CAA: GA News, "Bill could affect Santa Clara County airport neighbors"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Friday, November 15, 2002

Bill could affect airport neighbors
As San Martin residents prepare for battle with supervisors, new
assembly bill could diminish property values
By DALE RODEBAUGH
The Hollister (CA) Pinnacle


    A recently approved Assembly bill that expands disclosure
requirements when houses near airports are sold could put far-reaching
restrictions on land use in the South Valley as the result of decisions
that Santa Clara County supervisors are scheduled to make Tuesday.

    Before the board will be a consultant's finding that the bulk of
general aviation demand for tie-down space or hangars in the next 20
years be satisfied at South County Airport. The recommendation is the
crux of a year-long airport master plan update.

    According to Shutt Moens Associates, most of the 324 new aircraft
looking for homes in the county through 2022 would be diverted to South
County. Constraints at Palo Alto Airport and Reid-Hillview Airport in
San Jose make them less able to accommodate new demand, according to the
consultant.

    South Valley residents, led by the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance,
oppose major expansion of the airport. They say the Shutt Moens study
ignores the county general plan, which calls for keeping San Martin
small and rural, and doesn't adequately take into account the noise that
increased takeoffs and landings would generate.

    "My concern is how they may affect people's lives," said Sylvia
Hamilton, president of the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance. "If the
airport runway doesn't exceed 4,000 feet, not much will change. But over
that length - up to 6,000 feet possibly - the effects will be tremendous
in those safety zones," Hamilton said. "Some landowners have their life
savings in land they want for retirement or to pass on to heirs."

    The "build it and they will come" theory hasn't been proven
regarding South County Airport, Hamilton said. A 1993 study done for the
county by Aries Consultants of Morgan Hill found that pilots faced with
moving planes from Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose overwhelmingly
chose Palo Alto and San Jose International airports, followed by fields
in Hollister and Livermore, over South County, she said.

    Only 9 percent of pilots selected South County as their replacement
airport, Hamilton said.

    But it remains to be seen what effect AB 2776, written by
Assemblyman Joe Simitian, D-21st District, will have on future activity
at South County Airport. Provisions of the bill are set to take effect
Jan. 1, 2004.

    Current law requires that sellers notify buyers of existing or
proposed airports within two miles of the property of interest. But AB
2776 creates an "airport influence area" that may govern what activities
can occur in potentially large areas surrounding airports. The bill was
introduced in February and signed by Gov. Gray Davis in September.

    In AB 2776, legislators found that people shopping for a house
aren't getting enough information about potential airport problems
before they buy.

    "The Legislature finds and declares that the current mechanisms for
providing notice to homebuyers of potential airport impacts are
inadequate, as evidenced by the number of complaints and lawsuits
regarding airport noise by residents of surrounding communities," the
bill states.

    Under Simitian's bill, sellers would have to reveal if a property is
within an "airport influence area." The term is defined as "the area in
which current or future airport-related noise, over-flight, safety or
air space protection factors may significantly affect land uses or
necessitate restrictions on those uses as determined by an airport
land-use commission."

    The size of the airport influence area is determined by the length
of the runway and its instrument rating. The latter criterion indicates
whether visiting aircraft are small planes using sight approach or
larger craft operating on instruments.

    At small airports such as the San Martin facility, the area of
influence typically extends 1.7 miles from every point of the runway and
covers 12 square miles. For larger airplanes, the airport influence area
can cover 30 to 50 square miles, and in addition include a tail on the
approach end that extends for several miles.

    Hal Yeager, a Stanford graduate in engineering and for 11 years a
community advocate for neighbors of Buchanan Field in Concord, said the
potential effects of AB 2776 are staggering.

    An airport influence area can immobilize activity over a wide area,
Yeager said, because people needlessly become fearful of potential
problems.

    Yeager recently was the only community representative on the
Caltrans advisory committee that updated the agency's Airport Land Use
Handbook.

    The Shutt Moens study predicts that 1,960 pilots will be looking for
tie-down spots or hangars in Santa Clara County by 2002. San Jose
International Airport, which is phasing out general aviation, is
scheduled to have only 179 small aircraft based there. The remainder
will have to settle at Palo Alto, Reid-Hillview or San Martin if they
remain in the county.

    South County Airport currently houses 90 airplanes, with hangars
soon to be constructed for 100 more. But the majority of new arrivals
will be diverted there if supervisors heed the consultant's report.

    San Martin residents know the area must absorb some of the increase
in general aviation. But they say the area is being asked to assume the
burden for demand for airport space that goes unsatisfied in North
County.

    County airport commissioners in October left unchanged the Shutt
Moen recommendation on how many planes South County Airport can handle.
But they recommended that the runway not be lengthened, a contradictory
stance since more planes would surely include larger planes that need a
longer runway.

    Commissioners were scheduled to reconsider the decisions at their
Nov. 8 meeting, but lack of a quorum prevented any action. The lost
meeting can't be rescheduled because the board of supervisors is set to
take up the airport update study Tuesday.


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