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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFlying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission - 01/12/2017 APPROVED MINUTES FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION THURSDAY,JANUARY 12, 2017 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER HERITAGE ROOM I 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair, Keith Tschohl; Vice-Chair, Caryl Hansen; Bob Barker; Dan Kiely; Kurt Schendel; Mike Wilson COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: None STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES ABSENT: Connor Pesheck; Ben Shepard STAFF: Becki White, Assistant Fire Chief; Jan Curielli, City Recorder VISITORS: Jennifer Lewis, MAC Representative; Robert Dockery, MAC Representative; Tom McDonough, 8971 Garland Court, Eden Prairie I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Tschohl called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Tschohl added Item V.a.ii—Revised Pilot Guide and Draft Noise Abatement Plan Update. MOTION: Wilson moved, seconded by Hansen, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion carried 6-0. III. PUBLIC COMMENT Tom McDonough, 8971 Garland Court, said he lives near Staring Lake and has recently completed noise proofing in his bedroom to help alleviate the noise from the airport. He said there is less noise with the soundproofing,but they still hear some noise. He wanted to come to a meeting to learn what the Commission does. Tschohl reviewed the background and interests of the Commission members. He said the Commission was formed as a way for the MAC to interact with the City's residents and City staff about airport activities. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES January 12, 2017 Page 2 IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. COMMISSION MEETING HELD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016 MOTION: Hansen moved, seconded by Barker, to approve the minutes of the October 13, 2016, meeting as published. Motion carried 6-0. V. STANDING DISCUSSION ITEMS A. NOISE REPORT—MAC Jennifer Lewis, MAC representative, said she works in the MAC Noise Abatement Office. Her office provides data analysis by tracking flights and correlating noise complaints received by their office. Information on flight data is available on their website. She prepares monthly reports on noise complaints and conducts noise complaint seminars for all seven of the MAC airports. Mr. McDonough asked if the noise complaints are received by phone. Ms Lewis said her office receives complaints by phone calls, emails and website entries. Mr. McDonough then asked if they conduct any electronic monitoring around the airport property. Ms Lewis said they do not have that sort of equipment at the airport. Ms Lewis reviewed the noise complaint reports for October, November and December, 2016. She noted she provided updated reports for June through September, 2016,because those reports reviewed at the last meeting were missing the maps. She commented that, overall, they are seeing more activity during the night time hours. There was a significant reduction in the number of complaints received in October 2016 as compared to October 2015; but the number of complaints received in December 2016 showed an increase over December of 2015. She felt the increase in December complaints may be attributed somewhat to the increase in nighttime operations. She said seven letters were sent to operators in December 2016. Tschohl noted the maps showed there was an uptick in noise complaints coming from a household east of Hwy 169 near the Hyland Lake area. He asked if Ms Lewis had talked to anyone in that household as he questioned whether that location might be under the pattern for MSP traffic. He said it also seems that aircraft are being turned much closer in and are descending sooner. Ms Lewis replied they have noticed an increase in overall complaints from Eden Prairie residents that are related to MSP traffic. She said she will take a closer look at that particular household's complaints and report back on that and the change in aircraft turning and descent patterns. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES January 12, 2017 Page 3 1. Recap of Fall 2016 Noise Abatement Seminar Tschohl commented the seminar was well received. He said there was a comment made about seeing the same group of people at these seminars. He asked the Commission members about what could be done differently in terms of content to attract more people. While we want to continue discussing the night-time restrictions and the noise abatement tracks at the seminars,he thought there might be other subjects that could be discussed. He also asked for suggestions about what could be done to engage to a broader audience. Ms Lewis said at a previous meeting the Commission asked to see a copy of the letters that go out to aircraft operators, and she had distributed a copy of the letter. She said the responses they receive to the letter allow them to understand more about the aircraft operation and if there are suggestions that can be offered to the operator. She reviewed the report attached to the sample letter that tallied the top FCM aircraft operators who received letters for 2016-2014. She agreed that generally the same operators attend the seminars. Wilson said the operators are well aware of the noise abatement procedures. Some of the operators will let him know in advance about an operation,but there are others who do not. Tschohl asked if they receive much feedback from new operators who receive the letters. Ms Lewis replied they don't have a lot of new operators, but generally those new operators who receive a letter are very respectful of the noise abatement requirements. Many of those operators are unable to attend the seminars. Occasionally one of the operators who received a letter will ask that she come to them to give a seminar, and she did that for one operator in November, 2016. Wilson asked about the response rate on the letters. Ms Lewis replied it is pretty low. They sent out five letters to FCM operators in October and received one response. Similarly, in November they received one response to the six letters sent out. Wilson noted some of the operators call Gary Schmidt directly to respond to the letter. Ms Lewis said they also sometimes respond by email. Wilson said reaching out to operators is a universal issue at all the airports. Schendel commented those who normally show up at the seminars don't show a lot of ownership for generating complaints and probably don't think it pertains to them. Ms Lewis noted she had distributed copies of the presentation given at the seminar on November 19, 2016. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES January 12, 2017 Page 4 2. Revised Pilot Guide and Draft Noise Abatement Plan Update Ms Lewis distributed copies of the two documents. She said her office has simplified and freshened up the Pilot Guide. The Flying Cloud Airport Noise Abatement Plan is almost the same. The run-up location on the map in the Guide is the major change that was not included before. She asked the Commission members to review the revised plan and Pilot Guide and give her feedback by next week. The Pilot Guide was designed to be accessible to operators while they operate the aircraft. It has a map on the back that shows the location of residential areas within a mile of FCM. Wilson suggested the location on the map for the run-up be changed so it doesn't appear to go over the taxiway. Tschohl said the tower opens at 6:00 AM, not 7:00, and the name, "Starling Lake," should be changed to "Staring Lake." Tschohl thanked Ms Lewis for providing the two drafts. He noted there will be no formal Commission approval of the documents,but he encouraged Commission members to make further comments. He will forward any comments to Chief Esbensen so he and the City Council can see them as well. He asked if anything was deleted or changed in the plan. Ms Lewis replied they deleted the section regarding Stage 2 noise abatement operations because of the change in regulations regarding those aircraft. Wilson asked if they had received any input about the Guide design. Ms Lewis said they got input that the map was not easy to read and should be made bigger. Tschohl asked if she talked to any operators at FCM about their preference for orientation and layout and if there was a PDF file that could be easily plugged in. Ms Lewis said they are in the process now of getting feedback. This document will be a PDF that will be easily viewable on a tablet and that will have a detailed view when you zoom in. She said they are open to other ideas, and they will be making changes as they get feedback. B. AIRCRAFT INCIDENTS AND RUNWAY INCURSIONS—MAC Wilson said on Christmas Eve a Learjet skidded off the end of the runway; however, there were no injuries or damage to the aircraft. There were icy conditions on the runways starting on December 23, when they received a report of poor conditions. There were poor conditions off and on during that period from Christmas to New Year's Day. They were using deicer during that time,but the conditions were very difficult. Kiely asked if there are issues with the use of deicers at different temperatures. Wilson reviewed their experience using different types and amounts of deicing solution and noted conditions are much better today. Kiely asked if there are environmental issues with the use of deicers and if it is applied at special FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES January 12, 2017 Page 5 locations. Wilson noted there is only one user that has liquid deicing capabilities, and the MAC's Environmental Department works with users on that subject. C. AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT UPDATES—MAC 1. 2017 & 2018 Construction Projects Wilson said they hope to use some State funding to start construction of the maintenance building in 2017. They will need to get a variance from the City in order to include sleeping quarters in the building. They are still working on the design of the building,but there will be cold storage for equipment and the facility will be much better than the current situation. He said some alleyways will be reconstructed,but there is no work planned for taxiways or runways in 2017. 2. Non-aeronautical Use Updates Wilson said plans are proceeding for the day care facility on the west side near Mitchell Road and Pioneer Trail. Some of the other non-aeronautical use parcels were pulled back from the FAA process because the State had issues about their use. 3. Public Viewing Area Updates Wilson said they are working with Magellan Pipeline for an access agreement. Mr. Dockery was hired as our airport operations agent and will be taking on the non-aeronautical issues at the airports. Tschohl asked when construction of the viewing area would occur. Wilson said that is somewhat dependent on the contractor,but should occur sometime this summer. Hansen asked where it will be located. Wilson said it is by the soccer fields where there is a nice view of all the departures. Barker noted it is by the weather station. D. UAS REGULATORY AND INTEGRATION UPDATES —MAC Wilson said they have been getting some requests for drone usage. His office has now been told they can allow them on airport property. He said they plan to have insurance requirements for the requests. Tschohl asked if Amazon has made any inquiries about drones. Wilson replied they have not,but they did have one request for a drone to communicate with the tower and have the tower read back their commands over the radio to the drone. Wilson said they are considering adding a section regarding drone operations in the new Long Term Comprehensive Plan (LTCP). He noted the subject of drones is a huge guessing game, but some sort of plan will be developed, possibly including a separate runway for drones. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES January 12, 2017 Page 6 Kiely asked about the potential for getting the new tower. Wilson replied the Federal government only gave them up to $2,000,000 for airport improvement, and that would not be enough funding. Kiely asked if there is any way to reserve the land. Wilson said there is nothing in that area and noted they are still making a push on the safety issue. Kiely asked if there are any issues with security at the airport. Wilson said there was an incident of rims taken off a Cadillac Escalade. They installed some cameras. The MAC is updating lighting to LEDs at MSP and have offered their old fixtures to us so the lighting can be updated. E. EDUCATIONAL ITEMS None. VI. OTHER OLD BUSINESS A. REVIEW 2017 WORK PLAN Tschohl reviewed the 2016 Commission Work Plan and the draft 2017 Work Plan. He said he plans to include general and specific goals on the 2017 Work Plan and reviewed the slides included in his draft PowerPoint presentation. Commission members discussed the individual slides in the draft presentation. Barker suggested we mention the public viewing area as a separate bullet in the specific goals for 2017. Tschohl said he will be presenting the Commission's accomplishments in 2016 and the 2017 Work Plan at the City Council workshop next Tuesday evening. He asked Commission members to send any additional suggestions for the Work Plan to Chief Esbensen by this weekend so those can be incorporated into the presentation. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. RECOGNITION OF CARYL HANSEN'S 6 YEARS OF SERVICE ON THE COMMISSION Tschohl thanked Ms Hansen for her six years of service on the FCAAC. Hansen said she decided to retire from the Commission after she turned 85 this week. B. UPCOMING EVENTS AND TOPICS FOR FUTURE FCAAC MEETINGS 1. City Council Workshop (January 17) Tschohl invited Commission members to attend the workshop which begins at 5:30 PM, and to let Chief Esbensen know if they plan to attend. 2. MNDoT Aeronautics & EPPD Update on UAS Intesration (April/July 2017 FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES January 12, 2017 Page 7 Tschohl would like to invite MNDoT and the Eden Prairie Police Department to present an update on UAS integration this summer. 3. Airport Tour With New Commissioners (May 2017, tentative) Tschohl suggested we set the date for the airport tour for new Commission members and others for May, 2017. 4. WOTN Air Expo (July 2017) Wilson said they will probably continue to use the south area for this event. 5. Review 2035 Flying Cloud LTCP Draft (2017-2018) Wilson said they are looking at different options at the Crystal airport after reviewing the public comments on that LTCP. They are continuing work on Airlake's LTCP now, with the Flying Cloud LTCP coming up next. 6. MAC Noise Abatement Seminars Ms Lewis said the next seminar is scheduled for March 18, 2017. VIII. ADJOURNMENT A. NEXT COMMISSION MEETINGS 1. April 13, 2017 2. July 13, 2017 3. October 12, 2017 MOTION: Hansen moved, seconded by Schendel, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 6-0. Chair Tschohl adjourned the meeting at 9:09 PM.