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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFlying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission - 05/09/2013 APPROVED MINUTES FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2013 7:00 P.M. CITY CENTER HERITAGE ROOM 1 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Jeff Larsen, Chair; Keith Tschohl, Vice-Chair; Commissioners: Caryl Hansen, Jeff Nawrocki, John Pratten, Ben McQuillan and Joe Sutila STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Kevin Gadel, Peter Humbert and Emily Richter COMMISSION STAFF PRESENT: Patrick Maynard, Assistant Fire Chief Carol Pelzel, Recorder VISITORS: Jennifer Lewis, MAC Representative Rick King, MAC Commissioner for District B John Nelson, MAC Manager of Noise Environment Planning Al Dye, MAC Project Manager Mary Blake, FCM Tower Jason Wallace, FCM Tower I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Larsen called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Tschohl moved, seconded by Sutila, to approve the agenda as presented. The motion carried 7-0. III. PUBLIC COMMENT IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. COMMISSION MEETING HELD THURSDAY,JANUARY 10, 2013 MOTION: Motion was made by Tschohl, seconded by McQuillan, to approve the March 14, 2013 minutes as presented. The motion carried 6-0-1 with Hansen abstaining because of absence from that meeting. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES May 9, 2013 Page 2 V. DISCUSSION ITEMS A. FCM OPERATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD Nawrocki explained in the past, operator of the year recipients were aircraft training businesses, helicopter businesses and FBO's on the airfield. This year Nawrocki said they have selected Mary Blake, Manager of the FCM Tower and Jason Wallace, Supervisor at the Tower, to receive the award. Nawrocki further explained the tower does a great job and is very much aware of the noise abatement plan. They balance the needs and safety of all of the users of the airport facility. Blake thanked the Commission for the award and explained when she came to Flying Cloud there were a lot of problems. Nawrocki helped them work through those issues with MAC. Sutila thanked both Blake and Wallace for giving him a tour of the facility when he moved into the City. Tschohl said he had the opportunity to work with Blake when the Commission was preparing a publication and she was a great asset to that project. B. NOISE COMPLAINTS/STAGE 2 OPERATIONS REPORT FOR MARCH/APRIL Jennifer Lewis, MAC Representative, introduced John Nelson, Manager of Noise Environment Planning. Nelson will be replacing Chad Leqve who was promoted. She also introduced Al Dye who is a project manager with MAC. Lewis presented the noise complaints received by MAC for the months of March and April, 2013. For the month of March complaints totaled 237 compared to 223 for the same time period in 2012. However, only 18 households complained compared to 22 last year. Nighttime complainants totaled 112 with eight of those pertaining to helicopter operations. The largest aircraft types generating the largest number of complaints were unknown. They have the data but they do not have the aircraft ID data. Lewis reported for the month of April there was a significant increase in complaints. There were a total of 411 complaints compared to 121 from the year before. Of those complaints, 166 were generated for nighttime operations with 14 specified helicopter operations. Lewis said the primary increase in complaints was attributed to one person. This person is responsible for approximately 60 percent of the complaints. Four households were responsible for 90 percent of the complaints. The number of people complaining increased in nighttime operations. She reported 24 letters were mailed to operators compared to 13 letters in the previous year. Lewis said they have been unable to contact the person who made the majority of the complaints. This one household submitted 300 complaints. The complainant has not provided them with any contact information and this household is not a new complainer. Lewis said they have had communication with the other three major complainers for the month of April. Tschohl asked if there is any pattern in the time of day or day of the week for the majority of complaints. Lewis responded most of the complaints are for nighttime between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. but there are also quite a few during the day time. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES May 9, 2013 Page 3 Larsen asked if there is any way to contact this individual. Lewis said she would work with Nawrocki to see if there is any way to get in touch with this household. They do not want to force themselves on them. Larsen said he has not received anything from the City indicating they have been contacted by this individual. He questioned if there is any way to acknowledge to this individual that their complaints are presented to this Commission and reviewed. Lewis said they have in the past reached out to individuals that had concerns and they welcome the opportunity to reach out to this person. She said she would work with Nawrocki to discuss other opportunities they might have in contacting this individual. However, she said she could not commit to contacting this person because that goes above her level. Lewis said she would look into this further and report back to the Commission at their next meeting if any action was taken and what that action was. Lewis reported there have been no Stage II operations reported since June, 2012. C. MAC & FCM UPDATE Rick King, MAC Commissioner, explained he previously served as Chair of this Commission and in March, 2011, was appointed to the Metropolitan Airports Commission representing District B which includes the southwest area of the Twin Cities including Flying Cloud Airport. King said most of the items the Commission deals with concerns MSP. King explained airport operations have declined since 2002. Flying Cloud operations have also declined since that time. King reviewed planned improvements at Flying Cloud including a slight shift of Runway 18/36 north and completion of the perimeter road. The shifting of the runway will not have any impact on the two parallel runways. This runway will also be slightly lengthened to bring it up to 2,800 feet and will add to the safety of the runway. King further explained future improvements for Flying Cloud and explained MAC will be looking at non-aeronautical revenue development in 2014. This revenue will go towards funding for reliever airports and assist in financing other things that need to be done. In 2015 the first phase of Taxiway A will be reconstructed and final water and sewer installation for the south building area should be completed. King discussed sequestration and explained Flying Cloud tower is staffed by the FAA and not contract employees. The tower remains fully operational but is on a list of FAA towers for possible closure. The closure is still to be determined. King indicated the tower does close at night and there are procedures to follow when the tower is closed. MAC has discussed funding for the tower but King said he does not believe this is something they will do. King reminded the Commission of the Air Expo to take place on July 13 and 14, 2013. He reviewed MSP operations including new services, terminal improvements and key improvements to take place in 2013. Improvements include I-494/34th Avenue interchange, expansion of international arrivals, new restaurants and a new Terminal 2 auto rental facility. King said beyond 2013 they are exploring solar development, construction of one or more airport hotels, expansion of non-aeronautical revenues and implementation of a long- term plan as demand warrants. The 2030 long-term plan proposes Lindberg roadway and parking improvements. There is no plan to do work on the runways themselves. King said they are projecting more than 50 million passengers by 2030 and they will need 20 to 30 FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES May 9, 2013 Page 4 more aircraft gates and an additional 18,000 parking spaces. King explained the Environmental Review has been completed as has the study on the economic impact of MSP in the Twin Cities. King reported the FAA provides metrics and measures of aircraft noise around airports. MAC administers the most extensive airport noise mitigation program in the United States. Nearly $500 million has been spent on mitigation. He said MAC has more public discussion on noise than on anything else. Tschohl asked what the typical funding breakdown is for capital improvements. He questioned how much of the funding is from Federal versus MAC user fees and other local funding sources. Dye responded MSP cannot use FAA funds for terminals. All grant money from the FAA for MSP typically goes for runway projects including expansion at T2 with a fair amount of FAA grant money going to the reliever airports. Larsen questioned the status of the Joint Airport Zoning Board (JAZB) and asked if King serves as the Chair of that Board. King explained he serves as a MAC member of the Board and cannot serve as Chair. He is not sure if there is a Chair at this time. The Board does still exist but they were waiting for a court decision to be rendered on the entire airport zoning. That decision will determine if they do the zoning agreed to. A lawsuit directly challenges rights about the zoning. King said he expects if there is a negative decision toward zoning and no further appeals then JAZB will cease. If there is a positive decision, the JAZB will probably start back up. King said the MAC Commissioners appreciate the role this Commission plays in the community. He said they are willing to help this Commission in any way they can. On behalf of the Commission, Larsen thanked King for coming to the meeting and for his presentation to the Commission. D. REVIEW OF APRIL 13 TOUR OF FCM Larsen reported he, Tschohl and Humbert toured Flying Cloud on April 13. Tschohl said it was a more in-depth tour of MAC operations at the airport. They did visit the new Thunderbird facility and they also toured Elliott and saw some of their operations. The tour helped them better understand the day-to-day operations at the airport. Larsen said they should include Thunderbird in their July tour. E. CITY WEBSITE PRESENTATION/REVIEW EVALUATION REPORT Pratten said he has nothing new to report. He is still waiting to meet with City staff to review the site. Larsen asked Pratten to continue with this project though it is not urgent. There is some older information on the site that should be archived. The site should also be cleaned up and the Operator of the Year and Commission pictures should be included on the site. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES May 9, 2013 Page 5 VI. EDUCATIONAL ITEMS VII. NOISE ABATEMENT/AIRCRAFT INCIDENTS VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. 36"ANNUAL BOARD AND COMMISSION BANQUET Larsen reminded the Commission that the annual Board and Commission banquet is scheduled for Wednesday, May 15. B. 2013 AIR EXPO Larsen reminded the Commission of the 2013 AirExpo to be held at Flying Cloud Airport on July 13 and 14, 2013. IX. OTHER BUSINESS A. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SERVICE BY STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES On behalf of the Commission, Larsen thanked student representatives Gadel, Humbert and Richter for their service on the Commission. B. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SERVICE AND RETIREMENT OF COMMISSION RECORDER Larsen announced that Pelzel will be retiring as Commission Recorder. On behalf of the Commission he thanked her for her service. Nawrocki reported last year MAC and the FAA worked on a plan for the air traffic control tower to open one hour earlier. The FAA was able to justify opening the tower earlier and will ease into this change notifying people flying in and out of the airport. This should not affect the noise abatement plan. Larsen asked that any information being sent out regarding this change be provided to the Commission. C. VARIOUS FYI ITEMS 1. Approved minutes of January 10, 2013 meeting. 2. MAC follow-up items about traffic counts and landscaping from march meeting. 3. March 21, 2013 newspaper article about FCM tower operation and FCAAC. 4. Keith Tschohl's March 23, 2013 e-mail with tower closing update. 5. Newspaper article about delays in closing control towers —April 6, 2013. 6. Newspaper notice for student commissioner openings on FCAAC. 7. Newspaper article about AirExpo 2013. 8. Next Commission Meeting —July 11, 2013. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES May 9, 2013 Page 6 XII. ADJOURNMENT Motion: Motion was made by Hansen, seconded by Tschohl, to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m.