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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_AIRAB_01.17.2005 Minutes of the Meeting of the Airport Advisory Board City of Georgetown, Texas Monday, January 17, 2005 The Airport Advisory Board of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met on Monday , January 17, 2005. Members Present: Arnold Wieder, Chris Cagle, Don Pfiester, Howard Fomby, John Bader, Mark Dietz, Tim Sullivan Members Absent: None Staff Present: Travis McLain Minutes Regular Meeting 1. Call to order. Chairman Mark Dietz called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. 2. Consideration and Approval of Minutes of November 15, 2004, meeting. Arnold Wieder: On page 3, at the very bottom where Mark Dietz speaks, change the word “drop” to “draft”. Don Pfiester: Motion to approve the minutes of November 15, 2004, as amended. Howard Fomby: I second the motion. Motion approved 7-0. 3. Airport Manager’s Report: A. November and December 2004 Monthly Income and Expense Reports B. Noise Study Update: We are waiting for comments from the FAA on the Compatibility Program. Master Plan Update: The Airport Master Plan Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) Meeting scheduled for tomorrow, January 28, 2005, 1:00 P.M., at Fire Station No. 4. C. Report on Council Actions None. D. General Information Items 1. Entitlement Grant: First time we had one bid, contractor Craig & Heidt, for an amount of $575,145.45. What that will cover is the Rehab of 11-29, taxiways, Rehab Game Fence, Rehab ramps at T-Hangars B & C, enlarge the culvert on S. Hangar Drive, clear and grub the trees on the south side of 11-29. Total project cost is $666,667.00. The Airport 10% share is $66,667.00. The only thing we did not get in was the street rehab, not enough money, but it will be reconsidered this summer. 2. The Preliminary Tower Site Study has been completed, five sites were reviewed. Submitted to TxDOT and the FAA for review on 1-14-05. The first is where the rotating beacon is now, one is between the CAP building and the Terminal, one across Terminal Drive, one behind Gantt Aviation, and one on the west side. Tim Sullivan: Who makes the final decision on the location? Travis McLain: The FAA. Don Pfiester: Do we need to make any recommendations? Travis McLain: We’ve hired the consultant to make recommendations. Mark Dietz: What is the timetable for the Rehab of 11-29 and the other construction work? Travis McLain: We hope to have the notice to proceed on February 3, 2005 (179-days). Working through the spring and summer. Mark Dietz: Will we lose the use of runway 11-29 during the construction process? Travis McLain: Yes. Estimating that runway 11-29 will be out of commission for 100 days. Mark Dietz: We should let folks know what’s happening even though the NOTAM will say something. Travis McLain: Ample notice will be given to everyone, first we need to get with the contractor for time of events. Chris Cagle: Do you know how long this construction will obstruct the other runway? Travis McLain: It will not obstruct runway 36. It will not be closed. Howard Fomby: Does that also apply to closing the taxiway? Travis McLain: They will do it in two stages, so it will be likely the taxiway will be unavailable at times (two days). Arnold Wieder: Will restriping be done and by the fuel pump? Travis McLain: Yes. Howard Fomby: Do we have an estimate as to when the tower construction will start and end? Travis McLain: The notice to proceed to design contractor, PBS&J, was Dec. 1, 2004 and they have 220-days to have the construction plans completed and ready for bidding. My estimate is 18 months. 4. Citizens Wishing to Address the Board Mark Dietz: We have only one citizen signed up to speak to the board, Don Dison, who has signed up for item No. 5, Mr. Dison would you like to speak now or wait for item No. 5? Don Dison: I would like to wait till that item comes up. 5. Consideration and possible action to recommend to City Council regarding construction of a church on Airport Road. Mark Dietz: There were concerns that the sign notice on Airport Road indicating a new construction for a church on Airport Road. This board believed that there should be communication to t he church in regard to potential concerns. I forwarded a letter to the City Manager and the City Manager forwarded the board’s thoughts to the church. I understand that there has been a response. You may know more about that than I Howard? Howard Fomby: The only response I heard from the Church was that they were surprised and concerned about why we were telling them they could not build. They missed the point that we were trying to make which was to give them ample warning of the risks of building so c lose to the airport and not trying to exercise any authority. Mark Dietz: I am not aware of any written response on the subject. Don Dison: (Citizen) I live at 607 Esparada in Georgetown and I make my living here at the airport. We are all aware that the airport has been a point of controversy for the last several years, making the headline in newspapers where it says the City can’t move the airport or stop growth, the state says. It goes on to recount Mr. Fulton’s comments and educating the public about what our grant assurances obligate us to. However, recently there have been two letters to the editor in the paper that spoke negatively about the airport. I am sure some of the board remember that I pressed the issue with the FAA, that the airport will not be shut down, that the FAA has the responsibility of seeing that the airport is used for aviation related facilities. Even in light of our new airport master plan, I don’t see the use of the airport diminishing and the consultant shows the potential for increased use exists. I would like to see the board recommend to council and the City Manager to again try to educate the pastor and anyone interested in not only the church but any facilities in the noise footprint of the airport as to what exist, what can exist, and what will exist to mitigate problems of the future. I firmly believe that if any facility is built that has the potential of being sensitive to the noise it is just going to kindle the flame. I think it is our responsibility to educate the public that this airport is not going away and the noise associated with it is not going to be negative. Mark Dietz: Thank you Don. Again, this is the second/third time this item has been on the agenda. As these issues will come to our attention, the board will be proactive in making communications to those that might not be aware of the impact the airport may have on their future plans. Don Pfiester: I’m just curious, on the letter that we sent, why did we get the reaction we got? Mark Dietz: Same reason; Rebecca Sellers had the information in the newspaper the very next day, of the letter we were sending to the City Manager. So the City Manager got a call from the owner and perhaps the pastor as soon as the newspaper printed. The City Manager then wanted to know how soon we were going to get our letter in. We sent our letter to the City Manager the following week; he got his letter out a couple of days after that to the pastor of the church. Since that time, I do not know if we have had any response other than, I did have one short conversation with Paul that indicated that the owner had said that there are no present plans and that they will take into consideration the building of any steeple in with regard to the flight path. Tim Sullivan: The property is not in the city limits, correct? Mark Dietz: That’s correct. It is in the ETJ and will be subject to some of the extraterritorial regulations. Howard Fomby: There is some possibility that they will have to follow city guidelines, variances and policies. Don Pfiester: There is a problem with RPZ’s. In the Master Plan Update there is discussion of stopping growth in the RPZ ’s and turning it around and going the other way. I think the City will have to coordinate with County on noise easements. Don Dison: (Citizen) Because this is in the ETJ and not within the city limits, the City will be limited on what they can do other than to educate, and that ’s what I’m promoting. I think there might well be some way to involve the county. Counties cannot zone property (that’s the problem with Serenada right now). We should let the county commissioners know of this potential concern. Tim Sullivan: Isn’t one of the concerns the possibility of building a steeple? Doesn ’t the FAA have anything to say? Travis McLain: The city and county have a height hazard zoning ordinance that will take care of the steeple issue. Construction is not the problem; noise for people is the problem. Don Dison: (Citizen) We have two churches that lay adjacent to one of the noise footprints. I do not remember any of those congregations being opposed to airport operations. Tim Sullivan: In defense of the people of Berry Creek, most of them have accepted the fact that the airport is here to stay. They may not like it but that is one of their concerns as to what will happen in the future. 6. Consideration and possible action to recommend City Council approve the request for assignment from chapter 7 trustee of Robert B. Currey & Associates to S.R. Aviation to the lease of Hangar D. Travis McLain: City owned Hangar D was leased to Currey Aviation (d.b.a. Currey & Associates) in 1993. In 1999 they leased space to S.R. Aviation as an SFBO. Mr. Currey & Associates are in bankruptcy court and this lease is one of the assets. Both sides of the bankruptcy proceedings have agreed to allow the bankruptcy trustee to tell the City that is O.K. to assign the lease to Mr. Richter, S.R. Aviation. There are no changes to the terms of the agreement. Tim Sullivan: Has the rent been paid during this time, while in bankruptcy? Travis McLain: If Mr. Currey did not pay it, Mr. Richter did. Arnold Wieder: In looking through the Rules & Regulations, Currey Aviation is the lessor and S.R. Aviation is the sublessee, now we recognize the sublessee as an SFBO. The new Rules & Regulations, Leases and Limitations on Leases, Paragraph 6, Revocation of Leases / Gr ants, it says: The owner, in its discretion, shall have the right to terminate any lease, license or agreement authorizing any person to conduct any service or activity and/or to revoke any lease on any land or facility on the airport for any cause or reas on provided by these standards or by law and, in addition, upon happening of one or more of the following: a. Filing of a petition of voluntary or involuntary bankruptcy by operator. Travis McLain: Yes, the City has the option to terminate the lease, but they chose not to. Mark Dietz: It’s not an automatic termination. Arnold Wieder: Why do we have it in here if we do not invoke it? Travis McLain: Because we have had instances where the lessor declared bankruptcy and was not paying the rent. Mark Dietz: As I tell my clients, when somebody goes to the bankruptcy you have to consider all the rules you ordinarily rely upon to be upside down and backwards. When somebody goes into bankruptcy they get an automatic 60-day free rent wherever they are which is based on the fact that they are in bankruptcy, so there is nothing that can be done to the tenant. Then at the end of the 60 days the tenant can move to either approve or disapprove the existing rental contract and he can make a motion which can take another 30-60 days before it’s actually heard by the court. So the net result is by doing that the tenant can by four months and then say I do not want to be here anymore. If the City at the end of that 60-day period says I do not want that tenant in there period, and gives Notice of Revocation, that’s the end of it. Arnold Wieder: At the same juncture, we don’t have to go this route, the sub-lessee S.R. Aviation couldn’t they come in as a new lessee and start out fresh with a new 30-year lease? Travis McLain: This is not a ground lease, this a city-owned building and the lease expires 2012. Mr. Richter liked the terms of the existing lease so he asked the lease be assigned to him. He is happy the way the lease is written to Mr. Currey. Arnold Wieder: So right now, we have a lease between the City of Georgetown and Currey Aviation. Currey Aviation turned around and sublet the hangar to S.R. Aviation and that ’s the way it’s been existing. Any dealings we’ve had with the lessee have been with Currey Aviation not S.R. Aviation. S.R. Aviation still has to abide by our Rules & Regulations. All I ’m saying is now the sublessee, who is really a third party wants to move up and become the lessee in place of Currey Aviation with the same terms they enjoy under a lease between them and Currey Aviation, not the City of Georgetown. Don Pfiester: It’s the same term, there’s no difference in terms. Travis McLain: We are going to assign Currey’s lease to S.R. Aviation. Howard Fomby: Is there any financial advantage to the City to deny this and then to find a tenant for it? Travis McLain: I don’t think we can find a better tenant than S.R. Aviation and his business is an asset. Howard Fomby: In some ways this is similar to where the lease is held by a bank and they ask us t o move it to another bank. In effect, we’re just transferring that entity. Travis McLain: With the bank, the lessee does not change, you assign it to a different bank to protect the lessee when they make a loan. Howard Fomby: If this is not a ground lease, where you can actually have some advantage in seizing the building, why can’t we have this facility where we can rent it to S.R. Aviation, which is now recovering after some tough times, Scott is doing a very good job and his business is a very big asset to the airport. Or we can put him in a very difficult situation financially and possibly ruin his business and put the city at a loss from his income. The best option for both Scott Richter and the City of Georgetown is to take this very good tenant wit h a very thriving business and to lease the building to him. Tim Sullivan: If he gets the lease, he will have to meet all requirements including insurance, correct? Travis McLain: Yes. He has done that as an SFBO. Howard Fomby: Motion that we recommend City Council approve the request for assignment from Robert B. Currey & Associates to S.R. Aviation to lease Hangar D. Don Pfiester: I second the motion. Motion carried 6-1 (Wieder opposed). 7. Discuss the Airport Road construction project. Don Pfiester: It affects the airport; I think the board needs to tell the Council how we feel. I think it ’s dangerous, it’s narrow, steep shoulders. Arnold Wieder: I noticed coming down this evening that some people go off the roadway to the shoulder leaving deep ruts. My first thought is, aren’t we undermining the roadway at the edge already? Don Pfiester: It’s seems they’ve used a cheap way to fix the base. I think we will be worse off, now they have concrete culverts. When we had the big rains the water was over flowing, they aren’t big enough and the city is out about $600,000.00 on this project. Maybe now is not the time, because it ’s not finished and they will make it great before it’s all over with. It does affect the airport, especially people coming and going to the airport as well as business and their employees. Howard Fomby: It affects all us living around the airport, trying to find a way home. Don Pfiester: I would like to keep this as an agenda item. I suggest you call your councilman and find out what’s going on. Mark Dietz: The item will stay on the agenda. 8. Discussion and Possible action on recommendation for Airport Layout Plan, Rules & Regulations and Minimum Standards. Mark Dietz: The next two items, Airport Layout Plan, Rules & Regulations, Minimum Standards and the Updated Master Plan can be heard together. Tomorrow afternoon we have PAC final meeting before comments are made to the consultant. I’d like to suggest the board utilize this time to identify as many topics that need to bring to the attention of the consultant. Don Pfiester: I put together a handout outlining some of the major items also some of the recommendations and some proposals the board needs to be thinking about (see attached). Arnold Wieder: The plan needs to show that this is being funded primarily by the revenues generated by the airport and what we get from TxDOT funds and not through the taxpayer. This came up on the subject of this draft and the reaction was that we’re growing the airport. My attitude was no we’re not, what we’re doing is bringing the Airport up to compliance with the FAA standards based on the fact that we extended the runway some time ago and we were on borrowed time ever since. It ’s like somebody doing something to their property in city limits which puts them out of code with city requirements, to which the city requires them to get a variance to be in compliance. That ’s basically what the consultant is pointing out to the city, we’re out of compliance from a safety standpoint and here is what we need to do. I’m concerned there’s no link on the city website as to the classification of runways and the airport reference code. Howard Fomby: Opponents want to shrink the airport. Tim Sullivan: People are concerned that the Master Plan will encourage more planes and more growth, thus eliminating housing. The Master Plan should not be used as a rush to justice, only as a suggestive plan if the growth is to come. Chris Cagle: GTU is a reliever for Austin, yet we cannot take anything over 60,000 pounds, what percentage of Austin’s airplanes falls under that? Don Pfiester: GTU is a reliever for general aviation not commercial. Don Pfiester: Tim makes a good point, the Master Plan should be a blueprint. There are some things we have to address that are safety related, economics will make growth occur, so why not grow it in a planned manner, which is what the Master Plan Update does. Howard Fomby: One of the problems I’ve had with these documents is that they are always written with one perspective in mind, which is that cities want their airport to grow. I would like to see a statement that recognizes what’s been said, that we can grow this airport, we can allow more airplanes, and if we choose to do it, this is a way to do it. The growth of the airport is actually fundamentally limited by things other than demand, which is market (hangars and facilities). Tim Sullivan: I think Council members want it to read as a plan to show how to manage the growth. Tom Mulcahey: (Citizen) I am a doctor at the hospital and live at 710 Shady Hollow and support the airport. Travis McLain mentioned he had not received any complaints from the people at the end of the runway. I am one of the people that live at the end of 36. I would like to bring one point to the Council, that people in these houses directly in the line of 36; we have in mind improvements to our houses. We do not want to make those if they are going to be acquired. I got some paperwork a couple of years ago from a lady who came to the door pointing out that our house is in the concerned area. We just want to know if and when we should upgrade or is the City going to buy my house? Howard Fomby: We as a board feel a lot of responsibility if something happens and to protect people’s safety. Chris Cagle: I live at 804 Golden Oaks, and personally, I would make improvements to my property figuring that if there is going to be any expansion it would be years down the road and you might as well enjoy those improvements meantime. Don Dison: (Citizen) Just because the Airport Master Plan shows development or improvements could be built, doesn’t mean it will be built. Mark Dietz: Does anybody have anything they want to add to Don’s list that needs to be brought to consideration? Tim Sullivan: The PAC meeting will be long and detailed. Some people do not realize when we had the PAC meeting there was little time to discuss items because he had another meeting at 4:00 P.M., so a lot of these issues did not come up because we did not have the time. That’s why Council decided to have this separate meeting without the consultant to give everyone an opportunity. John Sommerfeld: (Citizen) I suggest we stop using the word “growth” and use “increased use”. Mark Dietz: I will call this discussion to an end. 9. Discussion on the Updated Master Plan. (Discussed in Item 8) 10. Discuss the Airport Safety Observation Report and Methods to Promote Airport Safety. Arnold Wieder: I again received a report on a pilot who now has three separate instances on s afety issues. I’m thinking we should contact the pilot(s) who are reported and put them on notice due to the feedback being collecting. Howard Fomby: We cannot do anything about air traffic; that is FAA jurisdiction and regulations. Mark Dietz: We are an advisory board and can only advise information to the city. My suggestion and subject to motion, is that this board forward this information to the city manager and let the City forward the information to TxDOT. However, we should not ignore the problem. Tim Sullivan: Once the tower is in effect, this problem should be solved. Don Dison: I am an Accident Prevention Counselor with the FAA. The FAA has specific programs for use as accident prevention counseling. Mark Dietz: We need to channel our information to the city. Don Dison: Any individual can make a complaint to the FAA. Tim Sullivan: Motion that the Airport Advisory Board will send a letter to the City Manager advising of the information we have by virtue of collection of information of Airport Safety Observation Reports and we have one individual of concern. Chris Cagle: I second the motion. Howard Fomby: One thing I want to point out, in all these months that we have been doing these reports, how few incidents really have occurred. Motion approved 7-0. 11. Discuss Airport Museum. Howard Fomby: I would like to table this for the next meeting. 12. Consideration and Possible Action for setting Agenda Items for the February 21, 2005, meeting. Mark Dietz: Items for the February 2005 agenda: A. Discuss the Airport Road Construction B. Discussion and Possible action on recommendation for Airport Layout Plan, Rules & Regulations and Minimum Standards. C. Discussion on the Updated Master Plan. D. Discussion and possible action of the Airport Safety Observation Report and Methods to Promote Airport Safety E. Discuss Airport Museum. Travis McLain: The Finance Committee will attend the March 21st meeting to discuss the budget process. 13. Adjourn. Don Pfiester: Motion that we adjourn. Howard Fomby: I second the motion. Motion approved 7-0. Submitted by: Travis McLain Airport Director Approved: Attest: ____________________________ __________________________ Mark Dietz, Chairman Chris Cagle, Board Secretary