"Airport Land Use: Housing plan near Arizona airport gets initial OK"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Friday, April 13, 2007

Housing plan near airport gets initial OK
Supervisors will make final decision on proposed subdivision next month
By Suzanne Adams
The Kingman (AZ) Daily Miner


KINGMAN - The new Statesboro subdivision planned for an area north of the
Kingman Airport and Industrial Park received shaky permission for take off
from the Mohave County Planning and Zoning Commission. The commission voted
4-3 Wednesday to approve a minor amendment to the Mohave County General Plan
allowing Statesboro to go forward.

Commissioners Kenneth White, Chairman Earl Hamlyn and Bill Abbot voted
against the amendment. Commissioner Rodney Burgess was absent from the
meeting.

The amendment to the General Plan will come before the Mohave County Board
of Supervisors at its first meeting in May.

The commission heard concerns from citizens and the Kingman Airport
Authority about noise from planes and traffic within the industrial park and
airport area. 

Phil Sanders, a private pilot who frequently flies out of the Kingman
Airport, pointed out that Statesboro was directly in the approach to one of
the airport's runways. On that approach Sanders said he has to engage his
engine at full power about 300 feet above the ground.

"And this little plane that I have will shake the plates right off the
table. When we get some of these commercial jets coming out of there at an
elevation of maybe 600 or 700 feet - those jets will knock the roof off
those houses," he said.

Bob Riley the director of economic development for the Airport Authority,
also expressed the airport's concerns about the noise level and the
proximity of the development to the end of one of the runways. 

The airport plans to extend the runway 3,000 feet in the future which would
bring it within 2,500 feet of Statesboro. 

The commission questioned Riley closely about the types of aircraft the
airport expected to see in the future. Riley said the airport currently sees
a number of small private jets on a regular basis land at the airport, and
they expect that number to increase as the Kingman area grows. The airport
also sees the occasional 747 and DC 9 aircraft land. About 35 of these
planes are stored on the airport grounds, Riley said.

Commissioner J. B. Wise asked about newer jets that are being manufactured
with less noisy engines. 

Riley said the airport has not seen any yet, and it would be unlikely to see
too many in the future with the recreational nature of most of the air
traffic out of the airport.

Riley also raised concerns about traffic inside the industrial park. He said
currently the park roads handle about 4,800 cars and 1,800 trucks on a daily
basis. 

The main entrance and exit to Statesboro would be through the industrial
park. 

He also said the Airport Authority was working on extending some of the rail
lines in the park. Trains stopped on the tracks for loading or off-loading
could back-up traffic within the park. 

Commissioner Joe Bibich lashed back at some of the comments made during the
meeting. "Lets don't act like we've got 747s taking off from there on a
daily basis," he said. The majority of big planes at the airport are in
storage. If there is going to be a big airport in Mohave County it's going
to be in Bullhead City, he said, not Kingman.

Mark Clark, a representative for the developer, said during the last Kingman
City Council meeting, access to the city's sewer and water systems had been
approved. 

He also said the developer had no problem helping to create a secondary
access point to Statesboro when it became necessary. The plan was to build
out the development over several years. The increase in traffic over those
years would be minimal. 

The developer also agreed to navigation easements that would notify
potential homeowners of noise from the airport.

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