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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCCMinutes_2006_11_08 217 Brookings Ciry Council November 8, 2006 The Bxookings City Council held a special meeting on Wednesday, November 8,2006 at 3:00 p.m., at City Hall with the following members present: Mayor Scott Munsterman, Council Membexs Tom Bezdichek,Julie Whaley,Mike Bardey, Ginger Thomson,Tim Reed, and Michael Reitz. Interim City Manager Dennis Falken, City Attoxney Steve Britzman, and City Clerk Shari Thornes were also present. Deputy Mayor Tim Reed chaired the meeting. A' ort. Tom Schauer,Federal Aviation Adininistxation (FAA),presented information on Brookings past history and the current Brookings Airport's futuxe regarding the environmental process. Schauet clarified the process. He has met with numerous airport tenants and has found a lot of misinformation about the cuxrent airport and the process. He reviewed a letter dated Apri13, 2006 to the Mayor from Steve Obenauer, F.AA Bismarck Airports District Office,regarding compliance issues at the Brookings Airport. The letter cited incompatible land use that was found in the Runway Protection Zone (RPZ). The FAA's directive to the City is to stop making it worse and to move towards a solution through a Mastex Plan and Environmental Study. If the City chooses to do nothing the city could risk federal airport entidement and discretionary funds until complia.nce was achieved. Another option is to bring the current site into compliance or to select a new off-site location. Schauer xeviewed the various phases of an on-site and off-site environmental study,which is called a Dual Track Study. Phases include the following: Phase 1: A. Hold a public open house B. Form an Advisory Committee 1) On Airport-refine evaluation criteria and prepaxe concept plan 2) New Airport- develop selection criteria, select search areas, evaluation airport sites, prepare concept plan . C. Prepaxe Dua1 Txack Alternatives Repoxt D. Hold a public open house 1) Select preferred on-site concept 2) Select preferred off-site concept Phase 2: A. Prepare dtaft environxnental assessment B. Hold public open house C. Prepare final environmental assessment foY both "tracks" Schauer said the firms of Helms and HNTB axe the consultants who are conducting the environmental study. They will be seeking information and input about specific things in and atound the current and proposed airport sites that could cause problems. In this process the consultants will gather a significant amount of data,review all the alternatives that will meet those needs, and review the environmental impacts of 19 diffeYent categories (i.e. endangered species, wedands,people, historical sites). In this process they will xeview on-site and off-site options. Why off-site? If the City of Brookings came to FAA asking to realign the main runway at the current airport the FAA would require an environmental study that would include all other altexnatives. Before the FAA invests more money in the Brookings Airport they want to know if this is the right place to build. He noted that there are numerous criteria and circumstances that - must be evaluated with every site. Brookings is not unique in this process. Any time any city is doing a major runway construction they are required to look at other alternatives including looking elsewhere. Once all the data is gathered the consultants will identify which alternatives are the most promising. It's premature for the consultants, the FAA, or the City to state a location prefexence because they don't have all the information. He said everyone needs to remain open in this process. Tt can be frustrating because it takes a long time to gather the data. However,better data makes for better decisions. There will be plenty of opportunity in this process fox City Council to clirect the consultants. 218 Schauer said the City is in the beginning of the process in Phase 1, as outlined above. When the consultants have gathered enough data to identify off-site locations, another public open house will be held to hear concerns. After that public open house the City Council will be asked to select the preferred concepts. It is at that point that the Council starts making a decision. Until then,it's fact- fmding mission. If the Council sees things they'd like the consultants to be doing, they should ask them. Once all data is gathered it will help assist the Council in a decision and will help the Council explain to the public why the decision was made. The Council's decision will be subject to public vote. If the City Council has a list of quesrions they want identified in the impact studies, they should make suxe those items are covered. He recommended wotking through the airport staff or the city manager. He clarified the expectations in the April3rd letter. The FAA has an expectation that the City of Brookings will move through this process as expeditiously as possible in order the Council to make a decision that will resolve the City's non-compliance issues. If somewhere in this process the City stops, then the FAA will take steps to resolve the non-compliance. If the City reaches this point it would mean losing the$150,000/year funding and the opportunity fox Fedexal discxetionary funds. He said there are also other Federal measures beyond FAA funding that would impact the Ciry including the Department of Transportation. Bringing the airport into compliance would also better serve the public because the non-compliance items are safety related. Cio Council�ue.rtion.r Thomson asked if the$150,000 per year was an entidement. Yes,it is a non-primary entidement. Discretionary funds are for bigger ticket items such as a taxiway, acquiring land, and hangars. Discretionary funds axe needs based and are competitive. In ND and SD, funds are allocated annually through a Capital Impxovement Pla.n. The FAA identifies the most critical needs and safety and security issues get top priority. Bartley asked if discretionary funds were being used for this study. Patrick Dame,Airport Manager, said the City is using bank entitlement funds. The City did use discretionary funds to rehab the runway for certification inspection. Bartley asked if the certification process was different than compliance or intertwined. Tom Schauer said CERT is part of Federal Aviation and airports are required to meet certain standards when they reach a certain size. Non-compliance with "Part 139" xules can result in fines. Generally the FAA works with cities to fix these items. Airports identify those areas to addtess and the FAA works with the CERT inspectox to buy time for funding ox a pla.nning document to catch up. The cuxrent issue with the xunway isn't a cure-all,but a fix or patch for the next 10 yeaxs. Why should the City spend money on a nznway if they axe thinking of moving the airport? The FAA wants to make sure that the airport is open and safe,but not to spend a lot of money in case it's moving or the city will be doing something different in the near future. The question was asked at what point is a decision made on preferred concept. Schauer said the consultants make recommendations,but the ultimate decision lies with the City Council. T"hat is why it is important along this process if the Council thinks of questions about possible concerns to make sure consultants know about them. He noted that you won't fmd many regional offices like theirs that provide questions along the way rather than a laundry list at the end. Other regional/district offices prefer to ask fox fmal documents for review and comment which provide more time delays and frustrations. His office doesn't have to be involved in the process. Bartley asked at what point does the City inforxn potentially effected property owners. Schauer said that won't happen until much further in the process. Right now the consultants don't have anything beyond the initial data. Once alignments axe selected there will be sufficient data to evaluate who is affected and who isn't. Bartley said his concern is that some properties get idenrified as potential sites and some owners are contacted and some are not. "I'hat should not be the case until a property is selected. Schauex said it is reasonable in this process to hold an open house inviting those who own property in areas of potential impact. The City would invite those property ownexs to hear what is going on,but would make it clear that no decisions will be made right now and the City is fact fmding at this point. Bartley asked if the City could have the consultants make the contacts rather than through an open house. Schauer said the city could mold the process to include that. 219 Bardey asked if the city does that,when would it be appropriate (now, 6 months, 1 year). Schauer said the city can mold that process;however, cautioned that doing it too early could get people concerned over nothing. If they are informed too early there won't be any data to provide. If they aYe located in the RPZ area then explain to them that impact. Bardey expressed concern that the process be reviewed so that it's made friendlier to the property owners. Schauer agreed that getting the public involved into the p�ocess as early as possible is part of the education process. The City may also Find that the public has additional information that is helpful in the study. In order to get buy-in it's best to get as many people to understand the process. Whenever any public open house is held getting information out to the public must be the primary goal. Bartley asked how to bring effected parties into the process without bringing them into a public meeting. Schauer said that would a reasonable item to discuss with the consultants to determuie what they are willing to do and what their fees would be. Bezdichek said he struggles with this process as a City Council member representing constituents. When in this process are items open to debate if the Council starts to question decisions being made by the Airport Manager which may or may not be in best interests? When does the Council start to interact in this process to question those issues for benefit of the FAA and city of Brookings? Schauer said the FAA views the Airport Manager and the City as one entity. If the Airport Manager doesn't speak for the City,the Council or City must direct the FAA to the appxopriate internal contact. Howevet,he noted that the Airport Manager hasn't made any decisions on anything that has been done. All actions require Council approval. The Airport Managex's role is to provide input. The decisions made by the FAA are made in their best interests and riot just anything by one person. Schauer couldn't think of any decisions that have unpacted this process. Schauer said with Helms as youx consultant,he would hope that if they are in non-conformance with the contract or not doing the job by the City's or FAA guidelines that they would dealt with on a contractual basis. The FAA will provide their expertise on their review drawing upon other master plans and other environmentals. Bezdichek noted that several airport ptojects have exceeded budgets (fire station, drainage problem, etc.). Bezdichek also cited numerous problems with the Willtnar,MN airport project and noted that Helms was the consultant on that pxoject. Bartley asked if the FAA had concerns if the Essenrial Air Service for Bxookings ended. Schauer said if the air carrier and EAS end,it won't affect the issues of non-compliance. The Fr1A would continue to review what is safe and unsafe and address those issues. A forecasting pxocess would be done to identify usage. Bardey noted that the Instxument Landing System (ILS) is 15 yea,rs old. Schauer said if the airport moves the ILS will move too as part of the project cost. The FAA would decide if another type of system were to be installed. Schauer commented that the Brookings Airport has had non-compliance issues that have e�sted for sevexal years and have never been addressed. He provided a copy of the Terms and Conditions the City accepted when it received federal funds and noted the areas of non-compliance. Steve Britzman said he was reseatching policies of the FAA on decisions on a.irport safety issues and was looking for a database to help him understand safety issues being imposed. Schauer said all airports in non-compliance go through a Federal judicial process and the FA.A is trying to get the cases on a website. He will check to see if that website has been done. Britzman said cases with similar rules can be interpreted in a different way and he wanted to research how they reached their decision in order to help us. Schauer notes that in many cases the issues are resolved without a paper trail. Reed asked Bezdichek if there were other options that should be considered in the process. Bezdichek expressed concern about the lengthixiess of the process. He recommended greater interest in emphasizing how to fu�the serious problems at the existing airport such as buying out houses to move the crosswind runway. Schauex said they have asked the consultants to discuss alternatives fox the crosswind;however, due to air space,wedand&wildlife issues only a handful of options work. All these review items cost money. 220 Britzman noted that in this planning pYOcess will thexe be an agenda so the City Council and City officials will know where they are at in the fact fmding process. At some point, the staff will discuss the wetlands at the north end of the airport. The Council will want to participate on this issue. They will want to know the timing and process in the fact-finding. Schauer said the City Council would woxk with consultants on the timetable,but cautioned not to dissect any data and wait until all the data was received in its entirety. Bardey asked how many members would serve on the advisory corrunittee. Dame said the Advisory Committee's task is different. Their role is to provide a check and balance as to what the consultants are doing. They serve as an advisory board to the consultants. Theix meetings are not public and they were appointed by the consultants and not the city. They have met twice. The first meeting was to review the master plan and the second was to gathex off-site data for seven sites. Falken commented that moxe public information needs to be shared. More information through the city's website was suggested. Reed recommended a list of milestones at which time the Council would be making decisions. Bezdichek requested a list of the advisory committee members. There was discussion if those names were public or not. Ad�ourn. A motion was made by Whaley, seconded by Reed, to adjourn. All present voted yes; motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 6:19 p.m. of Br kings a� cmoF o° ~'••�� � �,�=g .Munsterman,Mayor AZTE `� � � 6=z ,/ / a ��' S ornes,City Clerk ��UrN pAK�SP