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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-21-2003AUBURN AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES OCTOBER 21, 2003 The meeting was called to order by Chairman Bill Peloza at 5:30 pm. Board Members present were Bud Buchanan, Rodger Campbell, Don Rottle, and Ron Wanttaja. Aubum staff present were Paul Krauss, Director of Planning; Interim Airport Manager Mark Ellingson; and Planning Secretary Carolyn Brown. Between 30 and 35 tenants were present The minutes of the m~eting on September 17, 2003 were approved and Rodger Campbell moved to accept the minutes and Bud Buchanan second. Planning Director Krauss asked to be first on the agenda and address tenants regarding the flood at the north end of the airport. Planning Director Krauss & Dennis Morgan, airport staff, reviewed the situation and called the tenants in hangars that were being flooded. The rain water was neady 6 inches deep in front of the north hangars. Regular flooding had happened in the past, but the City built catch basins near the north end of the airport and reduced the flooding. A 30-inch pipe drains the water off the airport to Brannon Park where a major pump station pumps the water into a slough and then into the river. The systems were working, and even with the pumps working at full capacity they just couldn't keep up with the rain. The City Engineer and Public Works director check out the system and make sure that the second set of pumps come on once the first set reach capacity. Also, the City wants to find out were the point of flooding now is as it seems to have moved to the east. The City may look at cutting a hole in the curb to allow the water to flood into the street instead of the hangars. Planning Director Krauss is checking the City's liability coverage and encourages anyone that suffered damage due to the flood to submit a letter to the City documenting the damage. Also, the City will help in any other way possible. The City will look at other ways to alleviate this situation and because this was a 125-year storm, there are also other problems around the area and on local streets and highways. One person asked if it (flooding) is this rare? Planning Director Krauss added that ice and snow melt with rain could also cause a problem. This has happened in the past and caused water to back up into the hangars. Planning Director Krauss added that a time could come when the Green River is at such a flood stage that all the cities would have to stop pumping into the river. John Gallo asked if are there emergency pumps around? Planning Director Krauss said that the fire departments have them, but in this instance there was no place to pump the excess water as the streets had filled up, also. Several of the tenants added a thanks to Jamelle Garcia for the use of his facility at. the Aubum Flight Services maintenance building. OLD BUSINESS: 1. FAA / GPS Status/Remote Transmitter follow-up. Planning Director Krauss received an e-mail from Lorelei Mesic a consultant with W&H Pacific stating that she had checked on Page 1 the status of the CPS approach. High ceiling south approach. The City has worked with the Seattle office of the FAA to get an approval and the results were sent to the head FAA office in Oklahoma City 4 or 5 months ago. Planning Director Krauss is concerned because the person the City had been working with, Paul Eckles, retired and everyone wanted to be sure that the request hadn't been dropped. Seattle FAA is concerned about a missed approach especially with the high ceiling south approach. The Airport shouldn't get a CPS approach without the remote transmitter. Now it may be possible to get a remote transmitter that will be based at the Auburn office of the FAA. This way could be quick, easy and cheap. Jamelle Gamia has spoken to Jan Olson of the FAA and stated that he tried different frequencies~ see if Auburn could reach them. The FAA will come to the Auburn Airport and check it out. Planning Director Krauss said now everything seems to be moving quickly. There is a letter from the Mayor's office and the letter is ready to go if needed. But the process seems to be moving in the right direction without the letter to the Legislature. Jamelle said the CPS may be limited to daytime use only, until the survey has been done. Planning Director Krauss said the survey was complete, but the requirements have been changed and the FAA wants the Airport to do it again. 2. Airport Management/Operations contract update. Planning Director Krauss provided some background to the tenants on the Airport Management Operations RFQ. The City Council has been talking about private contract management of the airport for sometime. The City advertised for bids and had two responses with one withdrawing. Jamelle Garcia with AFS set up a new corporate entity and applied for the job. There was an Interview process and the Airport Advisory Board was involved. The City directed staff move forward and draft the contract, with the City Attorney working on the draft. There should soon be a 5-year contract to present to City Council in December or January. Chairman Peloza and the Airport Advisory Board believes that outside management by experts could make the airport more efficient. Planning Director Krauss said the Airport is an enterprise fund and thus operates on it's own income. Planning Director Krauss said the chain of command is still the AAB, Muni-Service Committee, and City Council. The City Council still has to set rights, oversee contracts, that are the results of the monthly meetings of AAB and Muni-Services. 3. Delinquent Tenant account status. The Board discussed the past history of delinquent tenants and how the account is now down to a reasonable amount. However, the Finance staff still needs to keep the pressure on past due tenants. 4. Not much has changed on the item regarding the runway construction status schedule. A letter was sent out to all tenants. Planning Director Krauss stated that the Airport has never had a problem, with drainage, except for the one spot where runways were joined. However, the FAA, in reviewing the project, insisted on the addition of trench drains along the runway, which will help to preserve the base. Fiscal year 04 for the FAA started in October, so the project is slated for spring construction. Item 5. Hangar roof repairs, rows 9 & 10 - condensation problems Page 2 time. (Staff review construction contract-warranty-M/W) Was not discussed at this 6. Chairman Peloza asked the tenants if they had any comments regarding airport security. The issue was raised of the gate in the middle of the fence not closing. A comment from audience said the gate has not worked for a long time. Interim Airport Manager Ellingson has been aware of this and knows that it needs repair. The general consensus from the audience is that it needs to be replaced. One question was if there is mandated airport security. Planning Director Krauss said the City has kept up on the security issues, and there is no money coming forth from the Federal Government to General Aviation airports to help with secudty issues. There have been no break-ins that staff is aware of. The security firm and PD volunteers patrol the airport. John Gallo added that people have been challenged by security. The question was asked if the training for the security folks includes looking for the possibility of fly-in thefts. When the security group was interviewed they were told then what type of security the airport was looking for. Chairman Peloza said he help will work on the gate problem. 7. Connie Henkie with the Auburn Good Old Days presented information and background on what the event is all about. The Good Old Days celebration has had antique airplane fly- in in the past and there has been a conflict with a big show in Vancouver. Weather issues also can be a problem. Some dates of other festivals have been changed. The group could invite home-builts and not just the antique airplanes. Chairman Peloza asked people if they are interested to sign up and the group will form a committee. Ron Wanttaja discussed some of the items of interest such as display aircraft, and Young Eagles. Someone in the audience raised the question of liability. Ron Wanttaja stated that in order to qualify in Young Eagles the airplane needs $100,000 insurance and the parents would have to sign a waiver for the young person could go up in the airplane. Also, the Festival has a huge insurance policy with the City on the coverage. 8. Helicopter concems Ron Wanttaja discussed some of the past issues that have been raised with the helicopters. John Gallo discussed how the helicopters were crossing the runways in some of their patterns. Also noticed the helicopters not paying attention to fixed wing. John would like to propose that the helicopters keep off the runway when they are doing the run on landing and take - offs. If a heliport site is developed, then Medivac could use the center heliport. Transient parking could be moved to the permanent parking area, which would be closer to the fuel pump. Currently there is no place at the north end to locate a helipad. Some of the transient parking could be used for overflow car parking. The helicopters could use a 45° entry and departure. Item 9 is regarding the hangar vacancies. Planning Director Krauss said the airport has never had vacant hangars until this year. Typically the airport has a large waiting list. Right now the vacancy problem is most severe in open hangars, while the closed hangars have some vacandies. The Airport has advertised in trade papers. The vacancies are definitely a problem because the rent is what generates most of the income for the airport. The private developers have been able to sell their hangar space. It appears that hobby pilots have felt Page 3 the pinch of the economy. Other airports are also starting to see the same trend. The City has discussed the potential of adding bi-fold doors or something similar to the open hangars. The City Council needs to be convinced that the hangars could be leased if the expense of adding the doors could help fill the empty spaces. Planning Director Krauss said he has a meeting about reorienting the ground leaSes to free up some space. Ray Richcreek asked if a survey could be done with the people who have left within the past year and a half and see where the traffic has gone. Ron Wanttaja asked if it could compare who was in the open and who was in the closed hangars. See if the new people came in to lease were new tena.nts to the airport. Airport staff will work on this problem. Gerry Coon, a tenant, submitted a letter asking the AAB and staff to investigate and recommend a course of action to correct the water run-off problems occurring in some of the south facing older closed hangars. He discussed the water problem and the east-end hangars, which he acknowledges has been a problem for a few years. Seal coating between hangars should. be done between the hangars to control the dust and dirt. 10. The item on more private airport development was generated by a letter received 'from Mr. Steven Ratcliffe on September 15, 2003. He was present at the September meeting. Indicated he would like to build more on the airport. Planning Director Krauss Present responded to him that at this time the airport doesn't have a good place to build more hangars. The board is 'trying to reserve the south end for high-end building and hangars. All other vacant land is under lease for stage development. Planning Director Krauss has had a conversation with Bill Vandenberg and has a discussion with a parts manufacturing company to come in to the airport. The question was raised about the land on the west side of the airport. Planning Director Krauss answered that a taxi-way is planned under the Master Plan. The City is just waiting to apply for money. If a developer came in and wanted to develop the land, the City would probably approve. Another question was asked if the CitY is amenable to offer incentives to encourage businesses to move onto the field. Planning Director Krauss answered that the City is not particularly entrepreneurial and in the private sector is easier to get work done. Often times the process the City has to go through can be lengthy. Planning Director Krauss said he will get back to Mr. Ratcliffe later this week. 11. Chairman Peloza discussed future airport grant opportunities. Especially through the State Department of Aviation, which offers grants for airport improvements. City staff will look into grant opportunities. Jamelle offered that he is going to a conference on smaller aviation, grant writing and where to find it in the states. One audience member raised his hand and said he has experience in grant writing and would help the city is asked. The audience praised Jim Martin and Dennis Morgan, airport staff, and how hard they have worked to keep the airport up and running and how well they work with the airport. Planning Director Krauss added that the City is definitely thinking of keeping Jim and Dennis as city employees in some capacity. NEW BUSINESS Page 4 Item 1 is on Airport fuel sales. Agenda included a copy of a graph on fuel sales. The current results are better sales by way of a decreased profit margin. The board discussed the past sales and the summer is the peak time of fuel sales. Planning Director Krauss said the City has lowered the overhead on fuel. Now the Airport is fairly competitive at this time. The price was lowered a few months ago and staff is monitoring the sales trend. The City is not actively advertising the fuel prices, and in the future the private manager could do that. Ray Richcreek added that the survey mentioned eadier could also note if the fuel price was an issue. Another question thaf.was asked was how many people would buy car fuel? About 5 or so people in the audience raised their hands. As a point of destination for fuel, Auburn is an unique position at this time. However, the airport needs exposure and reducing fuel through substantial sales for 6 months or so could bring people back to the airport. This could be accomplished through privatization. Ron Wanttaja suggested that after the paving project the airport could have a grand reopening and announce cut-rate fuel. On item 2, the discuSsion on landscaping, Chairman Peloza said he has a query in with the Parks Department to find out about possible landscaping around the airport. Item 3 is the idea of a Park and Ride Community Park View Area. This has been on general discussion for the past months. At this time the City is still negotiating with the King County Metro regarding the Park-N-Ride site at 15th NW. Item 3 was discussed by Jamelle Garcia of Auburn Flight Service on the 30 day trial pedod upwind entry. He was concerned with students entering on the 45 from the water tower to the west. 5 months ago his students were to go out to SeaTac mall, turn and then descend altitude. A few months ago he decided to have students enter on the east side of the airport at 1000 ft at the end of the runway. Also, they can enter downwind to adjust the pattern at that time and they can reduce power and airspeed. There have been no complaints from the local neighbors. Ray Richcreek discussed his experience with planes cutting him off. The audience asked if that means giving up the "tear drop" midfield entry. The concern is watching for traffic that is coming crosswind. Jamelle wanted to stick with a pattem for training the students. The audience then discussed variations to the pattern. Admittedly the flight school can load up the traffic pattern. The audience also discussed the impact caused by faster airplanes. What about the two mile finals. The time is short from over the water tower to on the down wind. Jamelle added that he will try to keep the pattern over Fred Meyer and spread out the traffic. Item 4 is regarding the communication between airport and tenants. Chairman Peloza wanted to know if the tenants are getting enough communication on what is going on at the airport. One member said he received something in his bill and but didn't open for several days. Could there be a separate mailing for other notices. Some tenants said they have gone on the internet and found out what is going on.. Chairman Peloza asked if there was any additional public comment. The following general comments were made: Page 5 1. Middle security gate needs repair- it stays open. 2. Bird activity at the airport - need some type of bird repellant 3. Insufficient power/lighting in hangars (also, lights left on in the daytime) 4. A second wash rock would be nice ( per staff it could have environmental impacts) 5. Strobe light on end of runway don't have the deflectors 6. Lower fuel price was also suggested as an incentive for acquiring new tenants. The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 PM. Respectively submitted by Carolyn Brown, Secretary NEXT MEETING: Tuesday November 18 @ 8:00 am - City Hall. Page 6