 100 complaints they be removed from the data. He said they should not change the original data but prepare an additional report to make the data more realistic. Nawrocki suggested they leave the information as it is because it shows the Commission is reviewing all of this information and they know excessive complaints occur and people seem to be abusing the system and this should be pointed out to the City Council. Michelson said he would like a side-by-side comparison to see if they are experiencing more complaints or not. Larsen asked if it would be possible to prepare the same noise complaint map and remove the complainant who filed 3,000 complaints and put that information on a separate report. They could also have an overall report showing everything reported. He suggested if more than 1,000 complaints are generated by one individual that information be reported in a separate document. The City Council does need to know this excessive reporting is occurring. Schendel said if they do what is being suggested, they are not only separating a particular address they are also removing some legitimate complaints. He asked if it would be possible to take out one particular complainant's complaints they can't verify to an aircraft operation. Michelson said he is not suggesting they change the report but to supplement it with something that is functional. Larsen said he is not sure they have the best ideas or suggestions of how to accomplish what they want to accomplish. They want fair and accurate reporting. He suggested they table this item to give all of them an opportunity to think about the best way to deal with these complaints and discuss it further at their next meeting. Pratten suggested a system which allows a person to call in and report an incident but not take another complaint from the same address for the same tract aircraft. He suggested they not allow eight calls on the same aircraft from the same person. Lewis said in November they received 3,326 complaints from one individual and in December they received 139 complaints from that same individual so it may be normalizing itself out. She said they can do comparisons or run reports with all complaints and a report with all complaints except for those households that reported an excessive amount of complaints. Lewis said for some of the other locations they do averages. She said she would work on some information to help determine the best way to project what is happening at Flying Cloud and present that to the Commission at their next meeting. Larsen suggested for the Commission's next meeting Lewis prepares the reports she has been preparing in the past and also present information on sorting out the complaints. He said they want to try to get an accurate assessment as to how noise is being experienced by the people in this community. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 12, 2012 Page 8 Lewis reported there were no Stage II operations. She also reported for November operations there were 35 operations which generated 15 different letters. In December there were 28 operations generating ten letters. IX. NOISE ABATEMENT/AIRCRAFT INCIDENTS X. NEW BUSINESS Schendel said his term on the Commission is up and he will not be seeking reappointment. He will work on getting another airport operator to take his place. Larsen said he and Michelson's terms are also up and their terms will end April 1. XI. OTHER BUSINESS A. VARIOUS FYI ITEMS A. Approved Minutes of September 2011 B. Boards and Commissions Recruitment C. 2012 Meeting Schedule Larsen pointed out the 2012 meeting schedule was included in their agenda material. He said the July meeting will be during the day and they will plan to meet with FBO's at the airport. D. New Residential Development and Noise Attenuation Kipp reported there is a new residential development occurring at Pioneer Trail and Mitchell Road. This development is within one-half mile of the ends of the runway. The City requires all of the houses in the development meet interior noise reduction inside from outside. This will be accomplished through a Development Agreement. This property is required to meet the 40DB reduction limit. Michelson asked if the City Council has ever considered increasing this to a higher level. Kipp said these are the FAA standards. Michelson said that does not mean it has to be standard to Eden Prairie. Kipp said getting to 45DB can be very expensive. Michelson said this is something that should be considered. E. City Council Workshop with Commission May 15, 2012 F. Next Commission Meeting —March 8, 2012 XII. ADJOURNMENT Motion: Tschohl moved, seconded by Pratten, to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.