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2007-10-10 Airport Relations Commission Minutes 2007-10-10 Airport Relations Commission Minutes CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS DAKOTA COUNTY, MINNESOTA AIRPORT RELATIONS COMMISSION MINUTES October 10, 2007 The regular meeting of the Mendota Heights Airport Relations Commission was held on Wednesday, October 10, 2007, at 7:00 p.m., in the Large Conference Room at City Hall, 1101 Victoria Curve, Mendota Heights, Minnesota. The following Commissioners were present: Liz Petschel, Chair; Ellsworth Stein, Vice Chair; Bill Dunn, Robin Ehrlich, and Dave Sloan, Commissioners. Also present were: Jeannie and Scott Norling, residents; Jim Danielson, City Administrator; Jake Sedlacek, Assistant to the City Administrator; and Mary Heintz, Recorder. Not Present: Sally Lorberbaum, Commissioner. Approval of Minutes Chair Petschel requested corrections to the minutes: change “DPS” to “GPS” on page 1 under Unfinished and New Business and on page 2 under section B; change “Merlin” to “Merland” on page 1, middle paragraph, under section A; and change dialogue in third paragraph of page 2 to read “Chair Petschel said Burnsville and Apple Valley representatives need to be better representatives of the cities.” The City Administrator requested that “essential” be changed to “essentially” in line 1 under “Themes from the August 15 meetings.” A motion was made by Commissioner Sloan, seconded by Commissioner Dunn, to approve the September 11, 2007, Airport Relations Commission Meeting minutes as amended. The minutes were approved. Unfinished and New Business A. Discuss Representative Hansen’s Letter to FAA Chair Petschel provided background information to the attending residents regarding the letters submitted by Eagan’s State Representative Sandra Masin and Mendota Height’s State Representative Rick Hansen to Carl Rydeen, MSP Air Traffic Control Tower Manager, which concern a nighttime runway traffic change from Runway 17 to Runway 12R, for which Eagan supports but Mendota Heights does not. Commission Meeting – Page 1 2007-10-10 Airport Relations Commission Minutes October 10, 2007 Mendota Heights Airport Relations Commission 2 Chair Petschel stated that the City is willing to take its fair share of flights but “not one more” and that she had asked for a delay in implementing the change until Mr. Rydeen could address the NOC to ensure there will be no adverse effects on the City when they move the planes. She reported that lobbyists and NOC are aware of the situation. Commissioner Dunn commented that he could anticipate flights taking off 17 but not being monitored on 12R and 12L, resulting in the City getting half of the additional flights because the Tower won’t be paying attention. Chair Petschel reported that she tried to stress to NOC that Mr. Rydeen had attended an ARC meeting and said he will send flights off 12L because the gates are closest to that and he is not concerned about percentages -- only safety. She stated that the City’s trust level is low, Eagan has upped the ante, and it may be time for Tom Foley, Mendota Heights’ MAC representative, to attend an upcoming ARC meeting, though noted the agenda will need to be clear before he attends. Commissioner Ehrlich said a cooperative meeting between Eagan and Mendota Heights may be needed and suggested that it be held at Mendota Heights, as the meeting here is not televised (Eagan’s is televised) and comments may be more honest and forthright because of that. Chair Petschel reported that she’d asked Diane Miller whether she would have voted for the change if she were in Mendota Heights and said that she had responded “no.” Chair Petschel commented that she feels the timing is not quite right to meet with Eagan, that it would be best to meet with Tom Foley first. She said that, following the legislative hearing, now is a good time to talk with MAC representatives about what has been accomplished and where we go from here. It was group consensus that the City Administrator will contact Tom Foley regarding his availability to attend an ARC meeting, to update him on current issues and express concerns. B. Discuss September 19, 2007, Legislative Hearing Page 2 2007-10-10 Airport Relations Commission Minutes Chair Petschel said other cities, besides Mendota Heights, have been trying to make MAC more responsive to the first tier of cities around the airport. She provided background information, for the courtesy of attending guests, and explained that the City’s MAC representative is Tom Foley and said that representatives have no specific qualifications in order to be named but are to be responsible to address city concerns, adding that Mendota Heights doesn’t hear from Mr. Foley. A spear-headed grassroots effort has been made through Representative Hansen to schedule joint legislative hearings regarding the current MAC structure and public concerns. The City Administrator reported that 50-60 attended the first legislative hearing, though 500 were anticipated, but also noted that the right people were in the room. Commission Meeting – October 10, 2007 Mendota Heights Airport Relations Commission 3 Mayor Huber spoke well on the City’s behalf concerning better representation for the four cities within DNL65 and legislators listened to input and, in the end, spoke, including Representative Viskins’ excellent presentation in favor of making changes to the MAC. The City Administrator said the challenge is that the legislators can work to draft legislation but Governor Tim Pawlenty has to sign and so the challenge is to work (in bipartisan) to get him on board to pass the legislation. He also noted that Jack Lanners, Chair of the Metropolitan Airport Commission said he, surprisingly, didn’t know MAC had city representatives until he was on the MAC board. Chair Petschel reported that Mr. Lanners said MAC has a huge communications problem. She also noted that ARC’s point at the meeting was that the legislators controlling the cities have dropped the ball and the “buck stops” with them and that the consistent message coming through loud and clear is that the cities (whether Eagan, Richfield, Bloomington, or Mendota Heights) are all on the “same page.” The City Administrator’s Assistant also reported that representation was well balanced and various issues were covered well, rather than being focused on only noise. Chair Petschel reported that Vern Wilcox said MAC finds itself in the middle of two Page 3 2007-10-10 Airport Relations Commission Minutes lawsuits over sound insulation and, had it listened to its own advisors, wouldn’t’ be spending money for attorneys but rather utilized on insulation for the cities that need it. She added that MAC was not allowed to testify at the hearing. C. Discuss September 19, 2007, NOC Meeting Chair Petschel cited the NOC membership list, for the courtesy of attending residents, and said the group has been very effective in obtaining operational changes. An ongoing topic has been low frequency noise in Richfield, mainly due to movement of nighttime cargo planes. Chad Levque has been working with these nighttime and charter carriers to see if things can be done to mitigate the low frequency noise and that Sun Country will now tow all planes to the runway, rather than firing up outside their facility. They want operators to back their planes off and not aim the engines at neighborhoods. Discussion ensued regarding the difference between frequency noise (of the planes) and decibel noise (such as local highway traffic). Chair Petschel reported that Mr. Levque had spent a night at the site watching cargo planes and identified the biggest offender, Kitty Hawk and he was going to meet with ASIG, ground support for charters and freighters to talk about Kitty Hawk and see if they could do some things to mitigate noise and ask carriers to comply. The consensus from NOC was to go ahead and work with operators to mitigate noise and keep NOC up to date. The meeting’s next issue was about Eagan’s concern about nighttime fanning. The runway use system determines which ends of runways are used and that 12L and 12R are the two prime runways when there is a southeast flow. Commission Meeting – October 10, 2007 Mendota Heights Airport Relations Commission 4 Chair Petschel said Mendota Heights has been taking too many flights (47% in July) and, surprisingly, NOC Chair, Kathleen Nelson, took Mendota Heights’ side and recommended repeatedly that no changes be made until Mr. Rydeen could ensure fairness Page 4 2007-10-10 Airport Relations Commission Minutes among affected cities. The motion, nonetheless, passed by one vote and the bottom line is that, even though a letter will be sent to him about moving flights, Mr. Rydeen will come to the November 14 meeting to tell NOC what he thinks about the plan, that it’s up to the air controllers in terms of safety and capacity. Mr. Levque wants to start a voluntary nighttime operation reward system where carriers don’t schedule flights between 10-11 p.m. and 6-7 a.m., data is tracked for a year, and then the best carrier is recognized after that time with a special award. Chair Petschel reported that Chair Nelson said that it should wait because operators haven’t had a chance to meet yet on that but she will meet with them and report back at the next NOC meeting. Mendota Heights’ side of the runway construction won’t be completed until another year out, because of the need for as much runway availability as possible during the upcoming Republican National Convention. Chair Petschel reported that Mr. Levque had brought up the issue of flying tracks instead of headings but not much was decided and he will report back to NOC. D. Discuss Departures North of Corridor Graphs Chair Petschel explained, for residents attending, that planes aren’t supposed to be north of 110 and that a tracking report is utilized to monitor adherence, provided to ARC in two versions – monthly and quarterly. After discussion, it was Commission consensus that, though the quarterly version displays the trend better, they prefer that the City Administrator Assistant distribute the monthly tracking report. Chair Petschel reported that every time Mr. Rydeen meets with controllers regarding the corridor, excursions go down, and he has admitted that it is something he will periodically have to discuss with them. E. Update for Introduction Book None. Page 5 2007-10-10 Airport Relations Commission Minutes Acknowledge Receipt of Various Reports/Correspondence Chair Petschel stated it will need to be a goal of ARC to stay on top of nighttime changes that may occur, to ensure that the City does not assume anymore than the current 47% share. Chair Ehrlich suggested using the Eagan complaint to everyone’s advantage and look at the whole picture as to how evening takeoffs are being done. Commission Meeting – October 10, 2007 Mendota Heights Airport Relations Commission 5 Chair Petschel, referencing the Airport Noise Report, stated that Vern Wilcox looked for input from cities regarding sound insulation and, though a scheduled meeting didn’t occur, an informal meeting occurred for which notes have been written and distributed. Vice Chair Stein reported that Northwest Airlines is now retiring the old style 747s. The City Administrator added that they are being replaced with smaller planes that don’t have the same capacity, which is why the same flights don’t have room for passengers. Vice Chair Stein stated that Metro Cities had a resolution to get through the Transportation Committee but it fell, as the wording was too strong, and one MAC representative said the issue will have to be forced. Chair Petschel asked for Commissioner input as to what things to emphasize when Mr. Foley attends an ARC meeting, and those included: the Eagan request, his take on MAC representation, ARC concerns about northern excursion, his update on MAC, percentages off three runways and conformance of the new runway to the EIS. A. August 2007 ANOM Technical Advisor’s Report B. August 2007 (New Format) ANOM Eagan/Mendota Heights Departure Corridor Analysis C. Letter from NOC Regarding Nighttime Southeast Departure Heading Off Runway 17 during Southeast Operational Flows at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport (MSP) D. Minutes from September MAC Meeting of finance, Development and Environment Committee E. Airport Noise Report, September 14, 2007 F. Airport Noise Report, September 21, 2007 G. Airport Noise Report, September 28, 2007 Page 6 2007-10-10 Airport Relations Commission Minutes Other Commission Comments or Concerns Mr. and Mrs. Norling, 1280 Lakeview Avenue, expressed concern about their home’s quality in the noise foot print and discussion ensued. Commissioner Ehrlich requested, for the record, that the subject of infill be discussed as a future ARC meeting and asked City staff to research the subject and come back with a presentation to the Commission, as to what an appropriate City response should be regarding the subject in the future and for possible recommendation to Council. Upcoming Meetings • City Council Meeting – October 16, 2007 – 7:30 p.m. • MAC Meeting – October 23, 2007 – 1:00 p.m. • NOC Meeting – November 14, 2007 – 1:30 p.m. Commission Meeting – October 10, 2007 Mendota Heights Airport Relations Commission 6 Adjourn Commissioner Dunn made a motion, seconded by Vice Chair Stein, to adjourn the meeting at 8:42 p.m. Commissioners thanked Mr. and Mrs. Norling for attending the meeting and requested that they update ARC regarding their progress. Respectfully submitted, Mary Heintz TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. Page 7