ARC 10-14-2015CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS
DAKOTA COUNTY, MINNESOTA
AIRPORT RELATIONS COMMISSION MINUTES
October 14, 2015
The regular meeting of the Mendota Heights Airport Relations Commission (ARC) was held on
Wednesday, October 14, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at Mendota Heights City Hall.
Chair Sloan called the meeting to order at 6:56 pm.
The following commissioners were present: David Sloan, Sally Lorberbaum, William Dunn,
Gina Norling, and Jim Neuharth.
Absent: Kevin Byrnes and Arvind Sharma (both excused)
Also present: Public Works Director/City Engineer John R. Mazzitello
Approval of Minutes
Neuharth moved, and Dunn seconded that the minutes of the September 9, 2015 Airport
Relations Commission meeting, which consisted of a tour of MSP, be approved. Lorberbaum
noted that Norling could not have moved Approval of minutes at the September 9, 2015 meeting
as she was absent and excused. Lorberbaum also noted that Sharma stated that he viewed the
August 17, 2015 Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) Board Meeting rather than attended.
All voted in favor as amended.
Unfinished and New Business
4.a Presentation of Annual Work Plan to City Council. Sloan provided a draft presentation for
ARC review prior to the update being given at the October 20th City Council meeting.
Lorberbaum, Neuharth, and Norling offered specific revisions that were discussed by the
Commission. Revisions agreed to by the ARC would be sent to City staff for inclusion in the
City Council agenda packets. Mazzitello agreed to include a copy of the actual work plan in the
agenda packets, along with the presentation.
4.b Reschedule November ARC Meeting. The second Wednesday in November happens to fall
on Veterans’ Day, which is a Federal holiday. The Commission agreed to move the November
ARC meeting to Tuesday, November 10th provided it worked with the Commissioners’
schedules. Mazzitello noted the Parks & Recreation Commission also meets that night, but that
the conference room would be available for the ARC.
4.c Scheduling Public Open House for Early 2016. Mazzitello noted to the Commission that
there had been interest expressed form Council that the ARC advertise for and hold a Public
Open House sometime in early 2016 to showcase the ARC and their mission. Commission
agreed to the idea and stated that February through April timeframe may work well for
scheduling the Open House. Commission also agreed that there should be a guest speaker at the
meeting that could help answer some of the frequently asked questions regarding airport
relations (noise, schedules, etc.). It was further agreed to that the meeting should be advertised
in the preceding issue of the Heights Highlights. It was noted by the commission that they are
not required to hold one meeting per year as televised, but that it has been the tradition to hold
one televised meeting per year.
4.d MAC MSP 2035 Long Term Comprehensive Plan Update. Mazzitello noted the MAC
Board decision to defer publication of the plan. Plan is likely to be heard again at the January
2016 Noise Oversight Committee (NOC) meeting and the February MAC meeting. Commission
noted the postponement.
4.e Future ARC Meeting Speakers. Commission discussed potential future speakers at
upcoming ARC meetings. Speakers discussed included Mendota Heights’ MAC Representative,
Representatives Rick Hansen and/or Joe Atkins, Federal Representatives (Senators Klobuchar &
Franken, and Representative Kline), and Elaine Buckner, Chief of Air Traffic Control at MSP.
4.f Airport Overlay Zoning District. Mazzitello introduced
4.g Review of Airport Operational Statistics – Neuharth noted that the number of lights north of
the corridor were low and have been degreasing for the past several months. He also noted that
departures of runway 12L were up, but remained consistent with previous years. Lorberbaum’s
complainant tracking charts were included in the packet but not discussed as it was an off month
for those statistics. Norling noted that four excessive noise event indicators were trending up,
but these trends could be seasonally driven. Dunn noted that there were 38 excessive noise
incidents in Mendota Heights compared to 5044 in Minneapolis. Norling reviewed a comparison
between 2012-2014 excessive noise statistics as compared to 2005 data; noted a significant
difference in early year data, but that later months were more similar. She will continue to
compare the data sets and present charts to the ARC at a later date. Neuharth suggested
correlating the excessive noise event data with total operations from the same years.
5.a September 16, 2015 NOC Meeting Review – Meeting was attended by City Administrator
McNeill. Commissioners requested newly acquired Sunfish Lake noise data if it was available.
Meeting notes provided by Sharma were distributed and discussed.
Public Comments
There were no comments from the public.
Commissioner Comments
Norling asked if the entire ARC should be in attendance at the City Council meeting on October
20th. Sloan said it would be nice if Commissioners could attend, but it was not required.
Adjourn
Neuharth made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Norling at 8:02 PM. All voted in favor.
Minutes Taken By:
John R. Mazzitello, PE, PMP, MBA
Public Works Director/City Engineer