Airports and compatible land uses

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Airports and compatible land uses

• Bob Kunkel, PESenior Aviation Consultant

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Presentation overview

• Compatible land use planning
• Incompatible land uses
• Various land uses
• National survey
• Mead Hunt Corporate profile
• Questions or comments

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Why do compatible land use planning?

• Safety and noise

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Aircraft accident statistics

• Data compiled from NTSB accident reports between
  1990- 2000 indicate
• Over 2/3 of both GA (68) and commercial (67)
  aircraft accidents take place at the airport
• 29 of GA and 26 of commercial accidents happen
  within 5 miles of the airport during take-off or
  landing
• 3 of GA and 7 of commercial aviation accidents
  are enroute accidents which take place more than
  5 miles from the airport
• These figures show that having a clear area
  around the airport is essential in the event of
  an accident

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Noise

• Aircraft noise is the biggest complaint received
  by airports.

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• Incompatible land uses

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What are incompatible land uses?

• An incompatible land use is essentially any type
  of land development which threatens the safe
  operation of aircraft.
• These uses include developments such as
• Residential development
• Schools libraries
• Nursing homes hospitals
• Wetlands open water
• Landfills sewage treatment facilities
• Generators of light emissions and smoke/stream

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• Land uses

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Various land uses

• The list is not an exhaustive one.
• It is meant to illustrate a sample of the various
  uses which can be of concern to airports.
• A brief summary of the type of concern and the
  reason for the concern are also listed.

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Residential development

• Safety and noise concern
• Incompatible due to the concentration of people
  in close proximity to the airport, as well as
  noise related issues.
• Apartments and manufactured housing are an even
  greater concern due to the increased population
  density.

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Landfills and sewage treatment

• Safety concern
• Incompatible use due to wildlife attractants such
  as larger birds including gulls and geese

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Schools, hospitals, and churches

• Safety concern
• Large concentration of people in a single area
• Environmental concern
• Noise issues with over-flights and possible
  vibration at larger airports

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Radio, television, and cellular communication
towers

• Safety concern
• Incompatible land use because of the penetration
  into the navigable airspace around an airport.

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Factory smoke

• Safety concern
• Incompatible because it creates obstructions to
  vision, depending upon the location of the smoke
  relative to the airport

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Golf courses and recreational uses

• Environmental concern
• Wildlife attractants to the open water and large
  grass areas
• Safety concern
• Concentration of people in a single area
• Often has light emission issues related to field
  lighting

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Auditoriums and outdoor theaters

• Safety concern
• Concentration of people in a single area
• Often has emission issues related to lighting
• Noise concern
• Outdoor operations during night time hours often
  affected by aircraft noise

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Power lines

• Safety concern
• Incompatible since they can be hard to see and
  are a danger to landing and departing aircraft.

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Gravel extraction

• Safety concern
• Incompatible due to the dust often generated by
  the excavation activity, also a possible wildlife
  attractant if open water is created.

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Farmland

• Safety concern
• Creates incompatible land uses because it
  attracts wildlife such as birds of prey looking
  for mice, raccoons, etc. found in the crops and
  deer which eat the corn crops.

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Water impoundments (open water)

• Safety concern
• By itself open water is not a hazard, but it
  attracts water fowl which are a hazard to
  aircraft.

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Cultural resources

• Environmental and noise concern
• Often incompatible due to noise impacts related
  to the historic nature of the structure.

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Wetlands

• Safety concern
• Similar to open water, wetlands are wildlife
  attractants which can pose hazards to aircraft.
• Additionally, regulations regarding wetland
  mitigation have become very restrictive, thus
  leading airports to mitigate impacts off-airport

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National trends

• The survey

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National trends

• Mead Hunt teamed with the National Association
  of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) to assess the
  national trends on land use issues as they relate
  to airports
• A survey was sent to each state, including Guam
  and Puerto Rico, to get a truly national
  perspective on land uses

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Which states responded?

• Response rate 40 out of 52 states and
  territories (77 )

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What is the size of your State Aviation System
plan?

• Of the 40 states responding, they represented
• Over 7,000 airports
• 358 air carrier
• Over 6,700 general aviation
• Type of ownership
• Publicly owned/public use airports make up the
  majority of State System Plan with 2,857 airports
• Privately owned and privately used airports
  include another 7,759 airports some of which have
  been included into the State Aviation System of
  various states

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Responses

• What we learned

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Do you believe that incompatible land uses are a
concern in your state?
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What types of incompatible land uses do you have
around your airport?

• 100 (40) residential
• 82.5 (33) tall structures
• 75 (30) wetlands
• 70 (28) recreation
• 65 (26) noise sensitive
• 55 (22) agriculture
• 52.5 (21) open water
• 47.5 (19) landfills

• 12.5 (5) smoke/steam
• 12.5 (5) light
• Various other
• Parks
• Commercial within RPZ
• Gravel pits
• Car race track within approach zone
• Archaeological sites

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Most critical land uses

• 75 (30) residential
• 12.5 (5) tall structures
• 1 agriculture
• 1 recreation
• 1 open water
• 1 noise sensitive
• 1 wetlands

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Least critical land uses

• 35 (14) open water
• 25 (10) agriculture
• 10 (4) wetlands
• 10 (4) light
• 2 landfills
• 2 recreation
• 1 smoke/steam
• 1 noise

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What types of existing land use legislation do
you have in place and who regulates it?

• 10 (4) have no legislation
• Comprehensive planning legislation
• Height limitation legislation
• Types of land use legislation
• Tall structure review

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What types of existing land use legislation do
you have in place and who regulates it?
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What types of existing land use legislation do
you have in place and who regulates it?
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What types of existing land use legislation do
you have in place and who regulates it?
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What should be addressed at the national level?

• More funding for land acquisition and for land
  use guideline development
• National guidelines/regulations for compatible
  land uses
• National requirement to inform neighbors of
  airport operations
• FAA take a stronger stand on height issues (FAR
  Part 77 issues)
• National policy to protect airports

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Corporate profile

• Mead Hunt

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About Mead Hunt

• Employee-owned
• Nearly 300 employees
• Eight offices in five states

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Available services

• Airports
• Public and Commercial Architecture
• Highways and Bridges
• Water Resources
• Infrastructure and municipal engineering
• Military and Industrial facilities
• Historic Preservation

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Airport planning specialists

• 70 planning projects in the past five years
• 60 years serving the airport industry
• Nationwide experience

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Full service consulting

• Aviation planning
• Aviation architecture
• Airport engineering
• Air service
• Environmental, storm water
• Dedicated staff of 120 full-timeaviation
  professionals

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Questions or comments
If you have any questions, contact me
at Bob.Kunkel_at_meadhunt.com 608/273-6380

• Thank you