Humboldt County Airport Advisory Committee

Minutes for March 26, 2002

Dave Zebo Conference Room

1.1 Call to order

1.1 Chairman Limmer called the meeting to order at 7:10 P.M.

2.0 Roll call

2.1 Members in attendance:

Dr. George Jutila

Al Castaldi

Alistair McCrone

Jack Limmer

2.2 Public Employees in attendance

Dan Horton

3.0 Adjustment to Calendar

3.1 None

4.0 Review minutes of the previous meeting

4.1 Chairman Limmer asked for changes to the minutes from January 22, 2002.

4.2 Al Castaldi motioned to approve as written. Dr. George Jutila provided a second. Motion passed unanimously

5.0 Consent Calendar - None.

6.0 Old Business

6.1 Airports Master Plan: Shutt Moen held a public hearing on the master plan for the Kneeland Airport on Friday, February 15, 2002 at the Veterans Hall in Fortuna, Ca. There were about 25 people in attendance. Most in attendance were local pilots, with several members of the non-flying public and a few landowners in the vicinity of the Kneeland Airport. The potential restrictions that might be imposed due to the proximity of the Kneeland Pennycrest (an endangered plant) was discussed. The public was urged to write letters of concern and discuss the importance of the airport as an alternative airport when weather was below minimums at the county airports at lower altitudes. Copies of the master plan were passed out to the committee members for their review.

6.2 The deer fencing at the Eureka/Arcata Airport is now being installed. The contractor is to only remove as much of the old fencing each day as new fence fabric can be installed. The fencing at the bluff area on the west side of the airport will not be installed until June, when the bluff is expected to be dryer.

6.3 The AV8CANDO Conference held February 16, 2002 was very informative, and had many excellent speakers, including staff from the State Deportment of Transportation Division, AOPA, the medical community and the County Aviation Division.

6.4 Federal money has not yet been received to the County to staff the new portable control tower at the Arcata/Eureka Airport. Our request for funding for a permanent control tower was turned down this year. Congressman Mike Thompson will submit a request for funding again next year.

6.5 Two Super Unicom units, one for Eureka Murray Airport and one for Rohnerville Airport are to be funded from AIP Funds. The cost will be about $58,000 for each unit. The units are self-checking for accuracy and only need to be serviced every 24 months. This request should be approved by June 2002.

7.0 New Business

7.1 Security changes for the Arcata/Eureka Airport were discussed, and included the following:

- Federal screeners have now replaced the airline screeners. The airlines usually had three people screening passengers, where the Federal staffing usually consists of six or more screeners.

- The Federal Government wants to install bomb-sniffing equipment to be used for all baggage being checked. A much less costly alternative would be to have bomb-sniffing dogs at the airport. (The dogs could be used at other county locations if the need should ever arise.)

- New fencing will be installed to segregate the Skeet Club area from the rest of the airport.

- The National Guard will be removed from its security assignment at the Arcata/Eureka Airport in the near future, and the County will have to provide the armed security thereafter. The County is discussing how this will be accomplished, as the Sheriff Department is under staffed and unable to provide this security.

- A private school has applied for a use permit the operate a school in the vicinity of the Rohnerville Airport The County has recommended that the permit not be give due to the proposed location in the airport flight zone.

7.1 The Board of Supervisors has advertised for new members to fill the vacancies on the Airport Advisory Committee, and has sent letters to those who had applied to be on the committee in the past.

7.2 Murray Field is having a deer problem again and the county is trying to determine how to best deal with it.

8.0 Public Comments

8.1 None

9.0 Date and Place of Next Meeting:

9.1 Tuesday, April 23, 2002 at 7 PM, Dave Zebo Conference Room, Eureka/Arcata Airport.

10.0 Chairman Limmer adjourned at 8:30 PM.