ARC 03-21-2018 MinutesCITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS
DAKOTA COUNTY, MINNESOTA
AIRPORT RELATIONS COMMISSION MINUTES
March 21, 2018
The regular meeting of the Mendota Heights Airport Relations Commission was held on
Wednesday, March 21, 2018, at Mendota Heights City Hall.
1. Call to Order
Chair David Sloan called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.
2. Roll Call
The following commissioners were present: David Sloan, Sally Lorberbaum, William Dunn, Jim
Neuharth, Gina Norling and Kevin Byrnes.
Absent: Arvind Sharma
Also present: City Administrator Mark McNeill, Assistant City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson
3. Approval of Minutes
Approval of Minutes January 17, 2018 Meeting
Neuharth asked to insert “total turboprop operations information” in the second paragraph
of the Airport Operations Statistics section. Motion by Neuharth/Second by Dunn to
approve the minutes of the January 17, 2018 ARC meeting, with the noted change. Motion
carried 6-0.
4. Unfinished and New Business
a. NOC Meeting
Sloan reviewed the results of the Noise Oversight Committee meeting which had been
held earlier in the day. He reported that the total operations were down in January
compared to the previous year, but that February was up, due to Super Bowl traffic.
However, because of MAC’s prior notification to neighbors of the amount of anticipated
increased air operations because of the game, overall complaints were down.
He reported that the requests of the Fair Skies Coalition had been discussed. Their
three requests were:
• A desire for greater citizen representation on the NOC
• The NOC should establish goals to reduce noise
• Publish 55 and 65 DNL and N65 contours
He said that the NOC had decided in January that it was very comfortable with the
current representation on the board, but that steps should be taken to enhance citizen
input during NOC meetings. It had also decided to set a goal to mitigate to the 60 dbl
contour limits by 2024.
Sloan said that that afternoon’s meeting had discussion on the publishing of the 55
contours. He said that some NOC representatives were concerned that publishing that
information by MAC might create unrealistic expectations on the part of some residents
that they were in an area to be mitigated, and that the information was available for
Fair Skies to use as it wished. For those reasons, a motion to publish the 55 DNL
contours by MAC had failed.
Sloan also reported that HMMH, a private airport noise consulting firm, has been hired
to do a benchmarkng study. NOC had set the scope of work.
Finally, he reported that the NOC had heard the Annual Noise Control Report, a report
on the vortex generator study, the winter listening session by NOC, and additional
information relating to the Super Bowl impact.
b. Airport Operational Statistics
i. Operational Charts—Neuharth led discussion on the Upper Control Limit, and
whether to change from using the four year base which had been started in
2009. Byrnes said he could modify the UCL, but cautioned that making too
many changes could impact the statistical accuracy. Neuharth agreed to look
at the older statistics, and then to meet with Byrnes to discuss possible
modifications.
ii. Complaint Information—There were no notable changes.
iii. Turboprop Information. Turboprop charts were reviewed. Neuharth
volunteered to do a spreadsheet with current information, and from that to
establish a control chart.
5. Acknowledge Receipt of Various Reports/Correspondence
The Annual Noise Control Report was reviewed and acknowledged.
Neuharth noted an article from the Wall Street Journal that Boston’s Logan Airport was
requiring a slower departure speed from airplanes, which reduces the overall noise.
However, that practice uses additional fuel.
Norling was informed that her proposal for keeping departing aircraft on a straight heading
for ten additional seconds before turning was on the NOC work plan for this year, and that
that would be reviewed in May.
6. Upcoming Meeting
The next regular meeting will be April 18th. Commissioners Norling and Lorberbaum
indicated that they would not be able to attend on that date. The Commission was also
reminded of the joint meeting with the Eagan ARC on May 22nd.
7. Public Comments
There were no members of the public present.
8. Commissioner Comments
No additional comments were made.
9. Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 7:57 PM
Minutes Taken By:
Mark McNeill
City Administrator