ASHLAND AIRPORT COMMISSION September 2, 2003 MINUTES MEMBERS PRESENT: CHAIRMAN PAUL ROSTYKUS, BOB SKINNER, FBO, CLAUDIA STOCKWELL, BRITTANY WISE, BRENT THOMPSON, ALAN DEBOER, RICHARD HENDRICKSON STAFF: PAULA BROWN, DAWN LAMB MEMBERS ABSENT: SCOT DOUGLAS, ANN SKY, WILLIAM SKILLMAN, LINCOLN ZEVE 1. CALL TO ORDER: 10:00 AM 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: August 5th minutes were approved with changes. 3. Public Forum: None 4. OLD BUSINESS: A. 2003 Pavement Maintenance Program (PMP) Update Paving should begin the third week in September. Paint removal will happen the week prior. Olson and staff will work closely with Skinner Aviation to coordinate closures and NOTAMS. The paving is scheduled for the 15th and 16th for crack sealing and paving on the 17th. These procedures are affected by weather and may be adjusted accordingly. Rostykus commented that some work needs to be done to mark the unpainted compass rose. Hendrickson will go out and mark the points. B. Hangar Spacing Staff is checking with the Fire and Building departments on codes for spacing between hangars. DeBoer measured the remaining area and presented two options; one option would be to have 65 foot wide hangars with ten feet in-between, and option two being three hangars at 65 feet with five feet between leaving enough room for the last hangar to be 80 feet wide. The distance from the last hangar to the centerline of the taxiway was measured to ensure the width to the centerline matches the distance established by the Sky Research Hangar. If Matzger withdraws his proposal or revises his width it would be to the commission’s interest to agree to a set size and spacing. Commission discussed the use of the space between the hangars. Vehicle parking could be one option if we did the width large enough. The width would need to be more than 10 feet apart for a car to fit and be able to open its doors. That compromises the widths of the hangars. The space should be large enough to allow access for hangar maintenance. If a ladder is used to reach the roof of the hangar, the space should allow a safe pitch of the ladder or allow a scissors type lift. Thompson felt the measurement should be maintained between five and ten feet. Rostykus reminded commission that spaces larger than five feet we lose the space for an 80 foot wide hangar at the end of the row. Action: Hendrickson motioned to adopt an eight foot (8.0) spacing between the four large private hangar footprints. Seconded by Thompson and passed unanimously. C. FBO Access Road Construction City crews are currently working on building the access road. They should be done within the next week to ten days. This road will be used by employees and delivery companies who have been using the taxiway. This will stop conflicts between vehicles and planes on the taxiway. Staff will gather final costs and through prior discussions with Sky at Sky Research an agreement was reached for Sky to pay either one half of the project cost or for the asphalt quantity supplied, whichever is greater. Commission asked if yellow centerlines could be painted down the length of the taxiways. Hendrickson feels at night this is a valuable tool for pilots taxing in. Wise remembered the corner of the taxiway at the Sky corner being striped but not the entire taxiway. D. Hangar Financing DeBoer measured the area for the new bank of t-hangars. His measurements show and area of 55 feet by 300 feet. With standard measurements from manufacturers there could be enough room for 13 to 14 hangars. Commission would like a door clearance of 41.6 feet, 12 foot high building. Brown will need to have specs and options to complete a Request for Proposal. Rostykus suggested a sub-committee meet to discuss different options for the hangar requirements. RFP should include construction, building erection, permitting, the asphalt approaches to the hangars, colors, door options, insulation and power. Water and sewer will not be supplied to the hangars. Funding has been researched by the Finance Department. Three bids were received from larger banks that offered a 7-8% interest. Lee Tuneberg, Finance Director, would like to solicit to more local banks. Local banks may be able to offer much better rates. After a funding source is decided on the City Council will have final approval. Commission had discussed looking into prepaid leases to reduce the amount that would need to be financed. During the discussion of hangar utilities it was mentioned that water could be supplied. Brown reminded the Commission that the airport is under very stringent water runoff permitting. The airport possesses a Non-Point Discharge Elimination Source permit through the Department of Environmental Quality which specifically limits the amount of storm water run-off contributed by the airport. It needs to be posted and reiterated to all airport users that washing of aircraft is strictly prohibited. Commission did feel strongly about offering water to the hangars. Action: Thompson motioned to have water available at both ends of the hangar building. Seconded by Hendrickson, vote stood at 2 in agreement, 2 against and one abstention. Vote dies. Water will be reconsidered at a later date. E. AIP Update The Airport Improvement Program funding is set. Ashland is scheduled to receive monies for medium intensity lighting for the runway. These lights are more then ready for replacement. The cost of the lights will consume about ¾ of the total $3-400,000. Commission had also put in for funding for a tie-down extension and other items. Staff will bring in a summary of our AIP request for Commission review. The upcoming Master Plan will help identify and prioritize different items to be done at the airport. Commissioners should keep this in mind while we are reviewing the Master Plan Drafts. Much of the AIP money is based on items that are substantiated by the Master Plan. Fencing was a large concern and since 9/11 has become a more emphasized need. Skinner feels the fencing will be more useful for deterring deer and other animals then security issues. 4. NEW BUSINESS: A. Hangar Usage With the blatant misuse of hangars the Commission needs to consider more stringent ways to handle improper use of the hangars, i.e. camping in the hangar, storage of non-aviation related items instead of aircraft. Tara Labs has been in violation for about a year. Correspondence has been sent requesting compliance several times to no avail. This kind of abuse of the spirit of the airport is a lengthy time consuming ordeal. Commission would like to review the lease for language that can help to enforce usage. Brown suggested really looking at the lease for inconsistencies within the document. DeBoer suggested applying a fee to renters who are in violation of the six month grace period. Brown suggested that annual inspections be established in conjunction with the Fire Department. A commission member should go along as well as a staff member and Dale Peters, Facility Maintenance. Action: Rostykus will be in touch with Dave Hard to ask about an inspection date. Commissioners will be sent a copy of the Minimum Standards and the current lease to review the documents for hangar usage issues. Discussion next month on ideas for enforcement and control. B. Specialized Aviation Services Operator (SASO) The SASO requirements came under question regarding renting hangar space. The SASO requirements call for a fee, business license and insurance. The SASO fee formula was done for Sky research and may not be equitable for a smaller hangar renter. The profit for a small hangar owner who decides to rent to one other aircraft owner is minimal and to deduct the costs of a business license, extra insurance and SASO fees makes the effort worthless. Is this what we want to accomplish. This has been the ongoing discussion with Jim Matzger and his proposal to build a hangar. Thompson asked if Code Enforcement could be used to police the hangars and owners for compliance. Skinner and the FBO office have posted notices stating that the airport requires all Mobile Service Providers to register in the office, but the private hangars are more prone to observance of what is going on around the airport. Staff sent explanations of what the Mobile Service Provider and the SASO provide and their requirements along with a copy of the Minimum Standards explaining the different categories. If the recipients were doing operations that qualified them as a SASO or MSP they were to contact staff or Skinner Aviation. Many did not respond. The only SASO we have enforced thus far is Sky Research and the SASO fees were decided at that time. If the commission would like to have sub-categories for different forms of SASOs and negotiate the fees accordingly there needs to be a review of the documents. The current SASO fee is calculated by the square footage of the hangar multiplied by the current hangar land lease rate ($.174) multiplied by 1.6. The 1.6 was a number calculated during the Sky Research lease negotiations. Thompson reminded the commission that the goal is to make the airport self-sufficient and the goal is to make people compliant. The airport’s current regulations have been loosely enforced. To implement these requirements will take effort. The airport infrastructure needs to be supported and maintained. These fees will help these specific areas. Hendrickson pointed out the goal as being equity between renting and a full-blown business. If enforcement becomes needed staff will ask Adam Hanks, Code Enforcement Officer for assistance. The Fixed Base Operator should be the observant to the issues, but not the enforcer. If staff can clarify who is a SASO then letters could be sent informing them of the fees. Then the FBO office can bill them accordingly. Action: Staff will send a copy of the SASO and MSP requirements to each of the commissioners before the next meeting for review. Commissioners will review the documents and the situations and come back with ideas for equity amongst different categories. 5. AIRPORT MANAGER REPORT/FBO REPORT/AIRPORT ASSOCIATION: A. Status of Airport, Financial Report, Review of Safety Reports Charter work is keeping busy. The fuel sales have reached a record high of 11,000 gallons. 6. NEXT MEETING DATE: OCTOBER 7TH , 10:00 AM ADJOURN: Meeting adjourned at 11:25 AM