Planned construction near Mojave Airport relocated
A development company, which wanted to put a 162-unit apartment complex near the Mojave Airport and in the direct path of Runway 8/26 traffic, has agreed to relocate the project. The concern was that the development would engender noise complaints for the airport and anger the new residents, but now the project has been moved out of the already high-density housing area.
While future noise complaints still could be an issue, airport supporters convinced local elected officials to require the developer to include avigation easements in the language of all sales contracts. Although encroachment is never positive, having active airport supporters who educate local leaders about airports has helped mitigate future problems.
Willpower brings Turlock alive
Turlock city officials inherited Turlock Municipal Airport under a federal surplus property agreement in 1947. The airport had be-gun as a World War II training field. Funding by the city is nonexistent and the airport's upkeep had been disregarded, but the Turloch Regional Aviation Association (TRAA) stepped in and took charge.
The TRAA was formed by area pilots who were concerned about the past management of the airport, and it has started making some significant changes on the airport including seeking bids for improvements and applying for federal and state funds for its first major upgrade in years. The group's charter was ratified by the city. The airport is self-supporting and all volunteer. The airport currently has crumbling pavement and poor storm drainage, as well as no water system for firefighting.
The upgrades include repaving the runway, a partial storm drainage system, improved electrical and communications systems, new fencing, and a fire-suppression system.
Currently the airport houses 80 airplanes and is supported solely by collection of fees from these users. In a memo to the City Council, City Attorney Dick Burton said that the pilots group "has acted in a responsible manner, faithfully executing all contractual mandates and employing sound fiscal and business practices while improving the Turlock Municipal Airport."
Thanks to the efforts of the local pilots association, the City Council voted unanimously to have the TRAA run the airport through 2010.
Future for Palo Alto airport gets brighter
By a 7-1 vote, Palo Alto's City Council has reaffirmed its intent to keep Palo Alto Airport of Santa Clara County open for at least another 20 years and to accept FAA Airport Improvement Program grants.
The fuss began earlier this year when the city manager refused to cosign an FAA grant application with the County of Santa Clara, which operates the airport as part of a three-airport county system under a 50-year lease with the city. That lease expires in 12 years, and without the city's promise to keep the airport open, the FAA withdrew the grant. Local pilots, including AOPA Airport Support Network volunteer Bob Lenox and Peter Carpenter, chairman of the Joint Community Relations Committee for the Palo Alto airport, sprang into action to convince the city of the value of the airport.
Carpenter and other supporters mobilized local citizens and pilots to attend the Monday evening City Council meeting where the future of the airport would be decided. "This successful outcome would likely have been different had it not been for the devotion and passion of airport supporters," said Bill Dunn, AOPA vice president of airports.
"Palo Alto airport supporters employed the same tactics used to ensure the future of San Jose's Reid-Hillview airport: public and local involvement," said Dunn.
Salinas airport officials ponder nearby development
Salinas Municipal Airport is facing what pilots feel is incompatible land use next to the airport.
The local community college, Hartnell College, has been a good neighbor for many years. Being in an agricultural area, an agricultural program was part of the curriculum and the property adjacent to the airport was an ideal college farm.
Unfortunately the agricultural curriculum has lost students and is not the thriving department it has been in the past. Therefore, the college president and board have decided that classrooms and office space, in the form of a commercial office complex, are in order.
Members of the Salinas Airport Business Association (SABA) have gone to the college board meetings as well as airport land-use commission meetings and have tried to get the two together.
SABA members have recommended an avigation easement, but the board said it did not want to recognize such an easement. AOPA Airport Support Network volunteer Robert McGregor says that the state will not take a stand. California law requires notification of appropriate state agencies if a school is to be built within two miles of an airport; this does apply to the state's community college system since community colleges are considered school districts.
The Airport Land Use Commission was asked to write a letter to the college board insisting it adhere to an avigation easement. McGregor also was recently appointed to the airport commission, and is using information obtained there to aid in the issue. AOPA Airport Support Network government specialist John Collins and California AOPA Regional Representative John Pfeifer have talked to McGregor about the issue and recommended he activate the local members to call upon the county's zoning board and council members for help. City officials appear to be opposed to any possible incompatible land use near an airport.
AOPA and Pfeifer have supported A.B.1358, which includes charter schools in restrictions on land use near airports. With the growth of the charter-school movement in the state, it is very important that the same standards apply to charter-school sites. A.B.1358 passed in the Assembly and in the Senate Education Committee where Pfeifer testified on behalf of AOPA.
Shelter Cove value shown to community by fires
The horrific fires that hit the Salmon Creek area last year demonstrated the importance of the Shelter Cove Airport in Whitehorn. Had the fires escalated enough, the airport would have been the only evacuation site available to Shelter Cove residents.
Luckily, the fires were brought under control prior to reaching the housing area. During that fire, residents were aware of it well ahead of time so they could have driven out based on their own judgment, a city official said. Boats also were available. As a last resort, the plan was to ask all residents to go to the beach because the fire would burn out prior to reaching it.
With only one 25-mile winding, two-lane road in and out of Shelter Cove, the airport also provides a site to land firefighters and their equipment.
Humboldt County airports face wildlife, security issues
Many rural airports in Humboldt County, including Murray Field in Eureka, are seeing problems with wildlife and security, reports AOPA Airport Support Network volunteer Alfonse E. Castaldi.
Murray Field has taken aggressive steps to combat these issues by installing fencing, lights, motion cameras, gates, and other measures.
Murray Field is the second-busiest general aviation airport in Humboldt County, with Arcata/Eureka Airport leading the pack in total operations as a commercial air-carrier facility.
Upcoming aviation events in California
September
10 — Truckee. Truckee-Tahoe Airport (TRK). EAA Pancake Breakfast. Call Charlie White, 530/587-4811.
15 — Carlsbad. McClellan Palomar Airport (CRQ). Business Aircraft and Jet Preview presented by the San Diego Aviation Journal. Call Paul Lips, 866/202-0096.
16-18 — Boonville. Boonville Airport (D83). Old-fashioned Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show, a short walk from the airport. Call Jim Brown, 707/895-3011.
17 — West Riverside. Flabob Airport (RIR). Annual EAA Chapter One Fly-In and Open House. Call Gerry Curtis, 909/446-8410.
24 — Compton. Compton-Woodley Airport (CPM). Annual Compton Airfair. Call Xavier Marshall, 323/777-4458.
"Calendar" is updated weekly on the Web ( www.aopa.org/pilot/calendar/). Weekend flying destinations are posted each Friday in AOPA ePilot.
