ARC 02 10 16 MinutesCITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS
DAKOTA COUNTY, MINNESOTA
AIRPORT RELATIONS COMMISSION MINUTES
FEBRUARY 10, 2016
The regular meeting of the Mendota Heights Airport Relations Commission was held on
Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at Mendota Heights City Hall.
Chair David Sloan called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.
The following commissioners were present: David, Sloan, Sally Lorberbaum, William Dunn,
Arvind Sharma, Gina Norling, and Jim Neuharth. Absent (excused) was Kevin Byrnes.
Also present: City Administrator Mark McNeill, Public Works Director John Mazzitello
Approval of Minutes
Lorberbaum asked that item 4.b of the January minutes be revised to reflect that “Mazzitello
addressed…” rather than “Mazzitello was there to address…”.
Motion by Dunn, second by Norling to approve the minutes of the January 13, 2016 Airport
Relations Commission meeting as amended. Motion carried 5-0, with Sloan abstaining.
Unfinished and New Business
4.a Election of Officers. Lorberbaum nominated David Sloan to serve as Chair for the
upcoming year. Dunn seconded. There were no other nominations. Vote results were 6-0 to
elect David Sloan as ARC Chair for the upcoming year.
Sloan nominated Sally Lorberbaum to serve as Vice-Chair, second by Sharma. There were no
other nominations. Vote results were 6-0 to have Sally Lorberbaum to serve as Vice-Chair of the
ARC for the upcoming year.
4.b The Commissioners discussed the upcoming public meeting regarding airport issues.
McNeill said that the Open House would be held in the City Council Chambers on March 9th at
7 PM. The Commissioners felt that it should be a regular meeting of the ARC, which would then
adjourn to an Open House. Each member would have an opportunity to describe what their role
is on the ARC. McNeill said that Dana Nelson and Chad Leqve of MAC, and Elaine Buckner of
the FAA have been invited to speak at the meeting.
McNeill said that he would send out a draft agenda to the ARC the following week for review.
4.c Airport Overlay Zoning District Discussion Mazzitello said that following the ARC’s
January discussion, he had contacted the cities of Bloomington, Richfield, and Eagan to see how
those cities handled the MAC airspace zoning maps, which were updated in 2004. He found
that the cities’ language in their codes were very similar—if a residential property lies within the
identified zone, noise attenuation must take place. He said that Bloomington extends their
review to properties lying one mile outside of the designated zone.
Neuharth said that similar would be manageable for the City of Mendota Heights.
Motion Dunn/ second Sloan to recommend to the City Council that it adopt the 2004 Airspace
Zones Map as shown in the MSP zoning ordinance, as the fixed boundary of the aircraft noise
overlay zone. Motion carried 6-0.
4.d McNeill referenced a City Council memo in the ARC packet. The memo recommended that
Mendota Heights resident Jill Smith to be appointed as alternate to the MAC Noise Oversite
Committee. That action had been on the City Council agenda of February 2nd to consider, but,
due to weather, that meeting had been cancelled. The action was instead to be considered on the
February 16th City Council agenda.
Chair Sloan commented on the process. Ms. Smith’s qualifications were discussed, and the ARC
Commissioners agreed that she was well qualified to serve on the NOC as alternate.
Motion Dunn/second Lorberbaum to support the nomination of Jill Smith to be a second
alternate representing Mendota Heights on the NOC. Motion carried 5-1. Commissioner
Norling cast the “no” vote, explaining that she has no problems with Ms. Smith, but instead was
concerned about the selection process.
4.e Review of Airport Operational Charts
Sloan said that he had missed the January NOC meeting, and so had no report.
Norling discussed charts for 12L and 12 R. Neuharth said that 12 R has been tending upwards
since 2009, and bears monitoring. Norling said that the normal “bell shaped curve” which
typically shows the number of complaints diminishing in the fall did not happen in 2015, due to
non-typical winds, and unusual warm weather patterns. Mazzitello said that he had met with
Dana Nelson of MAC, and distributed charts received from here for 2013-15. He said that the
unusual flight patterns would be a good item to discuss at the Open House.
Neuharth noted that all charts other than those for 12L and departures over TH 110 were trending
downward.
McNeill reviewed the discussion topics at the January 20th NOC meeting. He said that Liz
Petschel had announced that she would be stepping down as co-chair for the NOC. Noise
complaints were up 11% in November, vs the year before. and that nighttime operations were up
4.5% in 2015. He said that Elaine Buckner of the FAA discussed convergent operations at
MSP, and that there was a report on Airbus vortex generators and how those relate to noise
generation.
Sharma handed out a summary of action taken by the MAC Board at its January 19th meeting,
including information on the converging runway problems for 30R. He further reported on the
the Japan-US “Open Skies” situation, which will affect Delta’s flights to Tokyo. He provided an
overview of the MSP air service operations, and the monthly passenger operations.
Acknowledge Receipt of Various Reports/Correspondence
These reports were reviewed and discussed.
Public Comments
There were no members of the public present.
Commissioner Comments
None
Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Airport Relations Commission will be the Open House on March 9,
2016.
Adjourn
Neuharth made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Norling at 8:14 PM. All voted in favor.
Minutes Taken By:
Mark McNeill,
City Administrator