ISAS  Board Meeting

Special Meeting - Sept 27, 2021

 

The meeting was called to order at 7 PM by Chairman, Ken Hardwick. A quorum was present.  32 airpark residents were also in attendance.

 

The meeting was called to discuss the Zoom meeting held on Sept 23, 2021 with ODA’s Tony Beach concerning the fencing issues at the Independence Airport.

The following is Tony Beach’s email reply concerning the Zoom meeting to the ISAS group: 

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Good afternoon everyone,

Last week I discussed the upcoming fence project for the Independence State Airport. In that meeting I discussed the background and current status of the project, and I promised to get more information on the location of the fence on the north end. I also want to provide some additional information on airport design and safety.

On the north end, the fence will be placed approximately 340 feet north of the threshold of Runway 16. This is 100 feet beyond the end of the Runway Safety Area (RSA), which stops 240 feet beyond the runway end.

According to the FAA, current RSA standards are based on 90% of overruns being contained within the RSA.

Further, at this location the fence does not obstruct the airport’s 20:1 Visual Approach Surface. The fence and its designs meet all Federal standards for airport design, and navigable airspace safety. In our meeting I speculated that though I didn’t know why, there must be a reason the fence is not located on our property line. That reason is due to environmental and economic impacts. While this project will impact some wetlands, there are significantly more wetlands further north which was one factor in the overall design of the fence.

Safety is always our top priority. While the airport currently has approximately 1,500 linear feet of fencing, wildlife and unauthorized people/vehicles have been observed on airport property. The installation of this fence will help address issues of wildlife hazard management, public safety, and unauthorized access to the Aircraft Operations Area. The fence will provide a safety/security barrier around the airport where possible, as well as a partial deterrent for wildlife from entering the airport. Due to unique circumstances with Through-The-Fence access at Independence, it is not feasible for us to fully enclose the airport with a fence at this time.

When I have more information on construction timing and impacts, I will follow up and let you all know.

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The ISAS Group was not satisfied with the response of the ODA on the issues.

After much discussion on the fencing the group decided to appoint airpark resident Ron Singh to meet with the ODA on a one-to-one basis. Ron will be the official voice of ISAS on this fencing issue with the ODA. The Group thought it would be in the best interest to go this route before escalating the matter any further up the chain of command.

Ron said he would request a meeting with the ODA officials in the next week and report back to the group. A follow up meeting was scheduled for Sunday, October 3, 2021 at 7 PM in the EAA Hangar.

As this was the only issue scheduled for this meeting no further business was discussed.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 PM.

Ken Hardwick