Airport Noise and Safety Committee - November 29, 2007
MINUTES
Airport Noise and Safety Committee
Thursday, November 29, 2007 – 5:00 pm
Fullerton Council Chamber
303 W Commonwealth Avenue CALL TO ORDER Ms. Jones assumed the Chair position by mutual consent, and called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. ROLL CALL MEMBERS PRESENT
Fullerton:
Jeff Harris
Michael Johnson
Ashok Patel
Buena Park:
Tom Atkins, Alternate Chairperson
Dottie Jones, Chair
Heidi Oliveira STAFF PRESENT:
Rod Propst, Airport Manager, Fullerton
Susan McGraw, Administrative Assistant, Fullerton
Jay Saltzberg, Buena Park APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The Minutes of August 30, 2007, and September 25, 2007, were motioned for approval by Member Johnson, seconded by Member Harris, and approved unanimously. 1.NOISE AND OPERATIONS REPORT/AIRPORT INCIDENTS - Public comments on individual complaints. Manager Propst addressed the air traffic count which is still showing an increase in activity through the months of May (7400), June (7500) and July (7600).No response as to why this continuing growth, and is still ‘in spite’ of higher fuel costs.Anaheim PD is flying the same amount of operations, so there is no increase there.There are more helicopter and fixed-wing charter flights, which may account for some of the numbers. Manager Propst reported that operations for the last 12 months are over 80,000; and in fact, the 10-months-to-date for 2007 will surpass those 12 months in spite of fuel costs, etc.The Carson, Oregon fire helicopters did cause an upswing in these operations’ numbers when they based their copters at Fullerton during the south county fires.Noise was minimal even with 8-10 operations daily during that 4-week period. Fuel flow, although not a significant income source, was higher and was compensated by the number operations. More complaints were received than this same time last year.More were from the Buena Park area. 1.In August, there was a small brush fire off Euclid in the Coyote Hills area – there were helicopters circling the area dropping water on the fire.A message was left with the caller with no response. 2.A biplane was flying low within blocks of airport; it is not unusual for low-flying aircraft taking off or landing at the Airport. 3.An unusual complaint was received regarding a garage door opening when planes passing overhead.After looking into this further, it was believed conceivable that the incident was caused by something occurring at Raytheon (to the northeast of the Airport).Manager Propst discovered a public notice issued by the FCC describing frequencies used by garage door openers and which are being used by the DOD since 911.He passed the information onto the complainant and suggested that she might replace her opener if it is an older model as newer ones are set for rolling frequencies. She was happy to have received an informative response. 4.A complaint was received with no information and when a returned call was made, Manager Propst was advised the complainant had moved away. 5.Ms. Flores reported a single-engine plane flew directly over her house at 7:40 a.m.A message was left on her voicemail, but she never returned the call. 6.Mr. Garcia resides at the end of the runway in Buena Park; previous complainer; checked with tower and was advised the instance was normal procedure. 7.Complaint of a black helicopter circling a residential neighborhood; helicopters circling is typically law enforcement of some kind, i.e., police, DEA, etc; unable to make contact with resident.
8.Unable to reach complainant, left no name or number; however, three military aircraft were reported flying low; assumption made that the aircraft came from Los Alamitos. 9.Ms. Arns complained that two aircraft appeared to be flying too close to each other; she never returned the call from the office; most likely was AirCombat in practice. 10.Earl calls just to talk. 11.Mr. Garcia sent a complaint to the City’s website.After some time, the message came to us through Community Development.He wanted to know why helicopters do not fly the same route as an airplane.Response was by email that helicopters fly different routes to keep 500 feet of separation between them and winged aircraft for safety. 12.A lady in the vicinity of Gilbert/Malvern made a complaint that a plane was coming in really low and terrorizing the neighborhood at 5 a.m. and there is also a plane that circles her property all day and all night; explained specific traffic pattern depended on wind conditions; that it is more than one aircraft; not aware of a single plane that leaves every day at the same time.She was not happy with response. 13.Another lady who lives directly under the flight pattern complained that the same plane flew over her house every day for the last three days; wanted to know how to stop the problem.Did not appreciate response.
Mr. Patel wondered if there is any long-term solution to having to respond to same complaint types as Airport becomes busier.Manager Propst explained that now regulations exist for realtors to disclose this type of information.One of his goals is to be proactive and to respond within 24 hours. 14.A resident who lives on Stanton was awakened by helicopter noise during the middle of the night two nights in a row.He actually drove down to the airport just as the Anaheim PD was landing at about 2:00 a.m.He stated they were turning around for about 30 minutes before they shut down.Upon inquiring of the Lt. in charge of the Air Operations at Anaheim facility if there was maintenance being conducted at night, Manager Propst was assured there was none. Incidents
September 4, 2007 - The pilot of a 1958 aircraft flying in from Napa Valley contacted the tower thinking he was having some landing gear problems.The tower did not notice anything, but upon landing the gear in fact collapsed damaging the propeller. September 29, 2007 - A student pilot on a solo flight in a light-sport aircraft owned by an FBO landed and broke the nose gear off.Concern is the possibility of no insurance, which is one of the main concerns for proceeding with eviction of this FBO.
2.AIRPORT MONTHLY SAFETY INSPECTIONS Safety inspections were satisfactory and upon a follow-up visit after her initial inspection, Committee Member Oliveira stated her comments had been resolved.Manager Propst advised the service workers’ time has been taken up considerably during this last phase of the hangar construction.Regular maintenance will get back on schedule after this project is completed. 3.MANAGER’S AIRPORT UPDATE The final hangar phase is moving along smoothly.The buildings are up, a couple with roofs.R. J. Noble in putting in the rain gutters this week, and will hopefully begin paving before the rains begin.March 20 is the scheduled completion date. The intention is that as each building is completed, a temporary certificate of occupancy will be obtained and the hangars can be occupied.When fully occupied, the hangars will generate nearly $1.5 million per year. As a result of the Special Meeting of the Noise and Safety Committee regarding the KFI Tower, the Fullerton City Council heard this item and issued a resolution which was sent to the City of La Mirada.The item was heard by the La Mirada Planning Commission on November 17, at which time Manager Propst made certain it was made part of the record.Following closure of the public comment, allowing 3 minutes per speaker, the Planning Commission asked the proponent of the project if he had comments and allowed him to speak for 20 minutes.The Fullerton City Attorney addressed the Planning Commission stating they could not allow further testimony from the proponent without reopening the public comment, which they did.When the public comment segment was finally closed, there was very little discussion and the recommendation was approved and passed on to the La Mirada City Council. There is now discussion between Los Angeles and Orange County Land Use Commissions in an effort to get a means for the LALUC to look at projects that affect the Fullerton Airport.
At Member Patel’s request, Manager Propst advised he will notify the Committee when the City of La Mirada public hearing is scheduled by the La Mirada City Council.Mr. Patel was assured that the Committee’s action was included in the draft EIR. City Hall will be closed for the Holidays beginning December 22, 2007, and will reopen on January 2, 2008.Airport Service Workers will be working regular hours during the Closure. COMMITTEE COMMENTS Mr. Patel thanked the secretary for getting the minutes out in a timely manner. PUBLIC COMMENTS There were no comments from the public. ADJOURNMENT The Noise and Safety Committee Meeting adjourned at 5:35 p.m.The next quarterly meeting is Thursday, February 28, 2008.Member Tom Atkins will Chair the February meeting and Member Ashok Patel will serve as Alternate Chairperson.
|
