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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/25/2007 Adjourned Meeting / Study Session 2 ADJOURNED MEETING /STUDY SESSION SEPTEMBER 25, 2007 7:30 - 9:00 A.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS - YAKIMA CITY HALL • 1. RoII CaII Present: Council: Mayor Dave Edler, presiding, Council Members Ron Bonlender, Micah Cawley, Norm Johnson, BiII Lover, Neil McClure, and Susan Whitman Staff: City Manager Zais, Assistant City Manager Zabell, and City Clerk Moore County: Commissioners Leita and Elliot Air Terminal: Bill Wheeler, Buck Taylor, and Amber Hanson • 2. Proposed Airport Safety Overlay Review Process with Yakima County Commissioners and Yakima Airport Board Mayor Edler opened the meeting and introduced Bill Wheeler, Chairman of the Air Terminal Board. Mr. Wheeler distributed copies of a proposal about the Aviation Safety Overlay (ASO), and suggested it would be better referred to as the Airport Influence Area (AIA). He read the proposal that contained actions and time estimates to develop plans appropriate for the public review process: A. The Airport Master Plan will be amended with a supplement to cover the required issues needing change and will be presented to the City of Yakima by the end of October 2007. B. The airport layout plan will be a part of that presentation. C. Because the actions to create a new AIA plan may require changes to current zoning, Yakima Air Terminal (YAT) may request changes to the Yakima Urban Area Comprehensive Plan. Collaboration between all parties (Cities of Yakima and Union Gap, Yakima County and the Yakima Air Terminal) will begin immediately concurrent with the preparation of the Airport Master Plan. We will attempt to define permissible density levels in all areas within the AIA, will map them and develop written narrative describing the map designations. We will also review all requirements in the AIA to ensure they are compatible with the FAA standards as well as the needs of all the landowners within the AIA. STUDY SESSION — AIRPORT OVERLAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2007 We will attempt to have all of the tasks completed by the end of November 2007. The Airport Board and management realize that in collaborative efforts full agreement on all points may not be achievable. In this case, the YAT will incorporate all items where agreement has been reached and will submit its plans for approval incorporating the YAT positions in those areas where consensus was not reached. Once the YAT has submitted the necessary documents for approval, it is their understanding that the City of Yakima will proceed with the public review process as required for full adoption. It is the desire of the YAT management and Board to have all of the processes completed, meeting the needs and desires of the residents of the Cities and County, as well as assuring the safety and needs of the Yakima Air Terminal and the FAA. We are looking at an airport operation that will be sound for fifty years or more. Council Member Lover requested that the Federal Aviation Requirements (FARs) be included in the completed plan. Dave Zabell spoke to the timeframe and potential environmental review process. If rezoning is required, it would have to go through the Comprehensive Plan update process. Buck Taylor addressed the name change from ASO to AIA pointing out that the proposal is more than just a safety overlay. Council Member McClure suggested having County and City elected officials participate in the group developing the plan. Commissioner Leita noted that it is a work group to expeditiously bring forward a document and if public servants are involved, it could slow the process down. Once the document is drafted it will be handed off to the respective elected officials for review. The goal is to create a document that can go forward to the public. Discussion continued on the development of the group that will create the proposal. 3. Audience Comments David Ketchum, owner of an airport planning business, shared background information on his business and noted that he generally works with terminals that are smaller than Yakima. In 2006 he was asked by Congdon Orchards to write a letter about the process and submit it to the Yakima Air Terminal Board. He is glad to see this moving forward. He feels one of the core issues of the AIA, is that the airport's runway length has never been fully justified. It was not done in the 1996 plan, nor was it justified in the update. If that is not addressed in this plan, there will be future problems because it will be challenged and could bring us back to ground zero. In the 1996 plan, the only justification for a runway length extension of over 2,500 feet was to support large cargo aircraft carrying fruit from the Yakima Valley. It was never fully vetted in terms of an operational plan, a financial plan, a feasibility plan, or any kind of logistical justification. It was simply an idea. Also, in the recent update to the plan, one sentence simply said "we are carrying forward the findings of the former plan ". The most critical element of the entire Master Plan document is the runway extension. The most critical part of that element is cargo aircraft carrying fruit. Instead of reviewing that, the words "carried over" were used. He does not have a problem with the runway extension if it is justified, nor with developing an AIA document, but the 2 31 STUDY SESSION — AIRPORT OVERLAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2007 ■ basis has to be sound. What is the best idea about the configuration of the alrpon over the next 20 -30 years? If after a thorough review by a professional it is U determined that the runway length requirement is justified, then there is a basis or a document. His concern is, if you don't go back and have someone thoroughly review and justify that runway length, it will haunt this process for a long time. Commissioner Leita commented that this level of discussion will be part of.the public process in the future and today's session is to move the study forward. Mr: Wheeler said the Airport Master plan will be amended with a supplement to cover the required issues and they definitely recognize that the runway length needs to be addressed in the proposal. JOHNSON MOVED AND WHITMAN AND LEITA SECONDED TO SUPPORT MOVING THE PROCESS FORWARD. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote. 4. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 8:10 a.m. V/g READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY COUNCIL MEM ER DATE 12 -oi-o7 COUNCIL MEMBER DATE ATTEST: ova— /L Lam_ �' /// CITY CLERK :AVID EDLER, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. A CD and DVD of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office • 1 3