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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_AIRAB_11.21.2005 Minutes of the Meeting of the Airport Advisory Board City of Georgetown, Texas Monday, November 21, 2005 The Airport Advisory Board of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met on Monday , November 21, 2005. Members Present: Don Pfiester, Howard Fomby, John Bader, Mark Dietz, Tim Sullivan Members Absent: Arnold Wieder 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 October 17, 2005, meeting. Don Pfiester: Motion to approve the minutes of October 17, 2005. Howard Fomby: I second the motion. Motion approved 5-0. 3. Airport Manager’s Report: October 2005 Monthly Income and Expense Reports Travis McLain: October margin was a little better due to cost going down. Sales taxes are improving. Don Pfiester: I noticed the internal service has dropped a little. Travis McLain: Yes. Don Pfiester: What about the credit card service charge, is it not a fixed number? Travis McLain: No, It is a percentage of the dollar amount. Howard Fomby: Is that about 3%? Travis McLain: It varies on the credit card (American Express 3.5%, AvFuel 1.6%, Discover 2%, Visa & Master Card 2.75%). That is built into our prices because we know we have to pay those. Even though I show that as an expense, we cover that in our gross margin. Don Pfiester: Is the Avgas price still $3.00 per gallon? Travis McLain: Yes. Report on Noise Study and Master Plan Update None. Report on Council Actions Travis McLain: The City Council approved the first reading of the rezoning, Rules & Regulations and the inclusion of the Master Plan to the Century Plan (7-0). The second reading of the rezoning, Rules and Regulations and the Century Plan will be tomorrow night (11/22/05). Report on Control Tower Travis McLain: The City of Georgetown has received and reviewed the plans and specs on the tower, and the comments were sent back to PBS&J on November 4, 2005. PBS&J has almost completed their revisions and corrections to the City’s comments and they said they would have them back to the City of Georgetown by December 5, 2005. The FAA has reviewed the plans and spec and have accepted them (technical aspects). We hope to have th e tower advertised for bids sometime before the end of this year. General Information Items Travis McLain: The plans and specs for the Emergency Access road and PAPI are under review by TxDOT. We’ve gone through the first phase of the review with minor c hanges. We are hoping to advertise that for bid the first of next year. The City Attorney was listening to the 5 -Year Strategic Plan and pointed out that (in regard to changing the noise avigation easement) in the Unified Development Code of 2003, the avigation easement form had been changed, it says: “together with such noise and other effects as may be inherit in the operation of aircraft landing at, taking off from or engaged in other flight activities” at the airport. Howard Fomby: Councilman Snell and I looked at that over a year ago, and the avigation easement already had language in it regarding aviation-related noise. It sounds like they haven’t changed anything other than the title, switching it from “Avigation Easement” to “Avigation and Noise Easement”. Travis McLain: I will visit with the Planning and Development folks to see what process we need to do to get it changed. 4. Citizens Wishing to Address the Board Mark Dietz: Don Dison has signed up to address the board on agenda item (7); Mr. Dison do you wish to speak when that item comes up? Don Dison: (Citizen) Yes. I wish to defer speaking until agenda item (7). 5. Consideration and possible action to recommend that Co uncil approve a long term, Airport Ground Lease with Stanley and Carol Jensen for aircraft storage located at 504 Wright Brothers Drive, and to recommend a rental rate. Travis McLain: The Jensens want to lease the lot located at 504 Wright Brothers Drive f or storage. They will access the taxiway like Mr. Thurmond and Mr. Walters. They have met all the requirements of the land lease development process (financial, deposit check, working with Smith -Western Engineering on their plans) and they want to build a hangar to keep their airplane in. Don Pfiester: Is that hangar to be the same size as Mr. Thurmond’s? Travis McLain: The development code restrictions on those lots say that the building can only be 50% of the size of the size of the lot. Howard Fomby: Motion to approve that we recommend that Council approve the Airport Ground Lease located at 504 Wright Brothers Drive to the Jensens at the rate of $.014 per square feet. Don Pfiester: I second the motion. Motion approved 5-0. 6. Consideration and possible action to recommend that Council approve an Amendment to the Microfusion Land Lease at 302 Wright Brothers Drive, extending the Mandatory Construction Deadline to June 30, 2006. Mark Dietz: Again, I will have to recuse myself from this item. Howard, please take over this item. Travis McLain: Again, we finally got Chasco moving out there. They have a construction trailer, building permit, portable material, etc. They are good to go but will not make the deadline without an extension. Tim Sullivan: I think we should consider three months, not six months. I know Arnold Wieder is not here, but he did not agree last time for an extension. Last time, I did the motion thinking that the City was at fault, but that is not exactly true. It seems to me that if the concrete slab is going to be poured in the next few weeks, the metal building is scheduled for delivery in late December, erection takes place in January, and the rest is completing landscaping; and the weather reports said the next three months will be dry. I am at a point now, where I feel this project needs to be done. If we make it three months, then the pressure will be to get it done. Travis McLain: If you do not give them an extension and in three months they have a building 75% complete, and having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, would we pull the plug then? Tim Sullivan: I’m just saying I would like to see this project completed. Don Pfiester: Here’s the permit that was issued September, 2005. Tim Sullivan: I am not privy as to what the facts were, Arnold is, he went to the City and collected the information; that is why Arnold voted against the extension six months ago. Howard Fomby: Do we have background information for the delays or progress? Joe Minarovic: (Citizen) A number of discussions took place between the Building Permits Department and the Fire Department in regard to the method of construction, that being concrete tilt up walls. At the airport there are no concrete tilt up walls construction (with the exception of the terminal building) it is all metal buildings. That revolved around a need for various types of fire protection. We have no input with the discussions between the Fire Department and the Permitting Department. That was the primary delays that I understand. There were some minor issues dealing with the need for variety of grounding, contact points in the hangar, and hangar usage (maintenance or storage). The reason we are requesting the six -month date (June 30, 2006) is because that’s the date determined by the sign-off by the building permit department. We are anxious to proceed with this as we have a quarter of a million tied into this. Howard Fomby: Is this facility still intended for Scott & White Life Flight operations? Joe Minarovic: (Citizen) It is intended for Scott & White Life Flight or someone to be responsible for the Life Flight operations (assigned by Scott & White). Howard Fomby: In looking forward, what is your timeline? Joe Minarovic: (Citizen) Right now they are preparing to pour the major slab with one side with substantial reinforcement and a wall with a change in grade. They are today putting down the polyurethane barriers in preparation for the slab process. Following that they will then began the tilt wall construction on the slab. The metal building is planned for late December. We hope to be building heavily by January and February. The City’s sign-off for certificate of occupancy is planned for June 30, 2006. Occupancy permits will be granted for each segment of the build out. Don Pfiester: I move that we recommend that Council approve an Amendment to the Microfusion Land Lease at 302 Wright Brothers Drive, extending the Mandatory Construction Deadline to June 30, 2006. John Bader: I second the motion. Motion carried 4-1 (Dietz recused, Sullivan opposed). 7. Consideration and possible action to recommend that Council approve a 20 -year extension to the Lease Agreement for Hangar D with SR Aviation. Mark Dietz: We have one person signed up to speak on this item, Mr. Dison. Don Dison: (Citizen) My name is Don Dison. I live at 607 Esparada in Georgetown. I own AIM Aviation Services, Inc. and am speaking tonight as president of that organization. We know Mr. Richter and SR Aviation to be a good citizen of the Airport. Although in some instances we may be in competition, we also work very well together. I see the extension as being an opportunity to create jobs, jobs create taxes, and taxes improve the economic condition of not only the airport but the community as well. We are in favor of the extension to SR Aviation. Travis McLain: Hangar D was built in 1974 and for the longest time First Texas Bank Corp. kept their Merlin in the hangar, then they moved to the old Bobby Stanton hangar (now ASM). For a year or two the City leased four individual spaces in that hangar. Finally in February 1989 the Board recommended that we advertise it for bid for five years, with a five year option, $400 per month minimum. The City received no bids. In June of 1989 the Board recommended we bid it again, and lease with a two year lease with one year option. We had three bids (Gantt $510, another $476, other $455). The reason I bring this up is because there is always the question of how much rent for a hangar. The City only has two and one is sixty years old and this one is thirty one year old. We started with Gantt, then Eagle Precision (2-five year options), Currey Aviation (2-five year options), and every five years there was CPI escalation taking place. That’s why the rent is at $712.00. We established the market for it and kept up with inflation. The rent I came up with is a fair and reasonable amount especially since he is willing to put in $80,000.00, all he’s asking for is a little time to recover from his investment. Don Pfiester: So is this a City owned hangar and how much ground is involved? Travis McLain: Yes sir. It is 1.02 acres, 255 ft. wide along taxiway A and 175 ft. east and west (there is 25 ft. wide easement so people can get to the parking lot). Mark Dietz: How does this compare to the ground leases, if you took the construction portion out of it? Travis McLain: It is about $0.20 sq. ft. per year. Tim Sullivan: One of the statements in here is that the north facing hangar doors are to be widened to accommodate larger aircraft. Could you explain larger aircraft? Scott Richter: (Citizen) Let me introduce myself; I am Scott Richter, operator of SR Aviation. The type of airplanes that SR Aviation primarily takes care of (90% of the business) are Ces sna Citation aircraft. I work with two sales companies in the Austin area that primarily buy and sell Citation aircraft. These aircraft have grown as the economy has grown (Cessna 500 series airframes have grown into the 560 series airplane). For example, the Citation Encore fits in that hangar with four inches to spare on its wingtips. The next generation airplane, Excel will require a little bit of structural modification of the north end door to get them a little wider. I need about twelve inches of clearance on each side which can be fairly easily accommodated by moving the supports out on the existing hangar. Tim Sullivan: The future planes that you are talking about do they meet the weight limits as far as the runways are concerned? Scott Richter: (Citizen) Yes. They are currently operating on the airport right now. Travis McLain: Mr. Richter has asked for twenty years to get out in 2027. But he only needs fifteen years. Mark Dietz: The only issue we have is the guarantee of performance and an ag reement or condition of performance of the improvements. How long will it take you to complete those improvements? Scott Richter: Due diligence in mind, I would like to have a place to call an office and expect twelve to eighteen months of construction. Mark Dietz: So if there was a condition to be done in twenty-four months, then that is still within the existing lease period. Scott Richter: (Citizen) That is correct. Howard Fomby: He still has the ability to push another five years without doing anything at all. This is different from Microfusion in that they have to build a building. We really expect people to perform, because we don’t want people to sit on land and control it without adding value to the airport. Don Pfiester: I am concerned about the price, the rent seems low. I also realize that you are going to put $74,000.00 to $115,000.00 in it that you will not going to ever see again and that has to be factored in too. While you are going to be increasing the value of the building, I still feel the rent is too low. Scott Richter: (Citizen) I would like your consideration that SR Aviation is responsible for 50,000 - 60,000 gallons in jet fuel sales per year as well as $18,000.00 in sales tax (2004). Howard Fomby: I move that we accept and recommend that Council approve a 20-year extension to the Lease Agreement for Hangar D with SR Aviation to 2027. Tim Sullivan: I second the motion. Mark Dietz: My concern is that the proposal to extend has to be conditional upon completion of the improvements in twenty-four months. Don Pfiester: I’d like to make an amendment to the motion, to increase the rental of lease to $900.00 per month plus the CPI adjustment effective 2012. Mark Dietz: We now have a motion as it stands with an amendment to increase the rental of lease to $900.00 per month plus the CPI adjustment effective 2012. Tim Sullivan: I second the motion. Original motion approved 5-0. Second motion approved 5-0. 8. Consideration and possible action to recommend that Airport Staff execute a month to month Lease Agreement with Georgetown Aviation Facilities for the taxiway adjacent to their leased premises at a CPI adjusted rate of approximately $800.00 per month. Mark Dietz: Again, I will have to recuse myself. Travis McLain: The 18-month lease with Georgetown Aviation Facilities expires at the end of December. Georgetown Aviation Facilities has asked for a month to month Lease Agreement (for twelve months) for the taxiway adjacent to their leased premises. I cannot do an exact CPI adjustment until the numbers for November, 2005, become available on December 15, 2005. The new rate will be right at $800.00 a month. Don Pfiester: I move that we accept the month to month Lease Agreement with Georgetown Aviation Facilities with a rate of $800.00 per month. John Bader: I second the motion. Motion approved 5-0. 9. Consideration and possible action to recommend that Airport Staff revise the Self Service Fuel Pricing Policy. Travis McLain: (Gave explanations of fuel pricing) I would like to suggest keeping the 10% discount until the spread gets over $0.02 a gallon, and then I will adjust the discount with the computer, so that we keep the $0.02 per gallon subsidy. Howard Fomby: I move that we recommend Airport Staff revise the Self Service Fuel Pricing Policy to maintain the $0.02 per gallon subsidy. Don Pfiester: I second the motion. Motion approved 5-0. 10. Discussion and possible action on recommendation for Rules & Regulations and Minimum Standards. No discussion. 11. Discuss the Airport Safety Observation Report and Methods to Promote Airp ort Safety. Mark Dietz: Since Arnold Wieder is not present, we do not have an Airport Safety Observation Report. Are there any comments on Airport Safety? Howard Fomby: At the Council meeting we had discussion as to how often the Police force monitored the airport. Tim Sullivan: At the Council meeting, I said that “it was time for the Police Department, at the direction of the City Council, to review the security situations at the Airport”, since it has been two years since we put it in. Council agreed and directed the City Manager to follow up on that, to upgrade if necessary the security of the airport, based on the fact that the Airport is a valuable asset of the City of Georgetown. Howard Fomby: The City Manager agreed that he would talk to Chief Morgan and follow up on that. Tim Sullivan: Travis, are there any more pamphlets (Georgetown Municipal Airport – Security Awareness) on the watch program? Travis McLain: I will have to check. Don Dison: (Citizen) I want to let the advisory board know that my facility (AIM Aviation) was recently visited by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Representatives from (1) Dallas, (1) San Antonio, and (1) Austin, came and they strongly recommended training with the TSA safety and security program available online (Flight School Security Awareness Training). 12. Discuss Airport Museum. Howard Fomby: No report at this time, it is still in a wait to see state. 13. Discuss updating the Airport Business Direction signs. Travis McLain: We will have to re-bid, there was only one bid turned in. 14. Consideration and possible action to discuss the Airport 5 – Year Strategic Plan. Howard Fomby: We reported to Council the 5-Year Strategic Plan during the joint session and Council was very receptive. Don led the discussion for us, point by point and illustrated very carefully where each point fit into the various Master Plan and Noise Study. There was some sensitivity to the possibility of loss of trees. Some trees will be needed to cut down for sight lines and for fences. In the future we might be more proactive and plant trees on the airport that does not effect airport operations. Don Pfiester: The most controversial items were the noise problems with the twenty nine homes and the potential purchase of homes within the RPZ. Howard Fomby: In regard to purchasing homes, the City Council did not want us to go in and encourage citizens to sell their homes. Instead they want us to have a program with discussions with the homeowners and explain that once they put their house on the market, the City of Georgetown may have the right to purchase. Don Pfiester: We are not trying to be proactive, but rather passive on the potent ial purchase of homes. We would have meetings and explain the situation offering the opportunity to ask questions and find what the problem is. Howard Fomby: In the meeting we would ask for their input and see how they would like to go forward, rather than try to anticipate their needs or encourage a particular solution. 15. Consideration and possible action for setting Agenda Items for the December 19, 2005, meeting. Mark Dietz: I will not be able to make the meeting on December 19, 2005. John Bader; I will be out of town also. Howard Fomby: Traditional we cancel the meeting because it is so close to Christmas. Don Pfiester: I move to cancel the December 19, 2005 Airport Advisory Board meeting. Howard Fomby: I second the motion. Motion approved 5-0. Mark Dietz: Items for the January 2006 agenda: A. Report from Board members to encourage applications from the aviation community for Airport Advisory Board replacements. B. Discussion and possible action on recommendation for Rules & Regulations and Minim um Standards. C. Discussion and possible action of the Airport Safety Observation Report and Methods to Promote Airport Safety. D. Discuss Airport Museum. E. Discussion and possible action on updating the Airport Business Direction Signs. F. Consideration and possible action to recommend the Airport 5-Year Strategic Plan to the City Council. G. Discussion and possible action on the rezoning of the Airport as related to the Air Traffic Control Tower. 16. Adjourn. Don Pfiester: Motion that we adjourn. Howard Fomby: I second the motion. Motion approved 5-0. Adjourned: 8:00 P.M. Submitted by: Travis McLain Airport Director Approved: Attest: ___________________________ __________________________ Mark Dietz, Chairman Arnold Wieder, Board Secretary