"Palo Alto City Council votes to take back airport ops"

[Stephen Irwin <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Council votes to take back airport ops
City estimates negotiations with county will take 3 years
By Kristina Peterson
The Palo Alto (CA) Daily News

The Palo Alto City Council voted 5-3 Tuesday night to begin negotiating 
with Santa Clara County to take back operations of the city-owned 
airport, following a long and tense debate.

City staff will immediately begin what they estimate will be a 
three-year process to terminate early the county's airport lease, 
presently slated to expire in 2017. Council members Bern Beecham, 
LaDoris Cordell and Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto opposed the move. Council 
Member Dena Mossar was absent.

The council members split into two camps - several felt the city did not 
have enough information to ascertain whether the airport could be 
economically viable, while the other faction argued the county's 
reluctance to spend any extra money to improve the facility beyond the 
bare minimum meant the city was neglecting an asset it still owns.

"We would not be good custodians of our community's property if we let 
it sit there for 10 years," said Vice Mayor Larry Klein, one of the 
strongest supporters of having a city-run airport.

Since the county Board of Supervisors has already voted to fund only 
"essential, non-deferrable, grant-eligible maintenance projects or 
security-related projects," the city could recover its property in 2017 
in worse shape, Council Member Jack Morton said.

"The city runs the risk of getting a deteriorated facility in 2017," 
agreed Ralph Britton, co-chairman of the Palo Alto Airport Working 
Group, a citizen task force which recommended this summer that the city 
immediately move to take back operations from the county.

But several council members asked why the county has so far expressed a 
willingness to hand the airport back to Palo Alto.

"The county is in the business of operating airports," Council Member 
John Barton said. "They have others; they want out of this one. There 
might be a reason."

In recent years, the county has argued that the airport is a 
money-loser, though City Auditor Sharon Erickson has challenged the 
accounting methods used by the county.

Beecham said the issue just needed more analysis from a financial 
perspective.

"I simply don't know if we can do it economically," he said. "We have no 
business plan for this."

Council Member Judy Kleinberg countered that the city has gained its 
expertise in other fields by hiring experienced staff members or 
entering into public-private partnerships.

"At the moment we are on the sidelines," she said. "I think we need to 
come in and start playing the game at this point."

A substitute motion by Kishimoto to defer the start of negotiations 
until 2010, when the Army Corps of Engineers is slated to finish a study 
of levees in the area, failed 2-6. Other council members pushed to 
launch the lengthy process earlier.

"If we don't start now, we've handicapped our ability to make decisions 
in the future," Morton said.

City Manager Frank Benest said staff will return with a timeline of the 
negotiations, including a breakdown of the resources and staff time 
required.
   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php

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