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Aviation Advisory Board Minutes - 04/13/2006MINUTES AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD April 13, 2006 PRESENT: CITY CLERK'S OFFICE Date B -. Vernon Nesmith, Chairman Board Members Curtis Harrelson Sid Gills Capt. Elizabeth O'Malley Dana Mills Brad Altman Martha Harvey Jim McElvain Jon J. Rivkin Monica Morris City Staff John Burrus Tex Schmidt URS Corporation Leslie Sagar Leslie Sagar & Associates Jerry Morgan SAFB 82 CES /CED Joe Spann SAFB 80 FTW /FLP CAL 1we • The meeting was called to order by Chairman Nesmith at 5:30pm. II. ROLL CALL Members were asked to make sure they signed in for the meeting. Members and guests introduced themselves. III. REGULAR AGENDA 1. Municipal Airport Update Ms. Morris provided the board with an update on the following items relative to Municipal Airport: • In December 2005, the City applied for a $24 million dollar, 5 year grant with the Federal Aviation Administration under the Military Airports Program grant. This grant would provide funding for rehabilitation of Taxiway C, the parking AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD APRIL 13, 2006 Page 1 of 5 G ramp, security improvements, a Master Plan for SPS, rehabilitation of 17/35 and partial funding for a new terminal building. The city also plans to apply for passenger facility charges to be used either as its matching funding or as an alternate source of funding should the city not receive the grant award. The staff is expecting an announcement on the grant at any time and will keep the board advised. • During the winter, the old restaurant area was converted into the new screening room and sterile area. At a cost of approximately $55,000, this project more than doubled the area for the screening and holding of passengers and has been well received by the passengers as well as the TSA staff. • No significant changes to the tenants at the airport, although the FBO has changed its name to Landmark Aviation. Staff has been working with the TSA on the possibility of relocating some of their office space. They have also worked with the rental car companies and FAA to make improvements. Overall, tenant and city relationships are positive. • Charter Casino flights at Municipal continue to service Wichita Falls but it appears at a lesser rate that in the past 12 months. Staff is unsure if the decline in these flights is a result of some problems that were experienced in the servicing of these flights or if this is just a reflection of some decrease in demand. Staff will continue to monitor the charter flight activity. • The City's lease and joint use agreements with Sheppard Air Force Base are set to expire within the next few years and both city and base personnel have started gearing up for lease discussions which staff anticipates will be handled directly by the City Manager and City Attorney. Jerry Morgan with civil engineering at the base (82nd CES /CED) presented the staff and board with their initial draft of both the lease and joint use agreements. Copies were made and distributed to the board for review. The proposed lease is a 50 year lease and Mr. Morgan indicated that the real estate office was assessing the value of runway 17/35, the 50 acres and the terminal building to assist in determining the annual lease cost. The drafts will be forwarded on to the City Manager and City Attorney for discussions with the base personnel. • Other Municipal update items included the hiring of Avy Horton as the Airports Assistant at Municipal. Avy works 8:00am — 5:00pm and provides for an administration presence for tenants, passengers and the TSA when Ms. Morris is at Kickapoo or away on other airport businesses. The Airport also had a well received tenants meeting in November when all tenants, including the pilots and aircraft owners, were invited to attend. The Airport was also the location of the City's emergency exercise in December involving multiple departments and agencies and was an excellent learning experience for everyone involved. 2. Kickapoo Downtown Airpark Ms. Morris provided the board with an update on the following items relative to Kickapoo Downtown Airpark: AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD APRIL 13, 2006 Page 2 of 5 • Airfield construction project at Kickapoo are finally complete. The new runway was opened August 29, 2005, Taxiway A opened December 21, 2005 and the project was deemed substantially complete on December 22, 2005. At the April 4th meeting of the City Council, liquidated damages were assessed in an amount in excess of $80,000 for days late. Staff does anticipate this to be disputed by Kanza Construction but will work with the city attorney's office to resolve any disputes. • The planning for the upcoming projects is well underway with an anticipated bid release date of May 31, 2006. These projects include a stormwater detention pond, rehabilitation of hangar taxiways, rehabilitation of the entrance road and terminal parking lot, a fence line to separate vehicle and aircraft traffic and a new 6 or 8 unit T- hangar complex. Electrical lines and transformer will be relocated and the staff will work with URS and the tenants in the logistics of relocating aircraft while the taxiways are being rehabilitated. Staff is also working with the post office to help with the drainage on the north of the terminal at the property line. • There has been new activity on the properties to the east of the airport. In February, the city council approved a revised airport zoning ordinance which, in addition to updating the ordinance to current FAA standards, removed a provision which restricted building construction on the airport and adjoining properties. The lifting of this restriction will allow for hangar construction at Kickapoo but also improves the options for construction on the east properties. These properties do have "through- the - fence" agreements for rights of access to the airport. Joe Best who owns the south parcel of land is working on development plans and his consultant has visited with the FAA to ensure whatever plans they develop are compatible with the airport. The north property is owned by Staley, Baker and Monson. Their current plan is to subdivide the property between Taxiway B and Kimbell Rd into 19 individual lots for hangar /office or hangar /warehouse development. They are also working on some drainage issues and clearing the land for utility placement for some office areas. Staff will continue to work with these property owners to ensure compatible development of these lands. • City staff made a recommendation to the committee to officially change the name of Kickapoo from "Kickapoo Downtown Airpark" to "Kickapoo Downtown Airport." The name airpark is defined as "a small airport located near a business or industrial park." It can also imply a residential airfield. Given the significant improvements made to the airfield, staff believes the name airpark does not adequately describe the size and quality of Kickapoo and believe it could discourage some business traffic from using Kickapoo. A motion was made by Curtis Harrelson and seconded by Brad Altman to make a recommendation to city council to change the name from AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD APRIL 13, 2006 Page 3 of 5 Kickapoo Downtown Airpark to Kickapoo Downtown Airport. All members were in favor. • Other Kickapoo items discussed were the awarding of employee of the month to head lineman Glenn Wharff who has been with the airport since 1988 when John Coppage still owned the airport. Staff has been working to improve relationships with tenants and has also been working on newsletters, brochures and other means of better marketing the airport. Staff has had some recent noise complaints regarding helicopter flights and early morning departures, but believe these have been resolved for the time being. Staff has been given notice from the FAA that Kickapoo will possibly be losing one or both of its NDB instrument approaches as these approaches are aging technology. The city's current ongoing maintenance costs of the NDB is minimal and the loss of both of these approaches would give Kickapoo only one remaining instrument approach. Staff is drafting a letter to the FAA to request the approaches be left in service as long as possible. Staff is also working on various funding options to acquire an Automated Weather Observation System (AWOS) which would be a very important addition to the airport and help attract business activity. Finalty, the status of the North Texas Regional Drug Task Force who is a tenant at the airport and currently the only source of security at the airport is tentative due to their funding loss from the state. While their funding has been provided locally for the next year, their presence at Kickapoo after March 2007 is uncertain. 3. Presentation of the draft Master Plan for Kickapoo Downtown Airpark Leslie Sagar presented the board with a draft version of the Master Plan for Kickapoo Downtown Airpark. Ms. Sagar provided the board with an update of the items that had been completed by the airport since its acquisition by the city and the city's investment to date. She then identified and reviewed the seven key steps in the completion of the Master Plan — updating the aviation demand forecast, demand capacity analysis, facility requirements, alternatives, environmental overview, financial analysis and the ALP (Airport Layout Plan). The board was also presented with a current copy of the 20 year Capital Improvement Plan. The primary discussion revolved around the proposed location of the helicopter pads, t- hangar complex and other aircraft parking. Chairman Nesmith encouraged all members to consider the ever increasing use of helicopters for medical transport when considering the best location at the airport for both helicopter access as well as ambulance access to the helicopter. Mr. Harrelson also commented on the possible air disturbance around the other parked aircraft. He also inquired about the plans for run -up (hold) pads on each end of the runway. Ms. Sagar commented that the pads are not necessary according to the capacity and demand analysis, but understood that this was a AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD APRIL 13, 2006 Page 4 of 5 desire of city management and was included in the 20 year CIP. Mr. Altman commented that a helipad location close to the terminal building could cause noise problems for the staff in the terminal building answering telephones or providing airport advisories over the radio. Mr. Schmidt and Ms. Sagar emphasized that this document is a plan for the airport and its future development, but that none of these items were "set in stone" and couldn't be changed or modified as the years go by. Chairman Nesmith encouraged all members to consider these items in their review of the Master Plan before the meeting next month. 4. The next meeting date was scheduled for Thursday, May 18th, 2006 at 5:30pm at the Central Services Complex conference room. Members were asked to review the draft Master Plan and forward comments, questions or suggestions to Ms. Morris who will then forward these on to Ms. Sagar and Mr. Schmidt. These items will be discussed at the May meeting for final decisions as to the content of the Master Plan. IV. ITEMS OF CONCERN FOR BOARD MEMBERS - none V. ADJOURN The meeting was adjourned at 7:05pm. 9. 4\,� -D'DS Dr. Vernon Nesmith, Chairman ATTEST: 011w John A. BWus, Director of Aviation, Traffic and Transportation le Afg PaC� Date 1e Z00 Date Referenced items on file in the Aviation Cabinet in the office of the Director of Aviation, Traffic and Transportation for review upon request: Draft copy of the Kickapoo Airport Master Plan 20 year Capital Improvement Plan as of April 2006 • Draft handout of the proposed SAFB lease agreement • Draft handout of the proposed SAFB joint -use agreement • Printout of the PowerPoint presentation made by Ms. Sagar AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD APRIL 13, 2006 Page 5 of 5