Borough adopts new aviation plan

PALMER — It’s a statistic bandied about a lot these days — the southern portion of the Mat-Su Borough has the highest concentration of airports in the United States.

But there weren’t many local rules for the airports until last week when the Borough assembly unanimously passed the adoption of a regional aviation systems plan.

“What this does is identify our future needs for new airports, where they ought to be located, how we improve safety for existing airports and some guidelines for smaller airfields within residential neighborhoods,” Borough Manager John Duffy says in his inaugural edition of “Duffy Download,” a podcast available on the Borough Web page.

The plan, commissioned by the Borough from DOWL Engineers, draws distinctions among airports, lumping them into three categories. The largest and busiest fall into the category of commercial airports, the smallest are classified as private airstrips — usually those a landowner has for personal use. In between are airparks, sort of a hybrid of the two, not quite commercial, not quite an airstrip.

Assemblyman Tom Kluberton proposed a raft of amendments geared toward putting any airport construction that crosses the line into commercial use to a public process. His amendments, which passed unanimously, require those types of projects to obtain a conditional use permit.

Ruth Wood, a Talkeetna resident, said the ordinance is a good first step in regulating local airports. She lives in an area where an airpark is going in a half mile from her house.

“I was absolutely astounded to find out that there were no rules or regulations,” she said.

She urged the Borough to do more to address land use issues and the impact air strips and parks have on local residents.

Also contained in the work DOWL Engineers did is a study of where a float plane lake could potentially be established in the Borough. The only viable float plane facility now is in Willow. There seems to be demand for this type of facility, especially in light of long waiting lists at Anchorage’s Lake Hood. The sites for float planes were narrowed down to three areas — Goose Bay, Big Lake and Seven Mile Lake in the Point MacKenzie area.

The best bet, according to a DOWL Engineers presentation to the assembly, is probably Seven Mile Lake. Fitting an airport into Big Lake would be a squeeze and Goose Bay is also not as desirable. Seven Mile Lake, though, has no road access and is likely years away from becoming a viable floatplane lake.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.