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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 04191994 - IO.13 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS 1 .0.-13 Contra FROM: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE r Costa March 28 1994 ,fir DATE: County spy_cdJn�i SUBJECT: REPORT ON THE STATUS OF HELICOPTER TRAINING FLIGHTS AT BUCHANAN FIELD AIRPORT AND EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY AN OFF-AIRPORT TOUCH-AND-GO SITE SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION: 1 . ENCOURAGE the "Fly Neighborly" Program to move forward with the cooperation of all involved parties . 2 . CONCLUDE that there should be tower involvement in the "Fly Neighborly" Program and REQUEST the Manager of Airports to approach the FAA regarding allowing tower personnel to simply attend meetings on this subject. 3 . CONCLUDE that helicopter training flights are going to continue at Buchanan Field Airport. 4 . CONCLUDE that the Off-Airport Helicopter Training Site Working Group remains available to review any additional off-site locations which may be identified in the future. 5 . REMOVE this item as a referral to the Internal Operations Committee. BACKGROUND: On January 11, 1994, the Board of Supervisors agreed to continue the Off-Airport Training Site Working Group and asked the Group and the Manager of Airports to make a further status report. to our Committee on March 28, .1994 . On March 28, 1994, we met with staff from the Public Works Department; Buchanan Field Airport; representatives from Helicopter Adventures, Inc. ; People Over Planes; Mt. View Sanitary District; Pacheco Municipal Advisory Council; Airport Advisory Committee; property owners in the area. and interested citizens . CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTWH . ECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE O SIGNATURE(S): JEFF SSUNNE WRIGHT McPEAK ACTION OF BOARD ON APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER Joyce Jones, 45 Rutherford Lane, Pacheco of the Pacheco Town Council, urged the Board's continued support and expressed appreciation for the continued work to identify any additional off-site locations. Don Mount, 1309 Gragg Lane, Concord, of People over Planes, expressed concern that the Board would lose control of operations at Buchanan Field if they build a new terminal to FAA specifications. Pello Walker, 1239 Raymond Drive, Pacheco, of the Pacheco Municipal Advisory Council, requested that the Pacheco MAC have a seat on the Aviation Advisory Committee. The Board APPROVED the Above recommendations, and REFERRED to the Internal .Operations Committee the request for a Pacheco Municipal Advisory Council seat on the Aviation_ Advisory Committee. VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE X UNANIMOUS(ABSENT I ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN; ATTESTED April 19, 1994 Contact: PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF Cc: County Administrator SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Public Works Director Manager of Airports County Counsel BY DEPUTY I .O.-13 -2- Hal Wight, Manager of Airports, summarized the attached report from the Public Works Director, which responds to each of the points included in the Board of Supervisors ' order on this subject dated January 11, 1994 . We also received the attached draft meeting summary from the Off-Airport Helicopter Training Site Working Group' s January 25, 1994 meeting. Will Price indicated that the pilots at Buchanan Field Airport see the Working Group as a non-confrontational forum in which all sides can talk to each other and listen to each other. He noted that the pilots care about the surrounding community and want to work with all interested .parties . Don Mount, from People Over Planes suggested that any "Fly Neighborly" Program has to involve the tower personnel at Buchanan Field Airport. However, Mr. Mount has been advised by the FAA that the tower personnel cannot become involved in noise control discussions because of safety concerns . Mr. Mount expressed his belief that the Part 150 Noise Compatibility Study has huge holes in it. He claimed that there were elements in the Part 150 study which had been agreed to by the County that were not approved by the FAA and that the Part 150 Study should be reworked. Mr. Mount advocated a workshop to take testimony for a revised Part 150 Study. Virginia Schaefer, from the Aviation Advisory Committee and Airport Land Use Commission, indicated that in her view the Working Group had put to rest the need to look for an off-airport site. She commented that some good had come from the meetings because a good instrument has been developed for reviewing off-airport sites should any additional sites come to the group's attention. Dorothy Sakazaki, from the Mt. View Sanitary District, suggested that a lot of the Part 150 Study is out of date and that the County has been delinquent in not updating the information. Tracy Williams, from Buchanan Field Airport management, indicated that the results of the noise monitoring which is being conducted presently are generally consistent with the Part 150 Study. She suggested that even if money were available to update the Part 150 Study she doubted that it would show much that is different from the existing study. She also pointed out that a helicopter does not generally show up on the noise monitoring equipment. Patrick Corr, owner of Helicopter Adventures, Inc. , pointed out that the community has obtained state-of-the-art noise monitoring equipment and is now claiming that the noise level is not the issue. Mr. Corr noted that for him safety is and must be the primary consideration, for his employees, for his students and for the surrounding community. Mr. Corr suggested that from his perspective the Praxis site is the best off-airport site and Acme is second best. Wally Wiggs, from the Pacheco Municipal Advisory Council advocated continuing to look at other airports such as the soon to be abandoned Alameda Naval Air Station or Napa County. Pello Walker, Donna Davidson and other expressed the view that the noise has gotten worse over the past several years . Supervisor McPeak indicated that she was surprised at the FAA correspondence on the Part 150 Study and suggested that the correspondence needs to be looked at by staff. She noted that, in her view, the Acme site is the appropriate location for off-airport touch-and-go training flights . She noted that she had personally asked the owner of Acme for permission to land at Acme and was turned down. Based on the discussion, our Committee has formulated the above recommendations . PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT CONTRA COSTA COUNTY DATE: March 23, 1994 TO: Board of Supervisors- Internal Operations Committee FROM: J. Michael Walford, Public Works Direct2ig i SUBJECT: Off-Airport Training Site Helicopter WorroupReport This report responds to four of the Board of Supervisors' five recommended actions on January 11, 1994. Recommendation No. 1 concluded that none of the sites identified to date as possible off-airport helicopter touch-and-go landing sites is feasible at this time. Staff reports no change. Recommendation No. 2 continued the existing forum of the Off-Airport Training Site Work Group (Working Group) which met again on January 25, 1994. A draft meeting summary of their progress is attached as Exhibit "A." The Fly Neighborly Program Committee (FNP Committee), a subcommittee of the Working Group, met on February 22, 1994, in the Manager of Airports' office. The FNP Committee requested additional information to educate themselves on existing noise management programs at Buchanan Field Airport. This information has since been sent and received by the FNP Committee. There was indication that the FNP Committee may consider updating the existing noise management program documents to reflect current concerns. Will Price or Don Mount, Co-chairs of the FNP Committee may report independently on this matter. At the time of preparation for this report, no future meeting dates for either the Working Group nor the Fly Neighborly Committee had been established. Recommendation No. 3 directed the Manager of Airports to provide staff support for the Off- Airport Training Site Working Group. In response staff has prepared a record of the discussions and agreements reached at the January 25, 1994 meeting of the Working Group. This report was referred to earlier as Exhibit "A." This support shall remain as long as the Board of Supervisors continues the existence of the Working Group. In addition, the Manager of Airports is providing staff support for the Fly Neighborly Committee. Recommendation No. 4 was a request for the Manager of Airports and the Off-Airport Training Site Working Group to make a status report to the I.O. Committee in March, 1994. Staff focused on three specific potential off-airport sites as requested by the Working Group. These included Acme, Praxis, and property owned by Mr. Brenkle and family. Status is as follows: 1 PRAXIS: Staff followed up with Mr. Fred Falander. He indicated that Praxis is still involved in negotiations with the City of Martinez and would be unable to participate in any discussions with the County as to the possibility of allowing Praxis to be used for helicopter touch- and-go sites. He declined to honor staff s request to arrange a site visit, which, in his opinion, would be premature. ACME: Attempts to gain access to the Acme site was coordinated through the office of Supervisor McPeak. At the time of preparation for this report, authorization had not yet been granted. BRENKLE: Staff and the President of Helicopter Adventures, Inc. (Mr. Patrick Corr) met with the landowner, Mr. Brenkle, to walk the proposed site. This was done to pinpoint the exact location prior to requesting a review from Caltrans, Division of Aeronautics, and the Department of Fish and Game. As a result of the findings of this visit, staff recommendation is that no further consideration be given to the Brenkle site. Factors which support this finding are primarily from an aeronautical point of view. There are numerous power lines in the area. In addition to this danger, the steepness of the specific and surrounding terrain would make it almost impossible for emergency vehicles and equipment to respond to an emergency in a timely manner. Even if the top of the knolls were leveled, there are the neighbors to contend with. All four of the neighboring homes would be subjected to almost constant overflights. One of the properties has recently erected a 30-station horse farm. Mr. Brenkle also indicated that the family is considering other more compatible land uses for the property. This site visit affirmed the conclusion that none of the sites identified to date as possible off-airport helicopter touch-and-go sites are currently feasible or available. Recommendation#5 did not require a response from the Public Works Department. JMW:TLW:rs ctosldoc c: H.Wight,Manager of Airports 2 ,�,�or!I�ejj��r Oso► �°.�s Training Site F— OV41ing oig cv Draft Meeting Summary Tuesday,January 25, 1994, at 2:30 p.m. In Attendance: Chuck Gobrysich, City of Concord Dorothy Sakazaki, Mt. View Sanitary Dist./Vine Hill Neighborhood Donna Davidson, P.M.A.C. Ron Sorenson,Navajo Aviation Joanne Karlton, Calif. Dept. of Fish& Game Fred Davis, FAA Control Tower Al McNabney, MDAS Gerry Greth, AAC Joyce Jones, Pacheco Town Council Will Price, The Airport Coalition Don Mount, P.O.P. Patrick Corr, H.A.I. Cliff Howard, AAC Hal Wight, Airport Tracy Williams, Airport Mark Hughes, Supv. Jeff Smith Dan Gargas, Calif. Div. of Aeronautics Charles Zahn, County Comm. Dev. Dept. Virginia Schaefer, AAC & ALUC Supervisor Sunne McPeak The meeting was facilitated by Tracy Williams, Assistant Manager of Airports. She advised that the committee was directed by the Board to continue working on the "Fly Neighborly"program. She further advised that Supv. McPeak would be attending at a later time in the meeting to discuss off-airport sites. Ms. Williams called on Don Mount to discuss the concept of the "Fly Neighborly" committee. Don Mount stated that the origination of the "Fly Neighborly"program was in Hawaii and focused on sightseeing helicopters. The "Fly Neighborly"program does not cur- Exhibit "A" rently include training. He felt that it would be appropriate to incorporate the informa- tion that is applicable to our airport and revise the information as needed. He felt that it would be important to bring in people from the neighborhoods. He suggested incorpo- rating fixed wing aircraft into the program. He also felt that it was important to educate other operators in the Bay Area. Tracy Williams asked who should be on the "Fly Neighborly" committee and what should be the goals of the "Fly Neighborly" committee? Don Mount suggested again that the neighborhoods should be represented. Patrick Corr felt that one of the goals should be to prepare an exhibit for helicopters only that could be widely distributed. Don Mount suggested finding other"Fly Neighborly"programs to use as a model. Fred Davis said he would check with the FAA. There was some discussion regarding the makeup of the "Fly Neighborly"working group. It was suggested that Don Mount, Gerry Greth, Patrick Corr, Will Price, and Hal Yeager should comprise the working group. Moved by Gerry Greth, seconded by Patrick Corr to approve this as the working group with Don Mount and Will Price as co-chairman of the group. The group sug- gested 4:00 p.m. as a meeting time. Unanimous. The committee discussed goals for the working group: • Safety • Cooperation • Make sure that we have something that everyone likes • Educate local and transient pilots on importance of"Fly Neighborly" • Educate neighborhoods on aviation needs • Develop flexibility into whatever program is adopted to adjust to future needs • Create a review body to examine specific incidents - i.e., if there were a significant number of complaints on a single aircraft. • "Fly Neighborly"program should be for the airport in general, not just helicopters • Develop a program to present to pilot groups • Study the mix of traffic regarding traffic patterns to reduce noise Tracy Williams reviewed the off airport site status and described the current helicopter traf- fic patterns. She asked Chuck Zahn from the Contra Costa County Planning'Department to discuss the issues of the Acme Fill. Chuck Zahn described the closure plans and indicated that any use of Acme until the closure plans were complete would be extremely difficult. There were many other agencies involved and numerous hazardous waste problems regard- ing the closure plans. The Department of Fish and Game representative, Joanne Karlton, said that they had con- cerns regarding helicopters in and around wetland areas. There are endangered species in that general area. She stated that she didn't want anyone to fly over wetlands and would re- quest a full EIR on any of the sites in that area. She felt that the Praxis site was extremely bad. 2 Supervisor McPeak asked whether we could do practice flights to see if birds were bothered. Joanne Karlton stated that she felt that it would not be possible to tell in one day and would oppose any activities over wetlands. She felt, however, that Acme could be better than Praxis as long as the helicopters stayed in specific areas. Dan Gargas of the California Division of Aeronautics stated that the State could not begin the processing of a permit without environmental clearance. There was some discussion regarding the use of the existing transfer station for helipads since it was already a paved site. Dorothy Sakazaki felt that this would not be appropriate since it would be too noisy in the neighborhoods. Supervisor McPeak felt that there was a possibility of utilizing the Acme site with a mini- mum impact on the environment. She agreed that shifting of noise problems would not be acceptable. She felt that doing test flights at probable flight locations, such as the transfer station would be an important first step. She also suggested that it would be important to get various environmental agencies that were interested to the site on the same day. Gerry Greth indicated that he felt that everything was getting better because we are all talk- ing. He felt, however, that aircraft and helicopters should be operated on the airport. He also asked where money for any EIR would be coming from since the airport does not have the resources for this kind of cost. Don Mount stated that from P.O.P.'s standpoint the bottom line is that if a solution could not be found that they were prepared to go to Congress. Al McNabney of the Audobon Society stated that we cannot tear down what has already been accomplished. He also felt that meeting with all of the agencies at the same time would be important to determine whether there really is a problem in utilizing a site like Acme. Once that has been determined then we could see where to go. We have not yet even defined specific problems. Dan Gargas said that the State would volunteer to look at the facility ahead of time to prevent spending money unnecessarily if the site was unaccept- able from an aeronautical standpoint. There was some discussion regarding the Brenkle site west of Martinez. There would be a considerable amount of helicopter traffic coming and going to the site and very likely could cause concerns with the Martinez residents. There was some discussion regarding variants of patterns. Supervisor McPeak stated that unusual patterns cause problems with air traffic control. Patterns have been attempted in the past which did not work. Patrick Corr felt that it was important to do an informal look at other sites again, particularly the Acme site, since there was now the possibility of utilizing it. Joanne Karlton, Department of Fish and Game, felt that nothing should be done until all of the environmental agencies are contacted. Supervisor McPeak indicated that it would be 3 approximately 30-days before access to the property could be gained. The Division of Aeronautics could look at the site from an aeronautical standpoint first. Following that the committee should meet with various agencies that are interested in the Acme Fill, including FAA, Regional Water Quality Control Board, Army Corp of Engineers, California Depart- ment of Fish& Game, Waste Management Control Board, U. IS. Fish& Wildlife, and Cali- fornia Division of Aeronautics. The next meeting will be set following preliminary evaluation of the Acme site. The "Fly Neighborly" committee will meet as a working group separate from this issue. The meeting was adjourned at 4:35 p.m. HEW:rs c:heli.doc 2/2/94 4