- Federal Aviation Administration doesn’t like the location of building
- Warehouse was built near runway in a safety zone for airplane takeoffs
- Madera County planning director said the building shouldn’t have been allowed
Chowchilla Municipal Airport is drawing some scrutiny by the Madera County Board of Supervisors as it works toward updating its plan for aviation facilities.
The Madera County Airport Land Use Commission is in the process of updating land use plans for Madera County airports. Madera County Planning Director Norm Allinder, who is also a commission member, informed the supervisors of the status of the proposed update earlier this month. During the presentation it was revealed that a warehouse building, apparently not approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, was placed near the Chowchilla airport’s runway.
In a telephone interview, District 2 Supervisor David Rogers said he expressed concerns about the building more than a year ago.
“This was brought to my attention as the building was being built and the former city administrator (Mark Lewis) insisted that the FAA had approved it,” Rogers said. “The FAA doesn’t approve.”
The warehouse is in the safety zone for take-offs. Rogers said he has written a letter to the Chowchilla City Council informing them of his concern.
“The main thing is that public safety is a priority,” Rogers said.
Allinder said the building should not have been allowed.
“It wasn’t discussed with us,” Allinder said. “That should have come to us and we would have said, ‘no, that’s not an appropriate building on that site.’”
Allinder said Lewis also told him the FAA approved the building.
“When I approached the city (administrator) at that time, he was defensive and said, ‘oh no, the FAA said it was goood.’ My response to that was, ‘I don’t care what the FAA said. I have an Airport Land Use Plan I have to implement.’”
Allinder said he spoke with FAA officials who did not want the building there.
Rogers said Chowchilla’s leadership needs to rectify the issue.
“We had a city administrator pushing stuff through and I just don’t think that was appropriate. We need some kind of assurances as a community that somebody’s watching the store,” Rogers said.
Source: http://www.mercedsunstar.com
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