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CAA: Airport News, "Airport Land Use: Rexburg, Idaho, Airport Board Seeks Zoning Change"
February 4, 2000
Rexburg, Idaho, Airport Board Seeks Zoning Change
Post Register, Idaho Falls, ID
Feb. 4--REXBURG, Idaho--If Rexburg and Madison County don't change zoning
requirements around their airport, safety and federal funding will be in
jeopardy, according to the board that oversees the airport.
The airport board is worried that builders around the Rexburg-Madison County
Airport aren't taking Federal Aviation Administration regulations for
building near an airport seriously. The city and county governments should
do more to make sure those regulations are followed, Board Chairman Warren
Smith said.
Next week, the planning and zoning board will likely recommend the city and
county make some zoning ordinance changes to protect the airport, said
Planning Chairman DaVawn Beattie. The recommendations will require builders
around the airport to notify the FAA of their plans before they receive a
building permit. Residents might also have to sign a document saying they
realize the airport will be noisy at times.
FAA rules say all builders within 20,000 feet of an airport must disclose
the precise location of the structure and its height to the FAA before
construction. For safety on land and in the air, there are height
restrictions for buildings near airports.
Even though few, if any, buildings in Rexburg are tall enough to interfere
with airspace, builders must still tell the FAA what they are doing, unless
the new building will be surrounded by taller structures.
Builders around the airport in Rexburg's impact zone have not always
notified the FAA when they should have, Smith said. He said the planning and
zoning recommendations, if adopted by the City Council and county
commission, will keep the airport eligible for federal money for
improvements.
Smith said if the city and county do not adopt the zoning rules, they could
be forced to repay some or all of the $1 million in grants the airport has
received since 1991 or it could jeopardize their ability to get more grants
in the future. Smith said the grant applications implied Rexburg and Madison
County would protect the airport by zoning the area around it, but if the
FAA disagrees, the agency could try to get the money back.
Sandy Simmons, a civil engineer for the FAA, said if grantees are found in
noncompliance with their grant requirements, they could be liable to repay
grants, "but I don't think that's the case right now. I don't think anyone
knowingly filled out misinformation on those forms."
Planners might also encourage the city and county to purchase five lots in
the northwest corner of the new Evergreen Subdivision being developed across
State Highway 33.
The lots in the development, owned by city and county attorney Stephen
Zollinger's ZOCO Properties, are in the airport's runway protection zone.
The FAA recommends local governments buy the protection zones so
developments don't threaten the airspace above them.
If the governments decide to buy the land, they would ask the FAA for grant
money, Public Facilities Coordinator John Millar said. Then a federal
appraiser would determine how much the land is worth.
Zollinger has already donated about 6,000 square feet in the runway
protection zone to the city.
The airport board, in a letter to the Rexburg City Council and Madison
County Commission, accused Zollinger of abusing his power as city and county
attorney to get the subdivision approved. They also accused Zollinger of
trying to overcharge the city and county for the land in the protection
zone.
Efforts to reach Zollinger were unsuccessful, but city and county officials,
including Mayor Bruce Sutherland and Commissioner Gerald Jeppesen, said
Zollinger disclosed his conflict from the beginning.
Even so, they are sending all the minutes from meetings about the
subdivision to the state's attorney general's office for review.
Deputy Attorney General Matt McKeown said he had not yet received the
documents and could not comment on the possible conflict of interest.
"It would be inappropriate for me to comment at this time," he said.
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