IAHA Board Meeting
The meeting was called to order by President
Kelly at 7:00 PM. Present were: Kelly
Wilson, John Horn, Herb Jolliff, Robert English, and Alan Wright. Andy Andersen, Gary Van Horn, and Rena Peck
were guests. There was no quorum at
this meeting, so it was for advisory purposes only.
The primary business before the Board this
evening was to review the pending ODA agreement as it stands as of tonight.
Harry Malette had phoned in a vote of
“no” on the existing draft. One
thing that is nice about the new draft is the 10% kickback from the ODA for
collecting the fees on their behalf.
Collecting the "N" numbers on all hangared aircraft, part of
the current draft, is not considered acceptable (even though the Board is not held
liable if someone withholds this information).
This requirement, as written in Federal law, is for commercial
operations and not residential airparks like us.
Alan's primary concern with the current
agreement was the definition of "developed lot:" for years it was
understood that a lot wasn’t developed until a year after a permit had been
granted to build on that property but, as it is written now, it is defined to
mean when streets are paved and utilities are made available to the lot. The meeting when the "developed
lot" language was decided was back around April of 2003, so this breaks
with past practice. The intent of the
Aviation Board seems to be changing with the definition as it currently reads. The original intent of the old definition
was to take pressure off the developer, as he would not be forced to pay the
fees, that only the original purchaser paid ingress/egress fees on the
lot. With the current definition, there
is a built-in penalty for development as the developer has to pay fees before a
building permit is granted. Alan did
not consider this new definition to be a "deal-breaker" but it is
something we need to be aware of.
The "penalty charge" paragraph on page
four was also singled out for some concern: the percent rate amounts to 10% per
month, which by Oregon statute can be considered usury.
Kelly said that the best action on this version
of the agreement, unacceptable to both the North and South, is to simply reject
it. Alan, based on his earlier
experience negotiating with the ODA, said it was best to keep chipping away and
not give up negotiation: the best practice with the ODA is to list the problems
we currently have with the existing draft of the agreement, and work on it from
there. John said that the draft needed
to go back to the attorney, saying that we should talk directly with Dan
regarding the changes that need to be made before it is acceptable. Kelly suggested a meeting with the attorneys
for next week, go over the existing draft, then contact Dan Clem and let him
know that our attorney would be present at the next meeting.
Some concern was brought up about a certain
airpark resident making helicopter flights directly from his taxiway apron, and
operating a commercial flight instruction service from his house. This is an actual violation of the ODA
agreement, and may endanger the airpark.
Kelly said he would talk with him.
Discussion centered for a while around the
controversy about the local farmer's goose cannon going off at night. There is a meeting about this issue
scheduled for next week at the Dallas court house in the first-floor conference
room. The Board is against the adoption
of a noise ordinance as it will make it easier for residents of Independence to
complain about airplane noise. Since
the airport is now technically within City limits, and it wasn't until
recently, the City cannot beg lack of authority due to the airport being in the
unincorporated area. If there is local
support for a noise ordinance directed at goose cannon, then it would be very
easy to adopt one directed at aircraft.
Alan also mentioned that the AOPA has stated, in
an on-line wite paper, that their membership is divided about the benefits of
airparks built around a State runway.
The document name at the AOPA website is: "Airport
through-the-fence operations and residential airparks at publicaly funded
airports, by Bill Dunn."
Andy chimed in about the upcoming Memorial Day
Fly-By event which is being planned.
Rena Peck stated that she had received communication about an addition
on an existing house on Luscombe Street, which including a variance from the
City for a 13.5 foot setback (instead
of 20 feet): this violates the Airpark By-Laws. Kelly straightened that out by saying that the owner who was
going to do that has since passed away and his widow won't be pushing this
through. The architectural committee
originally had reservations about the violation of the setback and did not
approve it.
Alan made the motion to adjourn and Herb
seconded. The meeting was adjourned at
8:35 PM. Respectfully submitted by
Robert English, secretary.
Meeting0122.doc