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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFlying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission - 07/12/2018 APPROVED MINUTES FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION THURSDAY,JULY 12, 2018 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER COUNCIL CHAMBER 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair, Keith Tschohl; Braj Agrawal; Daniel Dorson; Dan Kiely; Kurt Schendel COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: Vice Chair Bob Barker, Dan Dorson, Mike Wilson STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Nathan Bellefeuille STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES ABSENT: None STAFF: George Esbensen, Fire Chief; Jan Curielli, City Recorder GUEST: Jennifer Lewis, MAC Representative; Gary Schmidt, MAC Director, Reliever Airports I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Tschohl called the meeting to order at 7:02 P.M. Wilson arrived at 7:27 P.M. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Tschohl said Item V. should be removed from the agenda. MOTION: Agrawal moved, seconded by Kiely, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion carried 4-0. III. PUBLIC COMMENT None. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. COMMISSION MEETING HELD THURSDAY,APRIL 12, 2018 MOTION: Agrawal moved, seconded by Schendel, to approve the minutes of the April 12, 2018, meeting as published. Motion carried 4-0. V. WELCOME NEW STUDENT COMMISSIONERS (Item deleted from agenda.) FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES July 12, 2018 Page 2 VI. STANDING DISCUSSION ITEMS A. NOISE REPORT—MAC Jennifer Lewis, MAC Representative, distributed copies of the second quarter 2018 Reliever Airport Operations and Noise Complaint Report. She reported there were increases in both complaints and operations for all reliever airport operations during the quarter. Operations at Flying Cloud Airport(FCM) made up about 30% of the operations of all reliever airports and received 37.5% of the noise complaints for all reliever airports. She noted there was a reduction of about 27% in nighttime complaints. Agrawal asked if the increase in both complaints and operations was due to seasonality. Lewis replied they do see some seasonal changes when people open windows or spend more time outside during the late spring and summer months. There is usually more flight training during that time as well. Lewis said there was a decrease in the percentage of complaints regarding jet activity. She noted the "unknown aircraft" category is usually VFR aircraft and is often related to flight training. Complaints for non-correlated operations made up 30% of the complaints for the quarter but were at 42% during the previous quarter. She explained these operations often come from MSP,but people believe they are coming from FCM. She said they are trying to make it easier to figure out to which airport a complaint should be tagged. They recently unveiled a new flight tracker tool that is more compatible with mobile devices and offers more analytics. Tschohl asked if they have tried to have residents characterize complaints other than what it sounds like. Lewis replied they have not because they believe there are other ways to help people understand what noise they are complaining about. The new tool should help with that because it allows them to zero in on their neighborhood and provides suggestions as to which operation it could be. Tschohl asked if it would be useful for the Commission to have a presentation about the tracker tool. Lewis replied the"Noise 101" presentation will provide an opportunity for the Commission to get basic information about airport noise and then can determine which subjects might be of further interest. Kiely asked if they have studied how high-complaint households, other than the couple of highest complaint households, might be impacted by education. Lewis said their research doesn't resolve itself in the same way in every case, and her discussions with complainants are always left open ended. She may give them more information and make suggestions to them. The complainant may then call back with a more informed question. A complaint is generally not resolved from one conversation unless they just want someone to know about their complaint. They may want to know why they hear planes sometimes but not others or why the airport can't close at night. She usually points them to specific information on FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES July 12, 2018 Page 3 the website. She also keeps an eye on any further complaints from them after she has spoken with them. She often has follow-up conversations with them which are usually shorter and more pointed. Lewis said she also reviewed the complaints received in the first quarter as compared to the first quarter of last year in order to evaluate the effect of the top spots. In her analysis she removed the complaints considered to be outliers because there are generally four households that rank in the top complainants, with two of the households very consistent by quarter. If the top spots are taken out of the complaint list, the number of complaints are fairly stable for FCM. B. ORDINANCE 97 VIOLATIONS--MAC Gary Schmidt, MAC Director, Reliever Airports, said the 14 violations reported for first quarter 2018 were all related to the Super Bowl, as Mr. Wilson reported at the last meeting. Those flights were handled through the reservation system where they did not always identify the aircraft. In addition, St. Paul diverted some flights to FCM, and at least two of the Ordinance 97 violations were related to those diversions. Since the Super Bowl there have been only two Ordinance 97 violations, and there have been no repeat violators. He believed the MAC's letter campaign appears to be working quite well. Esbensen noted he received copies of four letters. Mr. Schmidt responded two of them were duplicates, so the total to date would be 16 violations. Mr. Schmidt thought they are going about the process in the right way. He said the first letter to violators is an advisory letter about the ordinance. The letter sent to repeat violators would be more of a warning regarding continuous violations resulting in escalated enforcement. He noted they have questions about specifically who would be cited for the violation, whether it would be the pilot or the aircraft owner. At this point they have not had to make that decision since all of the violators that received a letter have observed the ordinance. He includes his name and phone number on the letter to the violators and has received a number of calls from those who got the letter. They generally accept that we have the ordinance but challenge why the ordinance is worded as it is,particularly for certain aircraft. Wilson arrived at 7:27 p.m. Tschohl asked Mr. Schmidt if any of the 16 ordinance violators have been back to the metropolitan area. Mr. Schmidt replied they are using MSP, Anoka, or Holman Field. C. AIRCRAFT INCIDENTS AND RUNWAY INCURSIONS--MAC Wilson reported there have continued to be incursions, and there have been several catches by the tower, including three in June and four in May. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES July 12, 2018 Page 4 Esbensen asked if Mr. Wilson believed the improvements made at the airport are making things more obvious. Wilson replied they have not had the same number of catches. His conversations with the flight schools indicate if a training flight is lined up to the wrong runway, the instructor would take over and get the aircraft lined up to the right runway. D. AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT UPDATES--MAC Wilson said they have put more updates in place, such as the riels on both ends of the north parallel runway which are separate from the runway circuit and can be lit up separately. The hold lines will be moved back 70 feet, and there will be more room between the parallels. The resurfacing of the north parallel runway will help as well. Tschohl asked about the timeline for the construction. Wilson replied they plan to start on August 20, and will send out letters during the first week of August. It will not be necessary to relocate aircraft for this update, although it will be somewhat congested for a while. They will start the construction at the east end, and taxiways near each portion under construction will be closed. He reviewed the sequence for the phased construction. He noted they will also install signs for all taxiway connectors on the north parallel runway. Tschohl asked about plans for the hangar areas. Wilson replied there is one plan in for the north area. Mr. Schmidt noted the north side of the airport was looking pretty dilapidated 15 years ago,but in the next five to ten years almost all of the north side will have been reconstructed. Tschohl asked if the subject of the airport's appearance is a City Council or Planning Commission item. Esbensen replied the whole airport appearance has been a topic of discussion in recent years,but not as a regular topic. Wilson said this is the 75th anniversary of the airport. They have requested eight black hills spruce to be planted to help the line of sight from houses in Hennepin Village. The trees will have plaques to commemorate the 75th anniversary. E. JOINT AIRPORT ZONING BOARD (JAZB) UPDATES Wilson said the JAZB is scheduled to meet again on August 23. As expected, MnDOT rejected the proposed zoning ordinance. They asked us to look at changes needed and to resubmit the plan. MnDOT also offered to help set up a meeting to discuss some of the points. F. EDUCATIONAL ITEMS None. VI. OTHER OLD BUSINESS FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES July 12, 2018 Page 5 A. RECAP OF MAY 16, 2018 AIRPORT TOUR Tschohl said those taking the tour had more of a walk through than in the past. They saw the new MAC facility at the old Executive Aviation location. He was struck by the conversation about how much business is coming in from regional businesses. Mr. Schmidt said they are rolling out an economic impact study and plan to share it with communities. They plan to share it with the FCAAC at the next meeting. Wilson said he has heard comments about the MAC wasting money at the new facility. He explained they have an 18-year payback period from leases in the building. Tschohl noted Mr. Wilson had said earlier they got twice as much building area as they would have with new construction. Wilson replied it is actually about three times as much. Tschohl asked about the expected lifetime for the building. Schmidt said it is rated at 50 years,but they review it every ten years. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. UPCOMING EVENTS AND TOPICS FOR FUTURE FCAAC MEETINGS 1. Wings of the North Air Expo (July 14-15) Wilson reviewed the different types of aircraft expected to participate in the event. 2. Semiannual MAC Noise Abatement Seminar (Saturday, September 15) 3. "Noise 101" (October 2018 FCAAC meeting) 4. "Environment 101" (January 2019 FCAAC meeting) 5. Minneapolis TRACON Tour (Date TBD) Tschohl asked Mr. Wilson about the possibility of having a TRACON tour as was discussed at the last meeting. Wilson replied he checked on that, and they said it would be best to schedule the tour during normal business hours, Monday through Friday. Tschohl suggested we poll the Commission members to see what dates would be work well. Wilson noted a requirement for participating in the tour would be U.S. citizenship. Kiely asked where the tour would take place. Tschohl said it is located at the base of the MSP control tower. Wilson noted it is south of Hwy 62. 6. Review 2035 Flying Cloud LTCP Draft (Date TBD) FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES July 12, 2018 Page 6 Schendel commented the noise abatement seminar on September 15 will be during the Saturday morning meeting. He reported the annual air tour organized by individuals and originating at FCM will be held on September 22. That event involves a group of aviators and aircraft flying into two locations. He asked anyone who had an interest in being a passenger for that event to contact him to sign up. They plan to depart FCM by 8:00 a.m. VIII. ADJOURNMENT A. NEXT COMMISSION MEETING—October 11, 2018 MOTION: Kiely moved, seconded by Agrawal, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 5-0. Chair Tschohl adjourned the meeting at 7:45 P.M.