Minutes of the Ad Hoc Airport Advisory Committee 7/13/97 The Little River Airport Ad Hoc Airport Advisory Committee met on Sunday, 13 July 1997 from 4:00 - 6:00 pm in the Clubhouse at The Woods, 43300 Little River Airport Road, Little River. Four committee members were present: Trey Loy, Tim Scully, Fran Tucker, and Jack Reichel. Andy Becker, Grant Wheeler, Dick Ahrens, Judith Barry and Dave Brewer also attended. Charlie Meinershagen arrived partway through the meeting and remained until the end. We agreed that the next Ad Hoc meeting will take place Sunday, July 27 from 4-6pm at the Woods. Minutes ------- The minutes of the last meeting were approved. Reports on recent events ------------------------ Tim displayed the latest noise abatement posters. There was a discussion of the colors used with focus on how to make the suggested flight paths stand out more clearly. Tim asked if more flight paths should be depicted, suggesting a mid-field crosswind entry as a candidate. Andy suggested an upwind, crosswind, downwind entry. Trey said that he was a little uncomfortable with showing any flight paths since pilots need to have freedom to deviate as necessary for safety. We finally concluded that the existing flight paths are enough. Trey suggested presenting the noise abatement poster to the Supervisors at their August meeting. Judith suggested that we ask Howard Manning, the FAA Safety lecturer, to discuss Little River's noise policy when he speaks at other airports. This met with approval. Tim suggested that we also ask if the FAA could publish the noise poster in their newsletter. Someone said that the FAA budget has been cut and they have drastically trimmed back their newsletter. Someone suggested asking the Chamber of Commerce if they'd like to include some brochures on the area with the Ad Hoc Committee's mailing on noise, in return for paying some of the costs. Tim suggested that we should keep the noise policy separate from anything that encourages more tourism by air. Dick suggested mailing black and white copies of the noise poster to the "final minutes" mailing list. This was approved. Tim reported that he contacted Norma, clerk of the Board, after our last meeting. He told her that the GPS report was on its way to the Board and asked for it to be agendized for their August meeting. He asked if the GPS reports could be sent over to Ukiah with the County courier who makes regular trips from Ft. Bragg. Norma said that the August HWP&T meeting has been scheduled for August 18 and that she will put the GPS report on the agenda. She said she'd look into getting the reports delivered from ft. Bragg. This didn't work out. After several tries, Tim mentioned to Nang that the committee was trying to get the report over to Ukiah without speding another $15 on postage. Nang said she'd ask the highway crew to send it over. That was done. 5 copies were sent: one each to DPW, Patti Campbell, Michael Delbar, Charles Peterson and Norma Leone. Norma also told Tim that Dianne Wiedemann came to the HWP&T meeting in late June with three suggested changes to the resolution forming an official Airport Advisory Committee. She FAXed Tim a copy of Dianne Wiedemann's suggested changes. The Supervisors asked for the Ad Hoc Committee's response to these: 1) change Purpose and Objectives change "advance and promote" to "balance". add "and protecting the rural character and environment of the surrounding neighborhoods" 2) change Resources add "along with the Nationally Registered Historical District of Mendocino and the two neighboring State Parks, Van Damm and Pygmy Forest." 3) change Membership change to: 2 pilots and 4 non-pilots, 2 residing with one mile, 2 residing with 10 miles and 1 professional land use planner. Tim also recieved a letter from DPW, dated June 27, giving DPW's analysis of Dianne Wiedemann's suggested changes. Both of these were copied and mailed to all of the Ad Hoc Committee members before this meeting. Jack said that we want to be careful we don't turn the Airport Advisory Committee into an environmental committee. Andy said that Dianne Wiemeann is trying to force an EIR for everything. Fran said that the Supervisors need to define what an Airport Advisory Committee is and how much it should focus on the environment. The committee can consider the environment, but shouldn't be forced to consider it for every action. Grant said that the AAC should focus on working on airport issues. Jack agreed. The Airport Land Use Commission should be more focussed on off-airport environmental issues. Dave said that the AAC certainly should be sensitive to the environment. There was general agreement. Trey suggested the we should politely refuse to rehash the wording of the resolution since we spent so long debating it earlier. Tim read DPW's response. 1) ... The suggested wording is awkward in that it is not clearly indicated what these interests should be balanced with. The wording of the current County Counsel draft resolution implies balance in an affirmative way with the dual use of the term "promote". 2) In paragraph 3C, rather than listing several individual items (as suggested), consider the following wording: The Little River Airport Advisory Committee shall work toward balancing the needs of the general welfare of Mendocino County, local businesses, the neighbors of the airport, locally-based and visiting pilots, fixed base operators, local historical recreational and natural resources, and the Mendocino County Department of Public Works. (the new words are "local historical recreational and natural resources") 3) The suggested revision to paragraph 4A would further shift the balance of membership away from the aviation community, and apply excessively explicit membership criteria. There was general agreement regarding DPW's points #1 and #2. We discussed #3. We agreed that we did not want to change the suggested composition of the committee, but considered whether the wording should be amended to be more flexible. Grant said that we need to give DPW and the Supervisors more flexibility in the event that it proves impossible to find enough citizens fitting one of the categories and willing to serve on the committee. Fran asked - what are are issues that an Airport Advisory Committee deals with? Tim said that it is common for Airport Advisory Committees to work on Master Plan updates, to make suggestions regarding airport budgets and grant applications, and to report on various operational and development issues on the airport. For example, the AAC will study future hangars and non-aviation development on the airport. Trey said that pilots want the AAC to be able to initiate the study of issues. He feels that we shouldn't amend the draft resolution. Dianne tried to form a splinter group and it seems that it has dissipated. It is good that she is now more interested in a single AAC, perhaps she or her friends will participate. It was moved and seconded that we accept DPW's comments and not Dianne Wiedermann's. Trey suggested that we say that we appreciate her suggestions but do not agree with them. Andy asked why the airport supervior wasn't in the long list of entities and considerations to be balanced. Dick said that we did have him in the list but that DPW removed his name in one of the Ukiah meetings last year. DPW felt that the airport supervisor is part of DPW and hence did not need separate listing. Trey suggested that we let it slide. Dick said that we should be careful in the wording of our agreement with DPW's letter, particularly with respect to point #3. Judith said that she feels that the 10 mile radius is too restrictive. What about pilots who live in Ft. Bragg but call Little River home base? Someone pointed out that the 10 mile radius applies only to non-pilot neighbors. Tim reported on how the GPS reports were sent to Ukiah with a highway dept crew, by Nang. He said he'll follow up next week by calling Norma to see if they got there safely. Trey suggested that we copy the first 20-odd pages as a less expensive version to hand out, just stapled together. Grant suggested the we should explain that the committee is unfunded. Jack reported that he gave a talk on GPS to the Rotary Club. He will give another, more technical, talk at a later date. Fran said that she was at the Rotary talk - it was a very good program. Jack's introduction on how backpackers and hikers use GPS really helped lay people relate to and understand it. Dave mentioned that he recently rented a car with a GPS and moving map display. Fran said that applications in everyday life make it easier to understand. Trey said that he recently talked to an Air Force Captain and asked if they use GPS. He was told "no", they use gyroscopes (intertial navigation) which doesn't depend on any outside signals, and is not affected by EMP. Jack said that every pilot should have a hand-held GPS for emergency use. The Air Force bought 1100 for use by its pilots. Trey asked - what should we plan for our next two meetings? Tim suggested that we should organize a list of the issues we are aware of to make it easy for the official committee to pick them up. We also agreed to discuss a smaller hand-out on GPS and to continue refining the noise abatement policy and posters. Grant asked if the GPS report could be posted on the MCN Web server. Tim said it would have to be compressed - uncompressed the report is 10MB. Grant said he'd talk to MCN. We agreed to meet next on July 27 at 4pm at The Woods. The agenda will be: - approve minutes of previous meeting - reports on recent events - official Airport Advisory Committee - GPS instrument approach report - short summary - legacy for official committee - noise abatement - agree on agenda for next meeting NOTE: Dick Ahrens sent a letter to the Committee on July 16, 1997 resigning as an alternate member because he has been appointed to the Mendocino County Grand Jury and wants to avoid any conflict of interest. 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 Ad Hoc Committee alternate members: ----------------------------------- Michael Moore pilot, economist Susan Winding airport neighbor, non-pilot, local business owner