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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - Aviation Advisory Commission - Meeting Date: 3/20/2024Glendale A R 1 2 D N A MINUTES AVIATION ADVISORY COMMISSION GLENDALE MUNICIPAL AIRPORT 6801 N. GLEN HARBOR BLVD. GLENDALE, ARIZONA 85307 AIRPORT CONFERENCE ROOM MARCH 20, 2024 6:00 P.M. 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 6:04 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Present: Chair Bud Zomok Vice Chair Michael Portik Commissioner James Carneal Commissioner Bill Eikost Commissioner Quentin Tolby Absent: Commissioner Larry Rovey Also Present: Matt Smith, Airport Administrator Attendees: John Padilla, Luke Air Force Base Scott Dalgliesh, Glendale Hangars Management 3. CITIZEN COMMENTS There were no citizen comments. 4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES Motioned by Commissioner Bill Eikost, seconded by Commissioner James Carneal to approve the November 15, 2023, Aviation Advisory Commission meeting minutes as written. AYE: Chair Bud Zomok Vice Chair Michael Portik Commissioner James Carneal Commissioner Bill Eikost Commissioner Quentin Tolby Other: Commissioner Larry Rovey (ABSENT) Passed S. AIRPORT BUSINESS a. Mr. Smith passed out a certificate of appreciation from the City to the Commissioners. b. There is no update on filling the empty commissioner slot. C. Commissioner appointments and re -appointments have been set. Commissioner Zomok will be the Chair and Commissioner Portik will be the Vice Chair. d. Glendale Municipal Airport won Airport of the Year at the 50th Annual Arizona Aviation Safety Awards Banquet. A plaque and trophy were provided for the airport. Mr. Smith was grateful for the award and recognition for the improved safety measures. e. 2024 Goal Setting was deferred to the next Commission meeting. Last year's goals will be provided by Mr. Smith for the commission to update at that time. No discussion tools place. Motioned by Vice Chair Michael Portik, seconded by Commissioner Bill Eikost to table the 2024 Goal Setting recommendation. AYE: Chair Bud Zomok Vice Chair Michael Portik Commissioner James Carneal Commissioner Bill Eikost Commissioner Quentin Tolby Other: Commissioner Larry Rovey (ABSENT) Passed f. Discussion took place regarding renaming the airport. Glendale is already classified as a regional airport and the City is considering renaming the airport to Glendale Regional Airport. This is not an airport reclassification. The question was asked what the definition of a regional airport was. Matt did not bring information on this, but the criteria consists of a certain amount of traffic and based aircraft, and a certain number of jets based here. Deer Valley and Prescott are considered national airports. The title municipal feels small town; however, Glendale is no longer a small town. It was discussed that the city of Peoria is a great partner, but they are not ready to start another airport. The Commission does not see a negative in changing the name. Motioned by Commissioner Bill Eikost, seconded by Commissioner James Carneal to approve the recommendation of renaming the airport to Glendale Regional Airport. AYE: Chair Bud Zomok Vice Chair Michael Portik Commissioner James Carneal Commissioner Bill Eikost Commissioner Quentin Tolby Other: Commissioner Larry Rovey (ABSENT) Passed 6. STAFF REPORTS Presented by Matt Smith, Airport Administrator a. East Side Development Mr. Smith shared the PowerPoint for the completed East Side Development plan as Mr. Quick could not attend this meeting. The objective of the plan was to determine the best use of the east side land. Glendale Municipal airport's goal is to be Arizona's premier general aviation airport (GA). We don't need a second runway and have no ambition of becoming a Part 139 airport. There were three phases of the project; Phase 1 consists of Inventory, Market Analysis and Facility Planning; Phase 2 is Development Alternatives and Phase 3 is the Development Concept, Project Costs and Airport Layout. Glendale currently has 2,002 registered aircraft here. We can handle up to D2 type aircraft. A land use plan was completed. There is a section of airport property near Glendale Avenue that is separated from the rest of the property by a 15 to 20 foot drop in elevation. Senior leadership decided to use this land for non -aeronautical uses with the revenue still going to the airport. The development concept also consists of a fire station. A general aviation airport is not required to provide a fire station (AFR) but it is a huge selling point for corporate traffic. The addition of a fire station in this location has a lot of City support. Glendale Fire has given a preliminary offer to pay for he ARF fire truck from their budget. Four fire truck bays would go out to the city side and one bay would come directly into the airport and support the airport only. Flex land use will be used for office buildings. Landmark commercial land use will be managed by Economic Development and will be developed to tie to Westgate. Light industrial land use would be used for avionics and aeronautical mechanical use. Our goal is to compliment Luke by providing services for them. A large hangar is being conceptualized for an anchor business; an example would be Lockheed Martin. They could also use the office space. Several 100x100 hangars would be built on the south end of the east side. Utilities on the east side land must be relocated. $700,000 in design costs and $9.5 million in construction costs would have to be funded by the City, since the FAA does not typically fund utility projects. The lift station cannot be moved. Utility infrastructure must be completed before or at the same time as the New River road extension. The city should name one of the new streets associated with the east side development after John F. Long. Without him donating the land, the airport wouldn't exist. b. Capital Project Status Updates South Apron Phase 2A (FAA Funded) is complete. We received the grant and finished four days ahead of schedule. We are still working on replacing the tower equipment. One of the voice switches failed, and the second one is now starting to fail regularly. It gets too hot and shuts itself down; tower staff point fans to cool it off and restart it. This is a dangerous situation, and we are obligated to provide ATC to Luke Air Force Base (LAFB). Voice switches are currently mid -manufacture. Once done, they will be delivered. We have a crew ready to lift the equipment up the stairs manually and install it. The Tower Siting Study was not discussed. The Tower NOFO (Notice of Funding Opportunity) has not been released informing who is receiving funding. After monies are distributed, hopefully Glendale airport gets some left -over funding. Mr. Smith stated the taxiway Bravo environmental clearance was discussed within the Transportation department. We are checking to see if we can use CAD-X or if we need to complete a whole environmental assessment. We put a bid out so that we have two engineering companies. Dibble is doing a very good job, but the Transportation Director wants two companies for on -call engineering. The FAA is hesitant to release $300,000 to the city of Glendale for environmental assessments on the east side. This year a lot of state money is going to Yuma and Tucson. C. Other FAA/ADOT funding opportunities We have had some bad luck regarding project funding. Glendale airport was first on the ADOT list for $2.5 million for more apron work. ADOT had an extra $12.75 million in the state aviation fund, but the governor swept it, and we are left with nothing. In FY25, there is a small pot of money, but the city of Goodyear's project will take up a majority of the funds. This will leave the other GA airports with nothing. This is a total of $5 million that Glendale is not going to get now. We need some help from the government to get funding. We have some good short, mid and long-term projects. The short term would be getting the non -aeronautical business up and running. This will generate interest and revenue and will help when it's time to look at matching grants for FAA. Glendale would be an ideal candidate for grants because we would have the funds for matching. Commercial real estate has struggled, but maybe interest would be better here at Glendale Airport. A mid-term project would be developing the main east side area. FAA Blt_ grant of $875,000 will be available. Glendale has applied so that we can install new runway lighting. This year we will focus on the runway and next year would be taxiway lighting. This would include edge lighting, signage, and PAPI lights. Discussion will take place in later fiscal years regarding relocating New River 30 to 50 feet to the east to obtain more runway safety area. Commissioner Zomok asked if we have discussed additional FBO's. A market analysis was completed to see if an FBO like Cutter could come in. The City is open to a national FBO. d. Aircraft Operations Noise complaints — A gentleman from Camelback Ranch has been complaining about the flight schools. He called a few times. He works nights and sleeps in the day. There was also a complaint about helicopter noise. It was not due to our helicopters; they came from St. Joseph and Peoria PD. The final count for 2023 operations is 116,555 operations; this is 18,188 more than the prior year and the highest since 2008.2009 was the last year we had 6 digit counts. These numbers help back up our need for support from the FAA to run Glendale Airport. In January 2024, we had 9,677 operations. We are projecting over 100,00 for FY24. Scott Dalgliesh commended the airport on the good work for phase 1 and phase 2 apron improvements. Commissioner Zomok asked where the airport fits in Economic Development's plans. Mr. Smith stated the airport is high on their list. They have high hopes of tying the east side development to Westgate. 7. LUKE AIR FORCE BASE OPERATIONS Mr. Padilla reminded the commission that there is an Air Show this weekend. They are trying not to impact Glendale airport. TFR's are up and are dynamic as the show progresses. Friday will be a practice day starting at 10:00 a.m. and activity will vary throughout the day. There will be several vendors. Everyone must go through the gates and a metal detector. Gates open at 9:00 a.m., the first show is at 10:00 a.m. 8. COMMISSION COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS Commissioner Zomok suggested checking to see of the city has a lobbyist and if we could bring them into the commission meetings. This may bring a potential financial benefit to west valley cities and bring profit to Glendale Airport. He would also like a budget for year to date. Commissioner Zomok met with Council members from city of Avondale and city of Peoria. They were discussing a new airport in Peoria. They thought it would be beneficial to have a partnership for a west valley regional airport. Mr. Smith stated that discussion would need to take place with City Council, the Mayor and the City Manager, but he is in favor. Airport Authorities run airports well; they don't have the hierarchy and bureaucracy that a city does. 9. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS No future items were identified. 10. NEXT MEETING The next regular meeting of the Aviation Advisory Commission will be held on April 17, 2024 at 6:00 p.m., in the conference room on the second floor of the Airport terminal building, 6801 N. Glen Harbor Blvd., Glendale, Arizona, 85307. 11. ADJOURNMENT Motioned by Vice Chair Michael Portik, seconded by Chair Bud Zomok to adjourn he meeting. AYE: Chair Bud Zomok Vice Chair Michael Portik Commissioner James Carneal Commissioner Bill Eikost Commissioner Quentin Tolby Other: Commissioner Larry Rovey (ABSENT) Passed Commission Portik adjourned the meeting at 7:12 p.m. The Aviation Advisory Commission Meeting minutes of March 20, 2024 were submitted and approved this day of VVI,&J, 2024. Recording Secretary