Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987-07-23 Airport Commission SummaryKENAI AIRPORT COMMISSION July 23, 1987 - 7'00 PM Kenai City Hall AGENDA Election of New Chairman 1. ROLL CALL 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 3. PERSONS PRESENT SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES of June 11, 1987 5. OLD BUSINESS a. Future Plans for Airport Terminal b. Float Plane Basin Update 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Representative from Civil Air Patrol Relocation & Upgrade 7. INFORMATION ITEMS 8. COMMISSION COMMENTS & QUESTIONS 9. ADJOURNMENT KENAI AIRPORT COMMISSION July 23, 1987 - 7:00 PM Kenai City Hall Election of New Chairman MOTION: Commissioner Stevison nominates Tom Irwin, seconded by Commissioner Knopper No further nominations were offered, nominations are closed VOTE: Motion passed unanimously Commissioner Irwin accepts and assumes the Chair 1. ROLL CALL Present' Irwin, Knopper, Miller, Stevison, Toppa Absent' Vierra Chairman Irwin asked several questions regarding new members. The Chairman requests the names of persons interested .in membership in the Commission. 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Agenda approved with no additions or changes 3. PERSONS PRESENT SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD * Move Item 6-a to item 3-a. a. Representative f. rom Civil Air Patrol - Relocation & Upgrade Tom Thibodeau Commander, and Tom Sumey, Deputy Commander appeared representing the Civil Air Patrol. Chairman Irwin opened the issue by explaining that this has been discussed several meetings ago. At that time CAP was not included. Tom Sumey' as a result of conversations with the Mayor we originally appeared before Council to request the current paving project be extended to the CAP hanger. The Council said that funds are not available due to the fact that this property, while federal as well, is considered private property. The Council did not appear to understand why the system divides two federal functions in this way. KENAI AIRPORT COMMISSION July 23, 1987 Page 2 Soldotna got into a situation where they were going to relocate to allow the City greater use of prime property, they were told that the city would provide a portion of the cost of the hanger and lands. Wing Headquarters was to supplement the rest of the cost, however, it never did happen. The Soldotna squadron has closed and it's members have slowly joined the Kenai squadron. As you know, Kenai and Soldotna have not always been on the most cordial of terms, however, those that have come from Soldotna have been made welcome and they seem happy. Kenai does not want to get into the same posture. The reason for the request is that we are non-profit. There are no paid members except for 2 which are in Anchorage at the headquarters for the state. All bills such as utilities are paid by the Department of Public Safety out of a state budget. Last year we had to shut off the electricity and gas several times due 'to budget cuts. Currently there are two corporate planes based in Kenai, a Beaver, soon to be on floats, and a 185 on wheels with a Cessna 150 available for the cadet program, plus 16 private planes on the tie-down used by members.. There have been a number of prop strikes from the gravel pad. We are not here to propose ideas, but rather at the direction of Council and to bounce around some ideas. We would not oppose moving to another facility on the airport nor would we mind moving in order to allow the city to make some money from a prime piece of property, if we could get a facility close tO the present one, i.e. hanger, office, acreage, etc. We just gory'the Beaver on floats and perhaps we could work t© gain both interests. The Air Guard is planning to move to Kenai and the Council is considering donating some property and placing us near them. Chairman Irwin stated, "that would depend on whether CAP came under the Dept. of Military Affairs. The budget would take care of that. How much federal funding comes to CAP other than through the Dept. of Public Safety. Mr. Sume¥ answered that recently the CAP has come under the DPS. The CAP has been in a posture of having to sell Birddogs and floats in order to raise enough money to pay the hull insurance for the state planes for the year. Papers show the land was given to the Kenai Squadron not to Wing. Commissioner Knopper asked if the city had anything comparable, Airport Manager Ernst answered that because the CAP has a private membership and are limited, ADAP will not let us use funds for the ideas spoken of. Administration has talked about moving the CAP to lands north of the tower with your own facility and runway. As far as the float plane basin is concerned, it would not be feasible to have a building in that vicinity, it would be like placing a building between the runway and taxiway. The land is more valuable to the City as space for an FBO or expansion of the tie-down facilities. "Personally, I think it is a good idea and it would get you into a decent facility." Whatever costs involved would have to come through city funding rather than airport KENAI AIRPORT COMMISSION July 23, 1987 Page 3 funding. That will have to be proposed to Council. Now is a bad time, if it were to be used later for something else. Mr. Sumey stated that they would need to return to the Kenai and Anchorage membership to inform them of the discussion this evening. We are also looking at the aircraft maintenance section moving to Kenai from Anchorage. Currently, all CAP aircraft on a statewide basis, must fly their aircraft to Anchorage for either routine or special maintenance. For some time, Anchorage has been in a financial situation where they have had to close a large maintenance hangar and use the space available at Merrill Field in the Polaris Squadron hangar. There is money available to provide a hangar, however, there is no space available in Anchorage and what space is available is cost prohibitive. Mr. Thibodeau stated that right now, all aircraft from all over the state come to Anchorage for their maintenance and I am sure that if we could provide a facility, Anchorage would move down, esp. in view of the fact that Kenai is a more central point with less crowded conditions. Then if the Air Guard moved down you are looking at expanding branches of both. Chairman Irwin, then any way you need to present a plan of what Kenai would need, and also with that if you moved maintenance what that would add to it then give us an idea of the amount of usage. Mr. Thibodeau answered that ideally, we would need the same amount of land, considering the maintenance facility, they would need space for several aircraft which would be coming in on a statewide basis. Mr. Sumey stated that what we need locally are 16 tie down spaces and the same size facility because we can get 3 planes in the hangar now with one more coming down. The Wing maintenance is going to a bigger facility and if Kenai had one and the entire Wing maintenance were to come down then we would need twice the space, however, that does not appear to be what you want. Wing has 2.8 million more or less available for a facility, where ever they decide to locate. Chairman Irwin addressed the money issue stating that we need to know first who the funding authority is. Then we can address whether or not the unit comes. Mr. Sumey stated that who handles the budget is a moot point. We need to be able to take something back to the membership with something from the City. Manager Ernst stated that we are interested in moving CAP to another location and we need a letter of intent. Commissioner Stevison asked if there was space to put a facility near the float plane basin, Manager Ernst answered that it would not be feasible to put a facility on that side of the airport and near the clear zone. Commissioner Knopper asked is there property we could look at acquiring in the near future, answer from Manager Ernst, no. To recoup the cost of the move, paving, the facility, etc., we would need to look for a smaller piece of property. Mr. Thibodeau stated that the Kenai Squadron had been approached about the move and that you were interested. Manager Ernst stated that we need KENAI AIRPORT COMMISSION July 23, 1987 Page 4 to work on this more and will know more at a later date. We have a new tie down facility for 40 spaces with 8 of those filled. Chairman Irwin suggested a letter from the City to the CAP regarding what we have discussed. Manager Ernst agreed, stating we need to get some of the ideas down and check with the City Manager and the Council. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES of June 11, 1987 Minutes were approved as submitted 5. OLD BUSINESS a. Future Plans for Airport Terminal. Not discussed b. Float Plane Basin U~date Manager Ernst reported on the progress of the tie down and safety zone projects. Eight of the 40 tie down spaces have been committed. At the last Council meeting, the Float Plane Basin approved and awarded to Doyle Construction with all added alternates. Manager Ernst also reported on the status of funding, it. is too late this year to receive the money, Mr. Ernst will reappIY next year. Manager Ernst reported on Mr. Doyle's project to use a conveyor in the float plane basin project. Manager Ernst stated that the City may need to advertise that we are now taking applications for float plane slips. Right now we do not have a management plan. We need to get into more of the details of the project. Council wanted to begin with a bare bones project and it will be that. We are looking at opening of the basin for the summer of 1989. This year will be construction that will take a while. Chairman Irwin suggested contacting FBO's state wide to see if there are any pilots that are interested. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Representative from Civil Air Patrol - Relocation & Upgrade See item 3-a 7. INFORMATION ITEMS Manager Ernst presented two letters to the Commission, one from Senator Frank Murkowski and one from Southcentral Air. 8. COMMISSION COMMENTS & QUESTIONS KENAI AIRPORT COMMISSION July 23, 1987 Page 5 Chairman Irwin suggested that the Commission hold a brainstorming session. 9. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8-10 PM. The next meeting will be Thursday, August 13, 1987 at 7-00 PM net . p , ning Specialist Secretary to the Commission