ISAS Board Meeting

October 13, 2008

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by President Ken.  Present were: Andy Andersen, Jim Hubele, Ken Hardwick, Robert English, and Dick Wildman.  Debra Plymate and Jim Davis arrived later, but we were one short of a quorum so this meeting was for information only.  North Park resident Wayne Land was introduced as Dick Wildman's ISAS alternate.

 

SECRETARY/TREASURER: No vote was taken to approve the minutes of the previous meeting since there was no quorum.  Balance in the “kitty” hasn’t changed, it still stands at $42.83.

 

OLD BUSINESS: The by-law changes had been printed, and copies were passed around.  Ken had said that there was no date assigned for when these minutes would take effect.  It was suggested that the new revision of the by-laws take effect at the Annual Meeting in January.  The effective changes will be the number of board members for each group (two) and the number necessary for a quorum (five).  Next meeting in January is the deadline for each board within ISAS Group to submit their list of two members to represent them. 

 

Andy spoke about the "Big Look" committee and the legislative language in the OFF/OAA Airport Planning Area (APA) bill: it is hoped that this language will be included in whatever legislation this committee recommends, specifically those relating to airparks and an airport boundary to preclude encroachment.  Federal policy does not allow "through-the-fence" operations anymore, citing an inequality of access between the general public and those who lived nearby.  This particular airpark was approved in 1974 by both the FAA and the State, and through-the-fence operations are still being maintained based on that earlier agreement.  AOPA estimates that one airport is closed every two weeks nationwide (this includes private airstrips).  The Airport Planning Area bill is intended to prevent this through long-range-planning to keep public use airports operational as airports.  The County Planning Commission accepted the findings of the "Big Look" committee, and a hearing about this will be coming up in the next few months.

 

NEW BUSINESS: The City of Independence map for the "urban growth boundary" (guideline for future development) was passed around to members present; the focus of housing expansion is in the south, with the 41 acres to the west of the Independence Airport runway blocked out as expansion for the airport and 45 acres west of that as aviation-related only.  The Polk County Planning Commission has held a “work session” about this new growth boundary, and public hearings will be held soon.  These new urban growth boundaries will be annexed into the City plan after those public hearings.  Dan Clem at ODA has said the State wants to buy that slice of property and put more hangars on it, and if someone else buys it and tries to develop it for anything other than aviation purposes the State will condemn the property. 

 

Jim Hubele, for informational reasons and possible legal action in the future, shared a large photo of the southern approach (runway 34) and the fact that there are several homes within the FAA's designated clearance ("RPZ" or runway protection zone) of 500 feet of that zone.  The titles for these properties only have "hold harmless" agreements attached regarding the airport, rather than aviation easements written into the deed records that the FAA has required for such properties.  There was discussion about what to do regarding this.  The City has said that the developer (Quail) applied for a variance regarding this runway protection zone and was granted that variance so there could be "low income" housing in town.  Additionally, FAA form 7460, required to be submitted before building, may not have been filled out for each house within the safety zone as required.  He was asked what recommendations he had, and the consensus was some noise needed to be made and "the louder the better."  The ODA might be interested if navigation is an issue.

 

The situation at Creswell was updated by Andy; there is one pilot living in a home next to that airport, who has a through-the-fence agreement with the city-owned airport, but he is now being threatened with much higher fees because of the Federal prohibition of through-the-fence.  It looks like the only solution is to remove the FAA prohibition from the top through our legislators.

 

Before adjourning, Ken advised each group to make sure their two people show up at the next meeting on January 12 of 2009.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM.  Respectfully submitted by Robert English, secretary.

 

Meeting1013.doc