"Airport Land Use: Council considers moratorium on housing near municipal airport"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

Council considers moratorium on housing near municipal airport
By Jacob Ogles
The San Bernardino (CA) Sun
 
 
REDLANDS - Officials here haven't decided how close homes should be to the
airport, but they are poised to stop any proposals for development in the
area for at least a year.

A moratorium on new housing approvals near the Redlands Municipal Airport is
in the works. City Council members are expected to vote on the issue in
early November. 

Despite objections from developers who have invested millions in plans for
homes in the area, a majority of council members said they wanted to explore
a moratorium until a master plan for the airport is complete.

Airport officials who want to extend the runway for larger jets expect the
master plan to take roughly a year to complete. Land-use designations on
surrounding properties would go into effect about three months later, they
say.

The council is sharply divided on the prospect of a moratorium, with two
council members favoring the move, two strictly opposed, and one who wants
the issue further explored by city planners.

Councilman Jon Harrison said he wants to know what financial effects there
might be on property owners and how long a moratorium would last.

But Councilwoman Pat Gilbreath, an amateur pilot, said the airport plan
could be finished without delaying pending development requests.

"We need to be able to develop and keep the viability of the airport area,"
Gilbreath said.

Aviation experts testified to the council Tuesday that continued development
near the airport could severely hamper any future endeavors at the airport.
The Redlands facility is one of two airports in Southern California that
typically operates at all hours with no flight-plan restrictions.

Mark Kranenburg, aviation director for Riverside Airport, said it would be
shortsighted to allow development to encroach on the airport. His wife,
Charlotte, is the Redlands airport director.

Open space allows loud planes to operate throughout the night without
seriously disrupting neighbors and provides safe landing space for
out-of-control planes.

He also said that the commercial promise that the airport provided the city
was greater in the long term than new houses. "The airport is one of the
most undervalued assets you have in the city of Redlands," Kranenburg said.

While homes provide some property-tax revenue, aviation officials said the
airport acts as an economic stimulus, attracting high-powered companies into
the city.

A moratorium, however, would cost developers, who said the construction of
homes would not have an adverse effect on any plans to expand the airport
and that homeowners would know they had to deal with airport noises at the
time of purchase.

Everett Hughes, president of Walden Homes, said his company has invested
more than $3 million in plans for an 81-home subdivision on 42 acres near
Judson Street. The application for that development has been tabled by the
city Planning Commission multiple times since the summer.

"We expected to be completely approved by now," Hughes said.

But the moratorium would delay any movement in that application until the
airport master plan was done. And at the end of the moratorium, city
officials could decide that the land should not be used for homes at all.
City staff suggested moving restriction boundaries for home construction
south to San Bernardino Avenue between University Street and Wabash Avenue.
The restriction areas go just south of Pioneer Avenue now.

Developers from several companies, including Walden Homes and Ryland Homes,
said they bought the property after the council moved the restriction line
north in 2003. To change the prospect for land use now, they said, would set
back the economic development of north Redlands and tarnish the city in the
eyes of future developers.

   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php

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