Talkeetna airport plans take off

Feb. 27, 2007

By John R. Moses

For the Frontiersman

TALKEETNA - Nineteen concerned community members spent part of last Tuesday on tiny chairs in an elementary school library discussing the future of the airport here and what - if anything - they might do to affect and monitor the state's expansion plans.

By the end of the free-flowing, two-hour meeting a committee was created and named, officers chosen and some initial goals agreed upon by consensus.

Community concerns about noise and other potential impacts were voiced, as were concerns held by aviation professionals and others that any new, leased business parcels be leased fairly, not taken over solely by existing firms.

Certified light instructor and airplane mechanic Drew Haag of Above Alaska Aviation was named chair of the Talkeetna State Airport Expansion Advisory Committee by a unanimous group vote drafting him for the job.

The Town Council formed the panel after local guide and pilot Billy Fitzgerald and Haag spoke at the Feb. 5 council meeting about airport expansion concerns. The panel was designed to discuss how the community feels, and then pass the results on to the state, Haag said.

The process is pretty far along, Haag noted, so it's not clear whether the panel can do much more than draft a letter to the state about leasing practices. In the future, he said, the panel could seek more of a formal role with the state on issues like lease practices.

The airport faces several challenges due to its size and uses. Among them:

€ There are not enough commercial lots to lease to prospective tenants. Eight more are proposed by 2008, and seven more by 2015.

€ Aircraft parking is tight for planes and helicopters. Helicopters would get a nine-helicopter heliport and aircraft would get two new aprons.

€ Helicopters operate too close to fixed-wing craft, in violation of Federal Aviation Administration rules. The new plan creates helicopter parking farther away from fixed-wing aviation areas. The new, bigger area, however, would be closer to East Talkeetna homes, raising noise levels, and will take out a lot of trees.

€ There is no security fencing to keep people and pets off the runway.

€ Pedestrian traffic flows through areas of airport operations, leading the state to propose a pedestrian safety path. &#8220Pedestrian incursions frequently occur on the taxiways and aprons of the airport,” an environmental report states.

€ There are not enough vehicle parking spaces, so 84 new ones are proposed.

Expanding the heliport with three lease lots and nine future parking spaces is a sore spot with some, including town council chair Ruth Wood, who with others has questioned the process used to get the public involved in airport planning. The last meeting by consultants CH2M Hill was publicly noticed, but Wood said notices arrived by mail in post office boxes the day of the meeting.

&#8220Why do we have to have three?” she asked during part of the discussion about heliport expansion. &#8220Why not one?”

&#8220Go land up at Ruth's place, she's got room,” joked Department of Transportation employee Steve Hanson, who serves as the state airport's facility manager.

The report states that future demand forecasts mean nine new helicopter parking spaces should be built by 2008. Four of those should accommodate large helicopters, such as Chinooks and Blackhawks.

Lack of helipad lighting has been another problem, Hanson said.

&#8220We've had guys land on lease lots. They're looking for the &#8220H.” Then, he said, he gets the complaint call from the lot's tenant.

Hanson said last week he thought the meeting was a good thing. He said he attended not as a state employee but as an interested party. He also wanted to gauge community opinions.

&#8220Rumors happen, and legitimate concerns, too,” he said.

This week, he hopes to pick up detailed plans for the expansion.

He said he's committed to keeping as large a buffer as possible between East Talkeetna homes and the airport while using &#8220the only high ground that we have.”

The big plans have been made, but some details are still being set.

&#8220Nothing's really set in stone,” he said.

Some say the proposed heliport expansion in the final plans is excessive and may be based on faulty numbers. Among them is the guy who brought the issue back to the council and is now a committee officer.

Billy Fitzgerald is a 20-year pilot and almost 30-year resident who runs a guide business called Denali Trekking Company. He's concerned that the heliport proposal is not only too big, but in the wrong place and that it might interfere with takeoffs from a nearby lake, where his plane often operates.

He's also concerned about the loss of vegetation, as the proposed heliport site is wooded.

Fitzgerald, who brought his concerns to the council during the public comment period on Feb. 5 agenda, felt the meeting was useful, especially with DOT employee Hanson there as a resource.

&#8220The people who showed up had some good comments to make about the size of lots proposed and who would get them,” he said.

There are 14 permanent &#8220lease lots” available to businesses, all of which are controlled by six existing firms.

Fitzgerald, who was drafted as the group's secretary when he walked in as they sought volunteers for the post, was among those who felt only aviation companies should get a spot at the airport - and that doesn't just mean air taxi services.

&#8220I also don't want to see a bus barn for Princess,” he said.

Wood, of the town council, said she fears all the new spaces could go to one firm, and that wouldn't be fair.

&#8220I think one of the cool things about Talkeetna is small business,” she said.

Among her other concerns, such as heliport expansion, was just how large the airport might become.

&#8220The council's had some problems with some of the things that are in the plan,” Wood said.

Hanson assured the group that the lots would be leased fairly.

The committee decided to draft a letter to officials stating concerns about the leasing process, and to consider preparing an article for the Talkeetna paper about the committee's first meeting and what it hopes to accomplish. Haag said the letter would go back before the town council for comment.

The state's report, Talkeetna Airport Improvements Environmental Assessment, indicates that three new lease lots are needed just for future helicopter uses, and eight total are needed for all aviation uses by 2008. The report states that by 2015, the new lease lots should total 17, more than doubling the number of the airport's commercial tenants.

The airport's master plan states that Talkeetna's population is expected to have risen by as much as 5 percent between 1995 and 2015. Tourism is growing thanks to a new Princess lodge near Denali National Park and Preserve and access improvements to the south side of the park.

Some feel the airport simply should not expand at all.

Kathleen Fleming has been a longtime opponent of what she now feels is a done deal. Days after the meeting, she said she didn't expect the committee would create any changes in a process that has gone on for years.

&#8220I just think it's a bit excessive for our little town,” she said of expansion plans. &#8220They're planning for growth that is no longer likely.”

As for the heliport, she'd like to see it near Sunshine's &#8220Y” area, where the Talkeetna Spur meets the Parks Highway.

But that, she noted, would just tick off another community.