Minutes of the Ad Hoc Airport Advisory Committee (rough draft for approval) 4/6/97 The Little River Airport Ad Hoc Airport Advisory Committee met on Sunday 4/6/97 from 4-6pm. Six committee members were present: Tim, Trey, Fran, Joel, Rayand Jack. Dick Ahrens, Lauren Jones, Grant Wheeler, Dave Brewer and Richard Galligher were also present. We agreed that the next Ad Hoc meeting will take place Sunday, May 20 from 4-6pm at the Clubhouse at The Woods. Minutes ------- The minutes of the last meeting were approved. Reports ------- Tim reported that two weeks ago, the evening after the last Ad Hoc Committee meeting, he was telephoned by CHarles Peterson. Charles told him that several of his Albion constituents had lobbied him to ask for a meeting on the Coast regarding the resolution for forming the Airport Advisory Committee. He said that Diana Wiederman wanted no more than one pilot on the AAC and that she believed Charles had promised her this. He said that he'd never have promised that and that he still believes that 3 pilots is the right number. But he also needs his Albion supporters to feel that they are heard. He asked Tim to contact Patti Campbell and request and additional meeting on the coast. He also asked Tim to do a survey of other airports regarding the composition of their advisory committees. Tim explained that the Ad Hoc committee members had agreed they'd like to see swift resolution of the official committee matter, but that he also understood the need for everyone to feel that they have been heard. He agreed to support the request. The discussion then turned to Tim's letter to Charles and his request for a letter stating the lack of connection between Charles' development plans for the airport and the GPS approach. Charles said that he really does not have any specific development plans for the airport and that given a lack of plans there certainly is a lack of connection. Tim asked about the possible aerospace project for Little River which Charles had mentioned in a HWP&T Ukiah a year or so ago. Charles said that it was an example of a possibility - that some form of high tech light industry might be appropriate, but that he did not have any specific plan beyond a desire for an economic development study to provide facts as input for the AAC in coming up with a plan. He wants the AAC to propose a plan, eventually, one that the community is comfortable with. Tim FAXed a letter to Patti Campbell and Michael Delbar asking for them to attend an Ad Hoc Committee meeting on the Coast, where the resolution could be discussed in a forum available to interested coastal residents. Trey, Dick, Dave Brewer, Richard Galligher and Grant Wheeler travelled to Ukiah and attended the 3/26/97 Health, Welfare, Planning and Transportation committee meeting. At that meeting, the supervisors went over another draft of the resolution, this one by Peter Klein (County Counsel) with fresh comments from Budge Campbell. Trey expressed concern over the rewording of the resolution from the version agreed to in December 1996. The Supervisors decided to limit discussion at the 3/26 meeting to Budge Campbell's comments, and agreed to come to the coast to attend the 4/20/97 Ad Hoc Committee meeting to hear our comments and those of concerned coastal residents. The supervisors asked that this meeting be focussed strictly on the resolution establishing an AAC. County Counsel produced a new draft resolution after the 3/26 meeting and Norma sent a copy of this to Tim. Copies were distributed to all Ad Hoc Committee members. Tim also reported that he FAXed a survey, in response to Charles' request, to over 30 airports. So far, 13 responses have been received. Tim passed out a spreadsheet of the 13 responses to the AAC part of the survey and copies of two of the complete responses - these were from airports that sent copies of the ordinances establishing their AACs. Tim handed out copies of a fresh draft of the GPS report, this one contains change bars to make it easier to skip over material that hasn't changed since the last version. He also noted that the FAX survey to 30 airports had contained questions about instrument approaches in addition to the AAC questions, and the latest draft GPS report now has data from 6 more airports with instrument approaches in it. GPS approach ------------ Tim suggested that we defer any further discussion of the GPS approach until after the 4/20 meeting. He further suggested that members of the Ad Hoc Committee should read the latest draft of the report and prepare their comments - either mailing them to Tim and bringing them to the meeting after the 4/20 meeting. The committee agreed to this. Resolution establishing AAC --------------------------- Fran said that the Clubhouse at The Woods will be available for the 4/20 meeting. The committee agreed to hold the 4/20 meeting there, to allow room for a larger than usual crowd. Tim reported that he had recieved a copy of the agenda for the Supervisor's Health, Welfare, Planning and Transportation committee. It meets on Wednesday March 26 at 2:30pm to consider the resolution to form an official Airport Advisory Committee. Tim said that he didn't think he'd be able to get away from work to attend the meeting on Wednesday. He also reported that Diana Wiederman had contacted him and expressed concerns about the Wednesday meeting. She is opposed to having only 4 non-pilots and 3 pilots on the AAC, she wants "proportional representation", meaning at most 1 pilot on the committee. She also wants the Supervisors to meet on the Coast at a time when working people can attend the meeting, so they can provide their input to the process. Grant Wheeler delivered the manual for the constant current power supply for the runway lights and a brochure from Sola describing their currently available power supplies for this purpose. Grant also agreed to take a copy to Skip Jones. Discussion of HWP&T meeting --------------------------- We discussed the Wednesday meeting. We had expected the full Board to consider the draft resolution from last December. It seems that it was sent back to the HWP&T committee. Trey wondered if that implied that the AAC would be asked to report to HWP&T instead of directly to the full Board. Jack wondered if the issue of a County-wide AAC vs a local AAC would be reopened. Tim asked who could attend the Wednesday afternoon meeting. Dave Brewer said he could go. Joel said he might be able to. Dick said he would rearrange his schedule and would attend. Grant said he'd be willing to go if necessary, but that we should know that he can't be a committee member. We discussed Diana Wiederman's desire to have only 1 pilot on the committee. There was general agreement that this wouldn't work, both because of the poor representation this would give to the diverse pilot community and because of the need for quite a lot of technical work on aviation matters. Trey said that we should request the official minutes of this HWP&T meeting. We hope that the process [of establishing an official committee] won't be alowed down. And we should thank the Supervisors for having this matter on their agenda. GPS --- Tim handed out a new draft of the GPS report, dated 3/23/97. Trey handed out a few pages of notes on Section 3 of the previous draft. We went through Trey's handout. Trey proposed to add text to 3.1 stating that because the GPS system allows landings that were not previously possible, an increase in noise\ must result. Tim and Jack explained that, during the dry months of the year, it is common for a layer of clouds (stratus) to form over the airport. Local pilots can "scud run" to slip in under this, but tourists typically end up circling in the clear sky above the cloud layer, looking for the airport or for a hole in the clouds. Thus, although the tourists often do not end up landing, they still create as much or more noise than an aircraft using the GPS approach would have. This led to a discussion ot the thin layer of class G airspace that would still remain if a GPS apporach is designed - a layer between 500 and 700 feet above the ground. Trey said he was glad that there would still be a way for non-instrument rated local pilots to get into Little River. Tim said that yes, but he hoped they would get instrument ratings instead, since an instrument approach is much safer than scud running. Trey asked when can a pilot fly through the clouds. Is it ever legal for a non-instrument rated pilot to do so? No. Only instrument rated pilots may legally fly through clouds. In class G airspace they can do so without a flight plan or clearance, but in class E airspace they must file a flight plan and get a clearance. Richard asked if the GPS approach would be straight-in or circling. We agreed to meet next on April 6 at 4pm. The agenda will be: - approve minutes of previous meeting - reports on recent events - GPS instrument approach - official Airport Advisory Committee - agree on agenda for next meeting Ad Hoc Airport Committee voting members: ----------------------------------------- Joel Bornstein pilot, flight instructor lives near airport Trey Loy non-pilot, lives near airport Jack Reichel pilot, businessman Tim Scully pilot, computer programmer, lives near airport commutes by air to Oakland weekly Ray Yates non-pilot, Albion businessman Fran Tucker non-pilot, neighbor of the airport manages the Woods Susan Winding airport neighbor, non-pilot, local business owner Ad Hoc Committee alternate members: ----------------------------------- Michael Moore pilot, economist Dick Ahrens pilot airport neighbor