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Friday, February 22, 2008 Commissioners agree to consider rule changes for Minden-Tahoe
Airport BY MATT FARLEY Airplanes
sit in the tarmac of the Minden-Tahoe Airport in the Johnson Lane area of
Douglas County.
On the Web: Plans for a 100-hangar complex to be built at
the Minden-Tahoe Airport have sparked more controversy about the future of the
facility. Airport workers are just as divided over
growth at the airport as the rest of the community is, they said last week. Just days after the Douglas County Board of
Commissioners approved a slate of measures opponents feared would allow
unchecked growth at the site, tenant Piñón Aero said it would go ahead with the
hangar project that could eventually add 1 million square feet of hangar space
to its property there. Though the two events were unrelated, their
proximity did little to calm slow-growth advocates who believe the airport is
on the verge of becoming a hive of jet activity, airport manager Jim Braswell
said. "They're totally separate," he
said. "The (Piñón Aero) plans have been on the drawing board for a long
time and they just got their permits. But the fact that it happened now really
plays into the hands of people who don't want the airport to grow." The new hangars will cater mostly to private
general aviation craft -- a far cry from the commercial jets some opponents
fear are on the way, project principal Anders Field said. Even so, slow-growth advocates such as the
Carson Valley Vanguard Coalition and various unpowered aviation groups saw the
move as the latest in a series of steps in the wrong direction. Opposed to growth "I live in the Carson Valley, and I can
say that a lot of us like the airport we've had to date," said Mike Moore,
a gliding instructor who operates out of the airport. "In my opinion, the
soaring community feels that it's gradually being displaced by heavier planes
just like this. It's hard to see the development that's happening as meaning
anything besides jets. You can't hold back progress, but I'd sure like to see
some more transparency." Many airport preservationists have recently
decried what they see as a lack of transparency and public review in the
airport's master plan process, which is nearing completion after months of
planning and debate. At the board meeting, members of the CVVC asked
commissioners to deny any expansion plans until the process can be better
examined and influenced by average citizens. The master plan had no mention of Piñón
Aero's plans, nor those of many other tenants that are likely to expand, CVVC
member Jennifer Ware complained to the board. "Voters and taxpayers own the
airport," she said. "Not the businesses using it. We want to keep it
a small general aviation airport, (mostly) for gliders and sport
aviation." Myth vs. reality The fear of Minden becoming a busy jet port
relies on the shaky assumption that aviators are champing at the bit to move to
Carson Valley, Braswell said. "Where's the data to show that?" he
said. "If the Lake Tahoe Airport and the Reno airport can't keep (from
losing) operators and flights, I don't see how we're going to get so
overgrown." Another misconception is that taxpayers fund
the facility, he said. "We get 95 percent of our money from the
FAA, and we get nothing from the (county) general fund," Braswell said,
noting that the annual budget hovers around $900,000. "Most of our tenants
actually pay for their own infrastructure." The airport actually contributes to the
general fund rather than drawing on it, said Mike Wendling, co-owner of
Chaparral Avionics and president of the airport's business association. "Most of the time, when you're talking
about a small airport, it's city-owned and (city leaders) are complaining about
how much it costs," he said. "That's not what happens here." Wendling also said small jets that could be
attracted by the Piñón Aero development are in many cases quieter than the tow
planes used by gliding outfits. "A lot of the issues that (opponents)
think they have are not actually based on facts," he said. The fact that the airport accepts FAA funding
badly weakens one of the CVVC's chief points, he said. While local voters have
mandated that most planes weighing more than 50,000 pounds may not land at the
airport, the federal government does not recognize their authority. "The law says that if you take FAA
money, you cannot discriminate against planes based on weight," he said.
"Basically, if the pavement will withstand it, I have to take any
(official) plane that wants to come in." The airport frequently serves as the staging
area for fire fighting and rescue operations, such as the search for missing
adventurer Steve Fossett, as well as other government business. On many
occasions, the airport has hosted 160,000-pound C-130s and other craft far
heavier than what local rules technically allow. |
