HomeMy WebLinkAboutAirport Minutes October 2006ASHLAND AIRPORT COMMISSION
NOVEMBER 7, 2006
MINUTES
MEMBERS PRESENT: RICHARD HENDRICKSON, PAUL WESTERMAN, BOB SKINNER, TOM BRADLEY, RUSS SILBIGER, LINCOLN ZEVE, ALAN DEBOER, CLAUDIA STOCKWELL, BILL SKILLMAN, GOA LOBAUGH
STAFF: DAWN LAMB, JAMES OLSON, DALE PETERS
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Visitors: Benjamin Lindner
1. CALL TO ORDER: 9:30 AM
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: October 3, 2006, minutes approved as written.
3. Public Forum:
4. OLD BUSINESS:
A. Burl Brim Hilltop Helipad Development
Pre-application for the hangar expansion has been submitted to Planning for review from all departments. The parking area has yet to be formally requested. Krippaehne will check with
Brim on his parking requirements. The commission was given a copy of the pre-application to review for their review. The Planning Department will than meet with Madrona Architect
to go over any conditions. The addition is proposed to be a 16 by 60 two-story addition to the existing hangar. It will add meeting space, offices, and restrooms. The lease and SASO
lease will be adjusted after the certificate of occupancy is issued.
Skinner advocated for the addition of the parking in the adjacent hangar space. There could be a month to month arrangement at the lower lease rate. DeBoer was opposed to the parking
because it would create a difficulty for the eventual development of a hangar on the site. The Brim employees can use the public parking area along with the shared lot between Sky
and Skinner. Zeve suggested tabling the conversation until a formal request is received from Brim. DeBoer moved to approve the pre-application concept pending the planning process
approvals and conditions. Hendrickson would like more time to read over the application. Krippaehne felt that the approval would not be required until after the pre-application process
was complete. DeBoer withdrew the motion. There may need to be some variances submitted and the Commission could offer help with that process. The formal application should be submitted
in December.
Action: Commission will be made aware of the outcome of the pre-application process with the Planning Department.
B. Strategic Planning Action Items:
No Report.
4. NEW BUSINESS:
A. Entitlement Grant
Jim Olson asked the commission to help him choose the next priority for the entitlement grant money. He has already started gathering some current information on the SuperAWOS and the
reconstruction of the parking lot. The entitlement is only for $150,000 and must be used for improvements that benefit safety and will not be used to generate revenue for the airport. The
installation of utilities or the construction of hangars does not qualify. The grant approval will be announced in March of 2007. Olson asked the commission to make a formal project
choice.
The taxiway addition will be upwards of $320,000 which exceeds the grant allocation. The excavation of the 17,000 cubic yards of material will be costly to achieve. There would need
to be nine foot cuts made to achieve the 1% taxilane grades. The construction of the parking lot may be done by in house crews to a city standard to reduce the cost. This could offer
cost savings. The SuperAWOS has some costs hat may be hard to determine. The ODA had a project to purchase the SuperUnicom a few years back, but the approval process by the FAA took
to long and the money was reallocated. The funds could be enough to accomplish both projects if force account funds are used. The SuperAWOS has some unknown cost if it is required
to be sited for location by an engineer. The SuperAWOS equipment is a $70,000 cost the parking lot is estimated at about $80,000.
DeBoer asked if fencing was still a project identified for the future. Olson said that the AIP funding is still out three more years. The AWOS would be a great safety improvement to
the airport. Support was given to having a 24-hour notification system for weather reporting. Monies can not be used to pay down debt service. Skinner liked the idea of combining
the projects and thought that the parking lot and the SuperAWOS were good choices. All of the items are listed in the adopted master plan. Olson would also do an overlay of the access
road to help lengthen its useful life. The parking lot essential life is zero. The asphalt will need to be completely redone down to the sub-base. The engineering of an FAA project
is a long process. The engineering firm that is chosen by the City must also be reviewed by an independent engineering firm before they can proceed with the project. This raises the
cost of any project where outside engineering firm needs to be involved. If all the money is not used, it will be carried over to the next year. We have a remainder from last year’s
grant money.
Could the triangular spots be asphalted over during this project? This is not eligible expense for the grant. The commission discussed that the top priority is the SuperAWOS
system and feel the recommendation from Olson to rebuild the parking lot. If there is left over funds they can be carried over until next year for another project.
Action: Bradley moved to follow the CIP projects as presented by Jim Olson for the entitlement grant monies. Seconded by Hendrickson and passed unanimously. The grant
will be used for the SuperAWOS system and the parking lot reconstruction.
B. Budget Information:
Lamb presented a breakdown of the adopted costs for this year and the spent costs from last year. A spreadsheet also showed the revenue from Skinner Aviation for last year. The revenue
is still below where it needs to be. DeBoer asked if the audit was ready for review. The Finance department has been working with the auditors. Lamb will see when the audit is expected
to be completed. Once the audit takes place a subcommittee will be formed to review the audit paperwork. DeBoer, Bradely, Lobaugh and Zeve will meet.
C. Potential Developer Activity- Benjamin Lindner
Benjamin Lindner, Rockin’ C & L Ranch Properties, is interested in developing hangars at the Ashland Airport. The idea would be to construct the utilities and taxilanes to prepare the
north portion of the field for hangars. He has spent time with Skinner and Lamb and collected information regarding leases and master plan issues. He has had success with other airports
with
similar investments. He has been researching the need for hangars and what would be the most functional. The construction would be done to satisfy the needs of the renters. This would
free up funds for the airport to use toward growth without having such an extended time frame. Lindner asked for the Commission’s feelings on his continuing the process. Skinner asked
if part of the lease would be the expense of putting in the taxilanes and utilities. Lindner would want to optimize the amount of hangar space for the excavation that would need to
happen. The development would need to be economical. Engineering has a rough plan of utilities for these areas, but some will depend on what is planned to be built. There would need
to be excavation, water for services and fire protection, sewer, storm drain, electric and AFN; the construction of the taxilanes, and the individual tarmacs. It would be a large project,
but the demand seems to be there and the airport seems organized enough to make this a fairly straight forward effort. The timeframe is anticipated to be built within the next two
years. Right now the focus will be on contacting potential people interested in having hangars and seeing if they are interested in a turnkey style development. Lindner would build
the hangars and then sell the lease interest off to the owners. The Planning process could be tedious, but it seems that if the master plan is followed as closely as possible, it should
not be too complicated. Stockwell asked Lindner where he had been active with airports prior to this. Lindner has projects in Redmond, some in Idaho and Oregon. He just completed
a 1,000 square foot hangar. There was an opportunity to build at the Bend airport, but the development was a 40 acre parcel and that was just too large for him to take on.
Lindner would like to be able to continue with negotiating leases for options with City staff. He would like to move on this quickly. Lindner does not want to compete with the City
for business.
Hendrickson voiced that the commission would be in support of moving ahead with negotiations when Lindner was ready to move forward. Lindner is interested in small GA airports because
he is a pilot and appreciates the atmosphere of smaller airports. The smaller airports that are general aviation pilot friendly are becoming harder to support for communities and developers
such as himself are helping to continue their existence. Skinner agreed that there is a lot of support for the growth in this atmosphere. Lindner will be contacting persons on the
list and then contact people in Medford and try to begin to form a plan and schedule based on their needs for what to build. Zeve asked what the term of Lindner’s interest would be. The
hangars would be built and then sold; he would probably be out of the picture within a two to three year period. Zeve asked if Lindner would entertain the idea of someone wanting to
build in his area. Lindner didn’t see where the benefit of that would be if he had already done the leg work through the process. He would most likely insist on building. Dale Peters,
Facilities, asked how uniform the hangars would be built. Lindner would try to customize each hangar within reason, but the colors and appearance could all be matched per the commission. Peters
department will be responsible for maintenance on the hangars if there is any reversion on the leases to the City. Most of the liability for the hangar construction would fall on Lindner. If
he doesn’t fulfill his obligation to the owners he is liable.
D. SASO – Valley Investments
For this discussion, Alan DeBoer will abstain as he is a partial owner in Valley Investments.
In 2002 the commission added hangarkeeper to the SASO definitions. Staff has approached various businesses on the field to collect the appropriate fees. The fee to Valley Investments
has yet to be agreed upon. DeBoer feels that the lease with Valley Investments should not be added to qualify for new fees. Continuing to add random fees to existing leases is a bad
practice and the airport will be less attractive to businesses and individuals interested in residing at the
airport. There is no justification to arbitrarily adding a fee to the existing lease. The company voluntarily moved from the lower lease rate to the privately owned lease rate a few
years back, but to create more hardship for the renters is not fair business. The lease has no clause for applying new fees as they are created. Zeve agreed that the lease should
be looked at and if the clause does not exist then it would be unfair to imply a new fee in the middle of a lease. Bradley highly doubted that any lease would have that type of clause. This
is a contractual agreement that exists. Westerman asked if it would be prudent to have legal look at this issue. DeBoer felt that if lawyers were to look at this there would be a
great deal of time, energy and money spent for little gain. Skillman felt that if the motivation of the lease is changed than it is a different lease. DeBoer said that the purpose
of the lease has not changed and that the hangars have been rented out since they were constructed. DeBoer still disagreed with the hangarkeeper inclusion in the SASO fees. Bradley
felt that if there was not change in the lease structure, then do not impose the SASO fee. Valley Investments has three more years on their lease. At that time it can be reevaluated.
Commission agreed not to impose the SASO fee for Valley Investments.
E. January Meeting Date
Lamb will be out of town for the last two weeks of December and returning on the day the meeting is to take place. Would the commission want to change the meeting or cancel until the
February meeting. The meeting will be on January 9th.
5. AIRPORT MANAGER REPORT/FBO REPORT/AIRPORT ASSOCIATION:
A. Status of Airport, Financial Report, Review of Safety Reports
Skinner staff is asking for help to look at how people on the waiting list are contacted. There is a large amount of time spent every time a hangar is open for rent. Commission would
like to look at that during the February meeting.
Renumbering of the hangars is still in the works.
B. Maintenance Updates – Estimates for Upgrades to FBO Office
Dale Peters, Facilities Maintenance was introduced by Lamb. Peters is the person who responds to maintenance requests at the airport and maintains all the City owned buildings. A while
back Skinner asked if it would be possible to do some renovations to the FBO office. He is going to get new furniture and do some other updating and would like to have the office worked
on at the same time. Lamb sent a memo to Peters asking about what he would recommend for cost, longevity and maintenance.
Peters has a limited budget for maintenance at the airport and the commission needs to consider what it would feel was a priority.
The Peters looked into different types of floor treatment such as carpet, tile or concrete. Carpet is typically the most used to absorb sound and keep a safe surface to walk on. The
cleaning cost and wear and tear can sometimes be more work. The vinyl in the restroom and the walls need treatment. There is heavy damage in the restroom from a water leak a few years
back. The concrete slab would be the least costly up front, but if there is damage to the floor that needs attention, then the cost would quickly escalate. The concrete is also not
as sound dampening and could be a slippery surface in inclement weather. For most of the work we would have to get bids from contractors so the price estimates could change.
Skinner agreed that he would prefer a floor treatment that had a low skid surface. Hendrickson said that carpet does absorb more sound. DeBoer suggested that Peters keep a eye out
for carpet deals or remnant sales. Lamb suggested because this is almost a year’s worth of maintenance budget that the commission and Peters work together to form a strong estimate
of the cost for the renovation and that it be asked to be included in the facility capital improvement list for next year (July 2007).
6. OTHER:
7. NEXT MEETING DATE: December 5th, 2006, 9:30 AM
ADJOURN: Meeting adjourned at 11:25 AM