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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFlying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission - 04/11/2019 (2) APPROVED MINUTES FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION THURSDAY,APRIL 11, 2019 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER HERITAGE ROOM I 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair, Keith Tschohl; Braj Agrawal, Bob Barker, Daniel Dorson; Dan Kiely; Mike Wilson COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: Kurt Schendel STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Lucas Lorenz STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES ABSENT: Rahul Bhaysar, Charles Bjorling STAFF: Scott Gerber, EP Fire Chief; Kevin Schmieg, Building Inspections Manager; Jan Curielli, City Recorder GUESTS: Jennifer Lewis, MAC Representative; Dean Cowdery, Resident; Cindi and Jeff Middaugh, Residents; Linda and Tom Wegner, Residents; Mary Stoecker, Resident I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Tschohl called the meeting to order at 7:04 P.M. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Wilson added Item VII.D. MOTION: Dorson moved, seconded by Agrawal, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion carried 6-0. III. PUBLIC COMMENT Cindi Middaugh, 9516 Creek Knoll Rd., asked why the January minutes had not yet been posted on the website. Tschohl explained the minutes are not available until they have been approved at the next commission meeting. She then asked if the noise data about Flying Cloud Airport (FCM) she received from Ms Lewis tonight could be posted with the minutes. Barker assured her the data is available on the website and will be more current than the data included in the published quarterly report. Wilson noted the report is located on the website, macnoise.comz Interactive Reports. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES April 11, 2019 Page 2 Mary Stoecker, 12107 Cartway Curve, said she has noticed an increase in nighttime operations around 12 p.m.-1 a.m. When she leaves for work around 4:45 a.m., she occasionally sees lights on at the airport during the restricted hours, often in a big X- shape. Tschohl said one of the Commission's missions is to monitor night-time operations;however,restrictions at FCM are voluntary. Operators are discouraged from using the airport at night; however, the FAA has strict rules regarding when access can be restricted. FCM is a 24-hour facility, and an operator can legally use the airport any time of the day. The MAC works with operators to use proper procedures, to follow the noise abatement procedures, and to discourage night-time operations; however, it is ultimately up to the operator. Barker noted there is a constant low level of light at night on the airport taxiways. Tschohl said two runways were closed during the Final Four event to allow overflow parking, and the north parallel is closed at night. Wilson noted the big X light tells pilots the runway is closed. There are several red lights and those may appear to be an X-shape from where Ms Stoecker lives,but it is not a red X. The airport also added security lights for safety purposes during for the Final Four event. Linda Wegner, 10061 Purgatory Road, asked the reason for the increase in night-time flights. Barker said the airport was very busy the past week because of the Final Four event. Jennifer Lewis, MAC representative, said her office does not see tremendous increases in night-time operations, and the report for First Quarter 2019 shows a slight decrease for total operations in 2019 versus 2018. Barker noted one of the challenges for the Commission is to separate data from anecdotes. Commission members meet and look at the data because that is based on flight plans filed, so this is what we have to work with. Tschohl suggested we continue this type of question during Ms Lewis' report. Ms Wegner asked about the tower's hours of operation. Tschohl replied the tower closes at 10 p.m. Barker noted pilots use a self-announcing protocol at FCM, which is the same as the protocol used at about 90% of outlying airports in the country. Jeff Middaugh, 9516 Creek Knoll Rd., asked whether there could be more noise related to a flight at takeoff. Tschohl replied he did not know of any procedures that have changed recently. Wilson replied the FAA has only so much space operators can use to turn flights, and aircraft must make their turns when it is safe to do so. That distance is usually 3/4 to one mile off the end of the runway. In addition, the aircraft cannot get up as fast in calm weather. Barker noted planes taking off from FCM will head either east or west, depending on the direction of the wind. Ms Lewis added the noise we hear as humans is affected by wind, weather and humidity conditions. Gerber said yesterday he received an email from Dave Rosa, an Eden Prairie resident who owns a townhome on Emerson Court, stating he is not able to work out of his house because of the constant flight traffic noise. Mr. Rosa noted the voluntary system does not work, and he does not believe all the night time flights that occur are medical flights. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. COMMISSION MEETING HELD THURSDAY,JANUARY 10, 2019 FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES April 11, 2019 Page 3 Tschohl said Mr. Cowdery's first name is "Dean," not"Dan" as it appeared. MOTION: Dorson moved, seconded by Agrawal, to approve the minutes of the January 10, 2019, meeting as amended. Motion carried 6-0. V. STANDING DISCUSSION ITEMS A. NOISE REPORT--MAC Ms Lewis distributed copies of the First Quarter 2019 MAC Reliever Airport Operations and Noise Complaint Report. She reported an increase in complaints for the first quarter when compared to last year, which was not correlated to a trend in increased operations. A run-up activity occurred in January in an area that was not ideal for such an operation and caused a number of complaints. Her office sent letters to the owner and operator of the aircraft involved. Tom Wegner, 10061 Purgatory Road, asked if the report compared the quarter to all of 2018. Ms Lewis replied it is only compared by quarter. Dorson said the Commission has been concerned about run-ups, and those are controlled by the MAC. The airport is always open and pilots can land,but they are not to conduct operations for repair or maintenance at night. Wilson explained the hours for such activity are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with three locations set aside for such operations between 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. This particular operation asked for a 40-minute run-up close to 10 p.m., and the tower moved them over to a run-up pad near Hennepin Village. The MAC told tower personnel it was important to instruct aircraft to go to one of three locations designated for the late operations. He noted they have had a good response from the tower operators. Tschohl asked if we have had other complaints about run-ups in that area. Wilson said the MAC has received other complaints about run-ups that occur at that location during the day. There was one run-up during the Final Four event that went to the designated run-up location. Ms Lewis continued her report to explain that complaints for February were lower than last year, while March saw a slight increase over 2018. There was a stable level of operations in January, a decrease in February, and a slight increase in March. There were more complaints received for the quarter than in first quarter 2018. Her office continues to send letters to operations that generate complaints during the nighttime, usually averaging from two to six letters per month, a lower number than previous years. The letters often go to the same operators. There have been fewer complaints about nighttime operations,but more people are interested. She has received more phone calls and emails from individuals this spring. She noted some of those contacts were related to the Final Four and the run-up activity in January. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES April 11, 2019 Page 4 Ms Lewis said some of those who contact her feel the number of operations at FCM has grown significantly over the past several years. She noted there are misperceptions about that, and she offered to come to a neighborhood and meet with the people there. Her office is planning to expand such outreach activities by taking the discussion out to the neighborhoods and meeting with them. She is coordinating a process with homeowners' associations for open houses, and has planned two open houses this summer. The first open house will be conducted at the new viewing area near the airport, as was suggested by the Commission. Dean Cowdery, 10410 Spyglass Drive, appreciated Ms Lewis' report. He noted he attended the last meeting of the Commission in January and received information about the night flights for emergency services. He tried to check into that and found there are two primary operators who provide those services. He asked if there is any way to tell how many of the nighttime flights are coming from the emergency services. Ms Lewis replied her office can analyze the operations and determine those for which we know the purpose: however, there are some operations that occur about which we have no information. Wilson explained one of the categories of aircraft in the noise report is "unknown," which means we have no information on the actual aircraft. The category of"unknown" makes up 47% of the operations in the first quarter of 2019. Ms. Lewis explained the unknown flights are those operating under Visual Flight Rules (VFR)that don't report their identification information and do not file a flight plan. Barker noted he would resist the interpretation that medical flights are the only aircraft flying at night. It maybe incoming aircraft for emergency purposes about which we have no information. Ms Lewis said the known information is listed on the flight tracker, which is available to everyone on the website. Her office had a meeting with the operator that performs a large percentage of the emergency services operations. They indicated they would be willing to come before the Commission to discuss their business operations. Such flights are generally non- scheduled and occur as often as necessary. She noted there are a lot of operators who provide such services. Schmieg noted there may be more than one team that deals with a single organ source, because organ harvesting is generally done by the surgeon performing the transplant and there may be multiple organs to transplant. Wilson said they sometimes have to swap out coordinators due to regulations about duration of flight time, and there are restrictions as to which organs can be on the same flight; e.g. a heart cannot be flown with any other organs. He thought it would be helpful to have information about the known medical flights. Agrawal asked if there is no way to estimate the unknown flights. Ms Lewis said we rely only on the information we know about a specific flight. Tschohl asked if we are able to break down what time the 577 flights for the quarter occurred. Ms Lewis replied the distribution is generally between 5 to 7 a.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. We are entering into the season where the hours of sunlight FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES April 11, 2019 Page 5 are longer. Tschohl commented there are requirements for pilots who carry passengers to practice landings during the night-time hours. That becomes somewhat of an issue during the summer when nighttime hours are limited. Barker noted the requirement for recurring training is because of safety concerns. Kiely asked about the total operations for 2018. Wilson said it was about 90,000. Kiely asked how that compared to ten years ago. Ms Lewis said in 2008 there were 119,139 operations. Kiely noted one of our theories was that as the economy picked up, traffic increased. Wilson explained activity was considerably higher 20 years ago. The low year was 2014 with 23,000 operations,but the number has grown higher since that time. Ms Lewis reported she sent letters to the locations with the most number of complaints to offer her services to analyze or discuss operations involved in their complaints. She included information about the anticipated activity during the Final Four event in this month's letters. She received some positive responses from those letters. Ms Stoecker asked to whom the letters were sent. Ms Lewis responded they went to the top spot locations and other residents with whom she had conversed. B. ORDINANCE 97 MONITORING—MAC Wilson noted there was an uptick violations of the weight restrictions specified in Ordinance 97 over the fourth quarter 2018. Four aircraft were overweight, and letters were sent to those operators. One violation in January was repeated in that month. Ms Wegner asked what the letters contain. Wilson replied it is a letter to inform them of the offense and to let them know such a violation is a misdemeanor. C. AIRPORT OPERATIONAL UPDATES—MAC 1. Aircraft Incidents/Incursions Wilson reported one aircraft had a partial wheel collapse, and his office responded by closing that area of the taxi-way. There were two recent incursions where aircraft went past the designated runway. He noted they have turned up the guard lights on the runway to make it lighter. They also plan to repaint the runway lines to go back to the way they were marked before the lines were repainted last summer. There was an incident of an aircraft under tow where the operator believed he was cleared to cross a runway. 2. Airport Development FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES April 11, 2019 Page 6 Wilson said they plan to redo taxiways Echo and Delta this year. They are continuing to work on the lighting. Barker asked about the timing of the activity and if they will do one at a time. Wilson said they will start the end of July or early August, and the work will be staged. 3. NCAA Final Four Recap Wilson showed photos of the airport taken during the recent Final Four event. He reported they expected to have 500 aircraft coming in to the Twin Cities, with 200 on the ground at one time. The total ended up to be 1400-1500 aircraft. FCM had 88 aircraft on Saturday and 117 on Monday for the championship game. Barker asked how those numbers compared to the Super Bowl. Wilson replied this event was two back-to-back events. Most of the Saturday traffic came in the afternoon and wanted to leave Saturday night, with the same thing occurring on Monday. They had about 37-40 aircraft that left after the game between 11:45 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. on Monday night. Wilson said they had more aircraft on the ground over the two days for this event compared to the Super Bowl. The count for this event was well over double what we expected. They did see one over-size aircraft at FCM, and that operator will receive a letter. Mr. Cowdery asked if Eden Prairie benefits financially from this type of event. Wilson replied he would think so because of people using hotels and restaurants in town. They did see a decrease in local traffic during the event. Local operators typically did not fly during this time, so there was hardly any other traffic over the weekend. D. JOINT AIRPORT ZONING BOARD (JAZB) UPDATES Tschohl announced the JAZB ordinance was approved yesterday and will be effective on May 1. With that approval, the work of the JAZB board was completed. The ordinance represents more than ten years of work. Minnesota State law requires airports to have a zoning ordinance to oversee zoning requirements around the airport for the safety of property and air space protection. If the ordinance had not been put in place, it could have resulted in restrictions about land use. The process involved the City and the MAC negotiating an ordinance that would meet muster with the State. Barker noted Chanhassen and Shakopee were also included in the process since those cities are impacted because of their proximity to FCM. Tschohl said the ordinance puts in place new safety zones around runways and mostly contiguous with the FAA zones. It sets up maximum heights for parcels around the airport. An airport zoning permit is not required if the building height is below the maximum,but the project will have to go through the process if it exceeds the maximum. From a development standpoint, the ordinance resolves a FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES April 11, 2019 Page 7 lot of uncertainty about development in some commercial zones around the airport. This ordinance helps make a more compatible zoning regime. Barker noted this has a potential for more tax revenue for the City. Tschohl said $120,000,000 in development of commercial property and $600,000 of additional property tax income is expected over time. VI. OTHER OLD BUSINESS A. DISCUSSION OF PUBLIC COMMENTS RECEIVED DURING JANUARY 2019 MEETING Tschohl said he wanted to review some of the discussion that took place during the public comments at the January meeting. There were questions regarding the noise abatement plan and noise tracking equipment. He said we know there is an annual one-week audit conducted around the St. Paul downtown airport. He asked if that was done through an agreement with St. Paul and what benefit both St. Paul and the MAC receive. Ms Lewis responded there were agreements made with St. Paul in exchange for building the flood wall. The idea was to be able to determine how that airport is affecting residents over time. They perform the study one week every year, and the Downtown Airport Advisory Council(DAAC) determines the dates and locations of the study. There are six district councils represented on the DAAC. One mobile device is placed in each of the six districts for seven days. They want to know if the noise level exceeds the federal standards. At this point the noise levels have not come close to exceeding the standards. Tschohl asked if they aim to do a similar correlation with the data at St. Paul as they do at MSP. Ms Lewis replied we model aircraft noise with the long term comprehensive plan every five years, but do not produce a contour every year. Tschohl noted a contour is a statistical measure or model of the impact of noise and is an FAA-accepted standard for noise impact. It is a year-long average of the average noise energy level reaching the ground around an airport. These measures are performed every five to ten years for all the MAC airports and annually for MSP. He noted he was surprised by how close in the 65 dB contour is for all the airports. At FCM the 65 dB contour is actually inside the airport fence, and that is also true for larger airports such as MSP. This is one thing that makes it difficult to make the federal agency understand there is a concern. Mr. Wegner commented the report says the downtown St. Paul airport has 50% of the volume and receives 3% of the complaints as compared to FCM. He asked why there would be such a low number of complaints. Wilson replied the neighborhood around the St. Paul airport is not very residential. Mr. Wegner asked if we are doing something wrong here, or is it just the positioning of the neighborhoods. Tschohl replied he has seen a shift in the types of operations at FCM since he moved here in 2006. We see that overall operations are flat or FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES April 11, 2019 Page 8 down, and we have seen an increase in the ability to serve the number of larger aircraft. Wilson said at FCM jets have 23% of the complaints, and St. Paul has mostly jet traffic. We receive a lot of complaints about turbo props, and those may make up a large number of the"unknown" aircraft complaints. Mr. Wegner said it seemed to him the statistics are out of whack. Wilson replied FCM gets all kinds of aircraft, and it can vary over time. We saw a lot of complaints with helicopter operations three to four years ago,but not so many now. Ms. Lewis noted her office monitors the airport noise across the metropolitan area. FCM and Anoka have higher levels of operations and complaints than does St. Paul. They often receive complaints from long-time residents who have lived in the same neighborhood and who claim they have seen activity increase. In addition, sometimes new residents have incorrect information about the airport traffic. Barker commented that is one reason why the MAC is trying to take some of the education out to realtors and homeowner associations so people are not surprised by the airport activity. Mr. Wegner commented he has seen a dramatic change in the amount of traffic, the size of the aircraft, and the noise levels over the years he has lived in Eden Prairie. Ms Wegner asked if there are eight areas that are monitored around FCM. Ms Lewis replied there are six areas that are monitored around the St. Paul airport, and that study is published on the website. Ms Wegner then asked about monitoring here at FCM. Ms Lewis replied they have not done a noise monitoring study in the residential areas here. They performed testing of homes in Eden Prairie to measure the noise inside and outside of the home. That study was done as part of the MAC agreement in 2010. Every home that was tested proved the structure itself was providing the required level of noise reduction for building standards. Ms Wegner asked what is used for the noise study. Ms Lewis replied they use artificial noise for the noise reduction study. Tschohl asked what the outcome would be if Eden Prairie were to ask the MAC to do a study like the one being done in St. Paul. Ms Lewis said it would require some type of joint agreement. Wilson noted it takes a lot of funding and dedicated resources to do a study. Ms Lewis stated the cost is usually about$2,000 per site. Wilson asked how much time would be needed to compile the data. Ms Lewis replied it takes about a month to go through the data. They need to wait at least 30 days to collect the flight tracking data that goes along with the noise study, so the processing time would be a minimum of 35 days. Tschohl asked how that level of cost compared to a study using simulated noise data based on track data. Ms Lewis replied it is the same process. She did not know the exact length of time required, and they would typically hire a consultant to do such a study. The cost probably would be more, and the turn-around time would probably be close to the same. Wilson thought that study would go into quite a few details. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES April 11, 2019 Page 9 Ms Lewis explained there are prescribed procedures to be followed for noise contour studies, and the Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT) is the tool used to determine noise exposure contours. The input includes specific types of aircraft, time of day, weather conditions, and other factors. Night-time readings from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. are calculated by multiplying by ten to account for the annoyance factor. The FAA is currently evaluating other metric possibilities, but does not have a standard for single event metrics. Tschohl reviewed detailed calculations he had made to illustrate the possible impact of aircraft turn patterns on taking off from FCM to explore the possibility of aircraft being able to avoid flying over surrounding residential areas. He showed tracks for various types of aircraft on different days with varying wind speed and direction for several flight headings. He noted Air Traffic Control (ATC) assigns the initial headings. He referred to the Noise Abatement Plan, which is available on the MAC website and contains recommendations for runways for aircraft. He reviewed the FAA rules and recommendations for aircraft takeoffs. He displayed charts showing performance calculations for east and westbound traffic for various types of aircraft. He noted pilots do want to avoid creating conflicts; however, there are times and situations where safety and conditions are critical. Tschohl noted all his calculations were based on calm winds, and aircraft will drift at high altitudes when there are winds. B. RECAP OF 2019 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP Tschohl gave a PowerPoint presentation of his report to the City Council in January. Council Member Nelson was concerned about children not being able to use their toy drones and suggested it would be good if there were some reasonable level at which a drone user does not need to bother the control tower for permission to fly. Wilson said he agreed that was a good idea. Tschohl reviewed statistics about the 2018 operations and noise complaints and noted the Commission's goals for 2019 will be similar to those in 2018. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. WELCOME CHIEF GERBER Tschohl welcomed Eden Prairie's new Fire Chief Scott Gerber. He will serve as the Commission's staff liaison. B. 2019 EDEN PRAIRIE QUALITY OF LIFE SURVEY OVERVIEW—CITY STAFF Schmieg said every two years the City performs a survey to collect data on many aspects of life in Eden Prairie. This year's Quality of Life survey covered some airport topics. He distributed a handout comparing the responses from the past few surveys for the question asking the respondent to rate how much of a problem FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES April 11, 2019 Page 10 airport noise was in their neighborhood. He reported in 2018 10% of the respondents felt airport noise in their neighborhood was a major or extreme problem, as compared to 20% of the respondents in 2008. He also included a list of survey respondents' comments regarding airport noise. Tschohl asked if there was any possibility to do a deeper analysis or correlation. Schmieg replied we have not done any further analysis, rather we are looking for trends. The purpose of the study is to gain insight into the community's expectations and concerns. C. UPCOMING EVENTS AND TOPICS FOR FUTURE FCAAC MEETINGS 1. 2019 Airport Tour(Date TBD) The Commission members discussed a convenient time for the 2019 airport tour. The consensus was to have the tour on Saturday, June 15. 2. Minneapolis TRACON Tour(Date TBD) After a brief discussion, Commission members decided on Monday, May 6, at 2:00 p.m. for the TRACON tour, to be coordinated by Mr. Wilson. 3. World Air Expo (July 13-14, 2019) Wilson reviewed some of the aircraft that will be coming to the Air Expo this year. 4. Review Flying Cloud LTCP Draft (Date TBD) 5. Additional Technical Noise/Environmental Topics (TBD) Tschohl noted Ms Lewis has offered to provide additional informative sessions on technical noise and/or environmental topics if the Commission would like follow up. Wilson noted the Girls in Aviation event should be added to the list. It will be held on September 21. D. OPERATOR OF THE YEAR Wilson said the terms of the Final Agreement states that every year there will be an operator designated as the airport Operator of the Year. This year's Operator of the Year is Keith Tschohl. He presented Mr. Tschohl with a plaque and thanked him for his thoroughness and passion for education about airport noise abatement.. VIII. EDUCATIONAL ITEMS FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES April 11, 2019 Page 11 A. 2019 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP PRESENTATION IX. ADJOURNMENT A. NEXT COMMISSION MEETING—JULY 11, 2019 MOTION: Dorson moved, seconded by Kiely, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 6-0. Chair Tschohl adjourned the meeting at 9:32 p.m.