Little River Airport Chapter of the California Pilots Association 1st meeting and work party May 11 at 10AM A group of Little River pilots met 4/28/96 and agreed to organize a chapter of the California Pilots Association, after discussing various other possibilities, including forming an EAA chapter and forming our own independent 501(c)3 corporation. The California Pilots Association (CPA) calls itself "The Airport Defenders". Our chapter will be a 501(C)3 non-profit corporation. Four of us signed an application form for CPA and Tim Scully is donating the initial $105 in fees to get the incorporation accomplished. We'll have to open a post office box and bank account after we are incorporated. We plan to hire an accountant to file the corporate tax return. Meanwhile we are planning a work party for Saturday May 11 from 10am to 2pm to start painting the airport office building. Roy Trillia will bring tools, tarps and primer. We hope for a big turnout of volunteer workers who will help strip, prepare and paint the outside of the airport office, one side at a time. The work-party will include a pot-luck lunch. Tim and Diana Scully will bring soft beverages. If the weather is foggy on May 11, we'll try Sunday May 12. If the weather is still bad, or if we haven't completed the work, we'll meet again on Saturday May 25 at 10am with Sunday the 26th as a fall-back time in case of bad weather. Bring food for the pot-luck. Wear old clothes, and bring gloves and goggles or glasses if you have them. As soon as we have a bank account opened (probably within a month or so) I'll be making a call for fulfillment of your pledges for donations. We can discuss whether we want to assess dues at our work-party/meeting on 5/11. We'll be needing officers and directors for this corporation. Please let me know if you are interested in serving. Directors will help with fund raising. Possible Future Projects (to be discussed at future meetings) ======================== - fund raising for airport improvements - work parties for airport maintenance or improvement projects (with permission from Public Works) - a web page for the airport? - fund the Ad Hoc Committee's mailing and duplicating costs? Tim Scully ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minutes of the Ad Hoc Airport Advisory Committee 4/14/96 The Little River Airport Ad Hoc Airport Advisory Committee met on Sunday 4/14/96 from 4-6:00pm. Five committee members were present: Tim, Trey, Jack, Susan and Joel. Norma, Dick Ahrens and Neil Boyle (from the Mendocino Beacon) were also present. Michael was unable to attend because he had to be in Scaramento for an Energy Commission meeting. We agreed that the next Ad Hoc meeting will take place Sunday, April 28 from 4-6pm at Coast Flyers. minutes ------- The minutes of the previous meeting were approved. reports ------- A letter from Chuck Boyer to Susan Winding was received, telling her that a request has been made with Parlin Fork for cleanup of the downed trees. Chuck also asked the Ad Hoc Committee (by copying Tim on the letter) to respond regarding replanting trees around the pond. We agreed that Tim may contact Bill Heil to ask him for advice on this issue. Trey expressed concern about using only native plants. We also were sent a copy of the Supervisor's minutes regarding their approval of the Airport THP. Susan said that she has a copy of the THP and will being it to out next meeting. Tim reported that, as agreed in our last meeting, he has sent a letter to the Planning, Transportation, Health and Welfare Committee asking them to personally contact the FAA regarding the timber harvest revenue. Joel passed around a clipping from General Aviation News, with an article by Charles Spence on the FAA's new policy on diversion of airport revenue. Jack read a short squib from the California Pilot's newsletter about a handbook on airport land use planning - Tim said he'll write for it. He also read another short article on airport revitalization. Tim passed around a clipping "Community, Looking for an Economic Boost, Invests in its Airport", from General Aviation News. This described Darrington, Washington, a small town which lost 400 of 500 timber jobs and after careful research, decided to invest in improving the local airport in an effort to bring new jobs into the community. Their airport is smaller than ours. Timber Harvest -------------- There was some discussion of the Supervisor's statements about the timber harvest revenue going into the general fund, with the possible exception of funding for a study on airport economic development. Various budgets for this study were mentioned, ranging from $24,000 to $69,000. We agreed that it was unclear whether this study would cover more than the proposed industrial park. Dick asked if we could write to the Supervisors to express support for the timber harvest. After discussion, we agreed that we were not in favor of harvesting timber just for the sake of cutting trees. We clearly don't agree on what the revenue should be used for and hence can't support the plan. Rescheduling Meetings? ---------------------- Joel asked us to consider rescheduling for Sunday mornings. After discussion we agreed to leave the meeting time as it is because Sunday mornings might make it more difficult for public participation due to conflict with church attendance. Trey asked about weeknights, but at least one of us has a conflict with each suggested weeknight. Statement of Economic Interest ------------------------------ We discussed this long and detailed form, which each member of an officially appointed committee would have to fill out. One non-pilot indicated an unwillingness to fill out the form. Everyone else agreed that it was worse than income tax forms, but reluctantly agreed to fill it out if necessary. Noise Abatement --------------- Tim asked for agreement from the committee to write to Charles and Frank, asking them to write in turn to CalTrans to request a written response to our proposed noise abatement policy. Trey initially objected, preferring to amend the policy and then ask for Budge Campbell to send our amended policy for comment. We went back over what we were asked to do with the noise policy. We were told to get approval from the FAA and from CalTrans, then to forward the policy to Public Works for submission to the Board. After discussion, we agreed that if the policy is amended, we'll need to hold another community meeting to discuss the amendments. Therefore we'll get the State's comments on the original policy and make all the amendments at once, then hold one last community meeting on the subject before forwarding the policy to Budge. We finally agreed that Tim will write to Charles and Frank, requesting that they ask CalTrans to respond to us in writing regarding the proposed noise policy. Susan and Trey specifically asked for the request to be narrow and not to broaden it to other issues (such as grant funding) at this time. Trey mentioned that he has gotten some comments from airport neighbors about the noise from flight instruction, particularly touch and go landings. Joel said that he felt that raising the traffic pattern altitude will help with this noise. Joel also said that Robin Bell reports that the new noise policy (which most pilots have been following) has been successful in reducing noise at the departure end of the runway. Hangars ------- Tim reported that Trey and Joel had both sent him input for Dick's report on hangars. He gave Dick this input along with a great deal of background material (copies of correspondence, reports, etc.). Dick reported that he has completed a draft of Section 1 of the report - the statement of the problems with private hangars. He hadn't had time to get copies made yet. Trey said that he would like to see a synopsis of the history of hangars on the airport at the beginning of the report. We all concurred. We also thanked Trey for collecting the historical data he provided in his input. Jack asked Trey a number of questions about the solution Trey had proposed to the hangar problem, and was able to boil it down to this: - Trey believes that private ownership on public land is bad. - The County doesn't have the funds to buy all the hangars now. - Trey proposes that the County be given first right of refusal to buy any hangar that comes up for sale, at an appraised fair market price. If the County declines to buy, the hangar owner may proceed with a private sale. - There must be a time limit on the County's decision to buy. Jack pointed out that many committe members don't agree with Trey's premise and reminded us that private development on public airports is common and that the existing private hangars create a public benefit by bringing in revenue to the airport. We agreed that Trey's alternative should be included in Dick's next draft report. We also thanked Trey for coming up with a compromise solution. Tim asked if Trey approved of a private hangar owner finding a buyer to establish fair market price. Trey said he believed this was unfair because it would allow a rich pilot to offer more than fair market value to get a hangar quickly. We then discussed future hangars. Trey said that he has walked around the airport more. He realized that we don't have to drill test holes to examine the soil layers - we can look at the cut made by the drainage ditch. He did this and found that the soil is much better at the NorthEast end of the airport than it is at the NorthWest end, where hangars are now. He suggested that future hangars should go to the NorthEast end. Jack pointed out that most airports have the hangars all in one group, and that the NorthEast end was planned for outdoor tiedown expansion. He said that usually about 3x as much area is devoted to tiedowns as hangars. Trey said that the non-aviation area to the NorthEast also looks more suitable for use than the NorthWest segment. Trey reported that he talked to Rick Ricca about whether the fire department would prefer not to move their picnic area. The answer was no. GPS Approach ------------ Jack reported that President Clinton has ordered "selective availablility" to be phased out. This will make GPS navigation about 10x more accurate. Next Meeting ------------ We agreed that we will meet next on 4/28 from 4-6pm and that the agenda will be: - approve minutes - reports on recent events - hangars - GPS approach - non-aviation uses - timber harvest - tree planting - Airport Land Use manual mentioned in the CPA - agree on agenda for next meeting Charles Peterson and Frank McMichael Planning, Transportation, Health and Welfare Committee Courthouse Ukiah, CA 95482 Dear Charles and Frank: The Little River Ad Hoc Committee met yesterday and voted to ask me to write to you about the timber harvest at Little River Airport. The Committee is concerned that much of the proceeds of the harvest might be wasted in legal fees if a dispute arises between the FAA and the County regarding the diversion of the funds from the airport to the general fund. The FAA has already stated in their letter of August 31, 1995 that "all income derived from the sale of such timber is considered airport revenue and may not go into the general fund, such an action is considered airport revenue diversion." We understand that several Supervisors have taken the public position that the FAA's opinion is not valid, and that all or most of the proceeds of the timber harvest will go into the General Fund. We urge you, as Supervisors, to personally contact Mr. John L. Pfeifer, the FAA Manager of the Airports District Office in Burlingame or Mr. Joseph R. Rodriguez in the same office at (415) 876-2805 and talk this over. It is our belief that a great deal of time and money could be saved by reaching an understanding with the FAA before the harvest takes place. Thank you for your attention. Respectfully Yours, Tim Scully, Ph.D. Chairman