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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-07-08 Town of Nantucket NANTUCKET MEMORIAL AIRPORT 14 Airport Road Nantucket Island, Massachusetts 02554 g Alfred G. Peterson, Airport Manager Phone: (508) 325-5300 Fax: (508) 325-5306 ~ == r- G=5 Commissioners [;5 E. Foley Vaughan, Chairman Sheila O'Brien Egan, ~ Chair Robert Atlee ~ (''i David C. Gray, Sf. 0 Dual A. Macintyre. Jr. NANTUCKET AIRPORT COMMISSION MEETING July 8, 2008 The meeting was called to order at 5:03 PM by Chairman E. Foley Vaughan with the foHowing Commissioners present: Vice Chair Sheila O'Brien Egan, Dual A. Macintyre, Jr., David C. Gray, Sr., and RobertAdee. Also present were Airport Manager AI Peterson, Airfield Supervisor Jeff Marks, AdrJinistrative Assistant to the Airport Manager Janine Torres, Rnance Director Tina Smith, Environmental Coordnator Jack Wheeler, and Administrative Coordinator Yolanda Maxwell. Mr. Peterson introWced Bill Payne who is the tower consultant Mr. Peterson reported he has been working with Mr. Payne since the appropriation for the tower. Mr. Payne specializes in towers. Mr. Payne reported they dscussed the new tower and some of the programming issues in a meeting today. Mr. Payne stated there is a lot of work with the new tower and their partner being the FAA could be very helpful and also a little difficult The next step will be the modeling of the tower to show the exact location. The Commission unarimously MISJP to elect E. Foley Vaughan as Chairman and Sheila O'Brien Egan as Vice Chairman. Chairman Vaughan announced Cart England is no longer a Commissioner and he will be sorely missed. Commissioner Macintyre has been reappointed to the Commission. Chairman Vaughan welcomed David C. Gray, Sr. and Robert Atlee as new members of the Commission. The Commission unanimously MISIP approval of the June 17, 2008 minutes. Noise Abatement The Compliance award for June went to Cape Air/Nantucket Airlines. Madequecham Boundaries Mr. Peterson reported he had a meeting with the residents about clearing the roadway and putting up a split rail fence. The residents made a proposal to make a boundaries agreemen~ Mr. Peterson has forwarded the proposal to counsel and is waiting to hear back from him. T enninal Update Mr. Peterson reported there is a lot of work going on. . Working in the basement . Fire proofing . Laser location of petitions and marking those out. . Carpenters have started attaching certain fix points on the side of the buildng. . We are on schedule . Budget is on track . Major improvements, the architects have made a recalculation as part of the geothermal load on the system. There is a new engineer working on the project . Test wells for the geothermal next week, there will be three in and three out Chairman Vaughan reported the terminal project will be finished on time which will be Memorial Day 2009. ATCT - Draft OTA Mr. Peterson reported OT A stands for Other Transactional Agreement, the FAA no longer does letters of intent, and this is the new term used. Chairman Vaughan reported the OT A has to do with the new tower and we have fundng for the new tower for 3 million dollars. There was a meeting today and the cost of the new tower is in excess of 3 miHion dollars and a time line would be 2011. Chairman Vaughan would like the Comrrission to approve him sigring the OT A agreement only if he is satisfied there is an escape clause to get out if we do not receive addtional fundng. Chairman Vaughan does not want to commit the Airport in 1 - 2 million doHars we do not have. Chairman Vaughan reported the draft OTA has to be modfied, at the moment it does not contain a satisfactory escape clause. Mr. Peterson reported 420,000. dollars is 2006 federal money which will be dspersed within 90 days of confirmation of the OT A. We would lose !tis money if we do not have an agreement with them, we could always stop the process but we have to have an agreement signed. Commissioner Gray asked if the money was allocated for some!ting specific or can it be used for the preliminary planning. Mr. Peterson reported it can be used for sighting and infrastructure. Commissioner Atlee asked if we took the funding and then cancelled are we then obligated to give the money back. Chairman Vaughan reported that is one of the issues that will need to be clarified. Commissioner Macintyre stated under article 4 there is language which reads this agreement subject to obtaining timely approval by the FAA of its airport layout plan and airspace determination. Is there any activity to change the air space determination as a result of putting up a new tower? Mr. Peterson reported no this refers to the tower not interfering with the airtines approach. Commissioner Macintyre, would the new tower be sufficient in time to handle an upgrade to class C airspace? Mr. Peterson, yes the tower is adequate for !tis now. The Commission M/S/P Chairman Vaughan approval to sign the OT A agreement if he is satisfied with an escape clause. Environmental Jack Wheeler reported operations through June 2008 63,907 which is 1.97% below last year. Instrument operations were 41 % for the month of June. Enplanements through May 31, 2008 were 2.86% below last year. GA side is 2351 through June. Freight with the exception of Island Airlines is down 23.47%. The reason for the drastic drop is U.P.S has been using the boat. Noise complaints through June 2008 were 565 which are up 145.65% from last year. Mr. Wheeler reported he is getting multiple noise complaints from many people and multiple complaints from many people. In the ten years he has been doing noise complaints he has not seen them at this level. June has been the biggest month since the new tracking system was put in place. John Johnson from the audience reported he called Scott LaForge and he was not interested in having a meeting he feels he is not being understood or able to discuss his side of the story. Mr. LaForge did state he will start to follow the noise abatement procedures except for the hours of 2:30 - 6:30 Monday - Friday starting on July 1, 2008. Mr. Johnson will try and contact Mr. laForge to schedule a meeting and will also contact Nantucket Shuttle to set up a separate meeting. Tom Quigley from the aooence reported he could up Mr. Wheeler's figures by about 25%, he lives near the water tower and he wOOd like to encourage the COIlJT1ission to get more pro-active. The airport should increase the fees the airtines have to pay and should work with the FAA and Tracon. Marsha Kotalac asked where are the areas most affected by the airplane noise? Mr. Peterson, mostly Surfside, Miacomet Pond, and the Water Tower. Ms. Kotalac reported she has lived in Miacomet her entire life and doesn't find a problem with the noise. Walter Flaherty asked are the complaints on the arrivals, takeoffs, or both? Mr. Wheeler, it depends on which runway they are arriving or taking off on. Commissioner Macintyre would 6ke to set a meeting with Tracon in the fall. Operations . Mr. Peterson reported we had a very busy July 4th . We are having APU problems, ifs an issue with the humidty and heat the planes are running longer to keep them cool before the passengers get there. . Comrrissioner Allee reported it was chaotic with the amount of peq>Ie on SUnday with standng room only with the weather delays, however things seemed to run smoothly. Commissioner Allee noted while on the Comrrission his job with TSA is completely separate. . Commissioner Gray would like Mr. Wheeler to come to the Airport on the weekend in regards to the APU's. Mr. Peterson responded this has been done before and the pilots do see notices with the 15 minute rule on running the APU's. . Fuel sales are down 10% in gallons . Mr. Peterson is talking with one of the airtines to add additional services at the peak times, Le. Thanksgiving, Stroll Weekend, Christmas. . We received our first visit from the USDA Wildlife Study Management and this is the beginning of a year long study. . Mr. Peterson to look into leasing APU's for the G.A ramp. . The Ambassador program is working well . Vice Chair Egan commented the ramp is poorly lit and the airtines have to use their luggage carts to light the ramp. Mr. Peterson reported they are looking into it and turn the lights in different directions. Chairman Vaughan commented the Commission should work through management not directly with tenants and employees, the tenant relations are for Mr. Peterson to take care of, if an issue should arise please go dreclly to Mr. Peterson. Public Comment Walter Flaherty would like to thank the Commission for working on the lighting situation. Tom Quigly commented on light pollution. Chairman Vaughan commented we are very aware of the lighting pollution and we have budged to improve the ramp lights with the new terminal. Commissioner Gray reported the Taxi issue is unsafe, and he spoke with one of the taxi drivers and they would like to put a third taxi in line. Mr. Peterson responded the way the taxis are staged right know was their decision and what they had asked for. Diane Flaherty responded that was what they wanted however some feel this no longer works for them. The Commission agreed to review it and Mrs. Raherty was asked to work with Mr. Peterson on it. It was MISJP by the following vote to adjoum into Executive Session to discuss lease issues, not to reconvene into Regular Session: Chairman E. Foley Vaughan - Aye Vice Chairman Sheila O'Brien Egan - Aye Commissioner Dual A. Macintyre, Jr. - Aye Commissioner Robert J. Allee - Aye Commissioner David C. Gray, Sr. - Aye Meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m. --------- -~~'" ~'j