Okaloosa County BOCC — September 6, 2016 — 2016.01.26 Destin.ACAC.Meeting.Minutes — reading text

MINUTES AIRPORT COMPATIBILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE (ACAC) MEETING JANUARY 26, 2016 10:00 AM DESTIN CITY HALL ANNEX 1. CALL TO ORDER: Committee Chair Pati Stapleton called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. on January 26, 2016. 2. ROLL CALL: City of Destin Representatives City of Destin Staff Toni Diez City Clerk Rey Bailey Pati Stapleton Planning Manager Ashley Grana Okaloosa County Representatives Okaloosa County Staff Present Armand Izzo Mike Stenson David Barrett Tracy Stage William Phillips Absent Jan Barr, City of Destin Representative Major Brooke Kelly, Eglin AFB Representative 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: October 27, 2015 Motion by Committee member Izzo, seconded by Committee member Barrett, to approve the minutes of the October 27, 2015 meeting passed 5-0. 4. NEW BUSINESS: A. New Entrance Sign to the Destin Executive Airport – Progress Report Interim Airports Director Tracy Stage showed a photo of the new entrance sign to the Destin Executive Airport. He stated the new sign replacement was a result of a partnership between Okaloosa County Airports System and Destin Jet; adding it was a 70-30 split, with the County paying almost $6,000 of the total cost. B. Noise Wall Progress Report According to Mr. Stage, the airport engineer designed the noise wall to be about 28 feet high and 280 feet long, with a cost estimate of about $500,000. There is a funding in place from the FDOT with an airport match of 20 percent. He stated the project was put out to bid, and that the lowest bid came in at $830,000; which is completely outside of the airport’s budget for the year. They returned to the planning stage to figure out what to do to bring the project back into budget. The airport engineer redesigned the project, lowering the wall to 15 feet with a 3 foot grate addition, and with a new cost estimate of about $334,000. He continued the entire wall will be 18 feet high and about 275 feet long. He noted that from a noise attenuation standpoint, the height of the wall is not really the determining factor from what it can do to keep the noise from going over the wall into the residential area. He also stated this project had been placed into the County’s procurement process for internal coordination and will again be advertised for bid; adding that the Board of County Commission had already approved to reject the previous design and low bid before rebidding. C. Destin Executive Airport Air Traffic Control Tower – Progress Report Mr. Stage noted that the first item in the project list was to build the actual roadway from Airport Road in Destin back to the airport air traffic control tower location on the east side of the airfield. He stated the installation of asphalt for the roadway will begin soon. The major foundation for the tower will start in late March 2016; and that they could possibly see some vertical construction taking place either late March or early April 2016. He added that weather permitting the final estimated completion schedule for the tower is late October or early November 2016. D. Plane Noise Contract Mr. Stage reported a total of 64 complaints received in 2015 from 16 different households. He stated that 50 percent of the complaints came from three specific households, with 31 percent coming from one household. He continued this system gives the locations of the calls and where the issues are coming from so that the airport authority can address them; however, they already had this information before the system was even activated and the system just confirmed the information. They paid a $10,000 initial cost and are paying $1,000 per month for the system. He asked for the committee’s recommendation to discontinue the system since it is not adding any more benefits. They are moving forward with the noise wall and the air traffic control tower and are doing all they could to make the airport more compatible with the residents. He added the tow area at Destin Jet north has been enforced to where no aircraft operation will be taking place at the north apron, from where most of the complaint calls originate. Committee member Diez agreed it is not cost effective to continue with this system since there were only 64 complaints received for an entire year, with 50 percent coming from only three households and 31 percent from one household. He continued the airport authority already knows the problem areas and they are being addressed. Page 2 of 4  Committee member Izzo enchoed the same sentiments and agreed to recommend discontinuing the program. Committee member Phillips also agreed the system should be discontinued. He asked if the airport will have to pay the $10,000 start-up cost if they decide late on to reactivate the system. Mr. Stage replied they would be obligated to pay the $10,000 start-up cost and there is a possibility the $1,000 monthly cost could go up. Committee member Izzo asked if there are other ways for people to call in complaints if this system is discontinued. Mr. Stage replied affirmatively, stating they have a complaint system at VPS where people can either call or send messages via e-mail at any time; however, it does not create a matrix showing call locations and the number of calls received per month. Committee member Diez moved to discontinue the Airport Plane Noise contract; seconded by Committee member Izzo. Motion passed 5-0. E. Upcoming Planning Mr. Stage noted that in addition to the air traffic control tower, the roadway and the noise wall at the Destin Executive Airport there are two other projects in place at the airport. He noted that years ago they restored the 5000 foot runway at the airport with very minimal impacts to airport operations. They plan to do the exact same thing with the parallel taxiway and potentially widening some of the connectors on the south end that tie into the taxiway. He explained they have experienced some issues with some of the large aircraft turning off the runway and the wheels going off the connector into the sand. He continued they are also considering rehabilitating the aircraft parking apron on the south end of the field, currently under leased by the old operator Destin Jet, which came up as a failed condition during FDOT inspection the previous year. He added they have the funding in place to start both design efforts and move forward with competitive bidding and to start construction by this time next years. F. New VPS Airline – Allegiant Air Mr. Stage announced that Allegian Air selected VPS as their newest destination airport and will offer more flights and low fares to Destin/Fort Walton Beach Airport from Cincinnati and St. Louis. They will start direct operation on May 20th from Cincinnati and back and on June 2nd from St. Louis and back. They are expecting the new flights to generate about $3.5 million of economic initially. Page 3 of 4  5. ADJOURNMENT: Having no further business at this time, the meeting was adjourned at 10:35 AM. ADOPTED THIS 26TH DAY OF APRIL 2016 By: Pati Stapleton, Chair ATTEST: Rey Bailey, City Clerk Page 4 of 4