In December 2002 the City and the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) entered into an agreement that we call the “Final Agreement”. The Final Agreement came about from years of discussion between the City and the MAC over the future development of Flying Cloud Airport.
I think it’s fair to say that the City wanted a lesser degree of development of the airport, while the MAC wanted more. In the end, the City and MAC reached an agreement on such things as the ultimate length of runways; pavement strength of runways; noise mitigation; and the use of vacant MAC-owned land around the airport.
This is an aerial view of Flying Cloud Airport.
The airport runways are clearly visible. The road on the right side of the airport is Highway 212. The road on the north side (top) of the airport is Pioneer Trail. In the upper left hand corner of the photo you can see a baseball diamond that is part of Flying Cloud Fields. The Flying Cloud Fields are managed by the City, but are actually built on MAC-owned land.
The City has a complex relationship with the airport. Flying Cloud Airport is a reliever airport owned and managed by the MAC. There are occasional differences between the City and the MAC over how the airport is managed. For example, the City would like to regulate the times that pilots and mechanics can do certain types of maintenance to their airplanes because those activities are noisy and it disturbs the residents who live near the airport. The City can request such compliance, but cannot force the compliance, as we might be able to in other industrial areas of the City.
I’m sure that the MAC would like the City to slow down residential development around the airport to minimize the number of future residents who might be unhappy with airport operations someday. The City, on the other hand, does not want to prevent property owners and developers from making good land use decisions, especially on land that might otherwise be wonderful residential uses.
So the City opposes the MAC on some issues, but we work with them on others. City staff will be performing a management audit of the Final Agreement this spring and summer. We plan to have it completed by September 1. We will be taking a look at the MAC’s compliance with the agreement’s mutual commitments. We’ll also take a look at the City’s compliance with those same agreements.
Hopefully, we’ll find that the City and the MAC have done everything they each said that they’d do.
I’ll let you know – either way.
