T-Hangar inspection
Councilman Dennis Ouellette, left, airport manager Brett Dance and Mayor Jimmy Thatcher inspect the condition of a T-hangar at the municipal airport in a tour of the airport in July.
The firm preparing the city’s master plan for the airport presented the first two chapters to the city’s Property and Rec Committee Thursday and gave the city two options -- one that would prepare for growth and the other would keep things the same.
Mayor Jimmy Thatcher expressed opposition to any option that would require land acquisition because of how that would affect property bordering the airport.
Brad Waller of Benesch Engineering, called the decision to plan for growth at the airport “a political decision.” The first chapter of the plan details existing inventory at the airport and the second chapter details future plans. The second chapter, a forecast of what the city expects the airport to do in the next five years, is what the Federal Aviation Administration would look at in granting any additional funds to expand the airport, Waller said.
The most controversial part of the proposed five-year master plan for the airport is to re-install lighting and re-mark the runway to make it 200 feet shorter in 2015 in order to meet FAA guidelines without having to purchase neighboring land.
The city is faced with either expanding the physical runway to 4,500 feet as recommended or to shorten the usable length of the current 4,200 foot runway to 4,000 feet.
On Wednesday Waller said his firm recommends the city plan for growth and to meet the FAA and TSA’s recommendation of 4,500 feet of runway needed to land B-2, the category of aircraft which includes EagleMed (air ambulances).
However, he added there’s “nothing wrong” with the city choosing to not expand the runway and to shorten it to meet the FAA guidelines for approaches (areas where planes start to land and take off).
As of now, a 4,000-foot, 60-foot wide, runway is accepted as the minimum length of runway to land the EagleMed and other B-2 category aircraft. The existing runway is 4,200 feet long by 75 feet wide.
Six months ago when his firm started on the master plan, Waller brought to the city his concerns about whether the runway will be long enough to land air ambulances in the future.
Mayor Thatcher said the city’s options are to either shorten the runway or buy right-of-way where a farmer irrigates cropland. Unless something keeps the air ambulances from being able to land, Thatcher said he saw no reason why the city should expand the runway.
“If emergency air can land right now, it makes no sense to eminent domain this property,” Thatcher said, adding he preferred to move the approaches back by re-marking the runway.
However, councilman Butch Hess said “sometimes eminent domain is necessary.”
Despite his reservations about runway expansion, Thatcher also said early in the discussion that the plan could be drawn up to include runway expansion, but that doesn’t mean to city has to do it. He advised the Property and Rec Committee “to chew on this awhile” before bringing it to the full council.
Council members asked about other components in the airport master plan, including lighting and fencing. Both are good ideas that should be included in the plan, Waller said. The fencing, however, is typically a low priority and constantly is moved back as the plan is updated, Waller said. Benefits to fencing include keeping wildlife off the runway and reducing the threat of terrorism, he said.
The Property and Rec Committee also reviewed the farm lease for part of the airport property, which needed to be updated because farmable acreage has been reduced from 100 to 91 acres and because the lessee, Don Martin, wants to plant alfalfa there.
Story and Photo: http://www.ccenterdispatch.com
