Airport plan may take up to two years

The opening meeting on planning the future of Kalispell City Airport began with an apology.

Mitch Stelling, the owner of Stelling Engineers, apologized for the short public notice for the Airport Master Plan’s kickoff meeting Wednesday night.

The public was given four days’ notice of Wednesday’s meeting. Stelling said he would give two weeks’ notice for future meetings.

Stelling and employee Jeff Walla made a 30-minute presentation and then fielded questions from members of the 50-person audience for an hour and a half at the Red Lion Hotel Kalispell.

“We’re starting a new road. Let’s just see where this road goes,” Walla said. “It may not lead in the same place as it did before.”

The Kalispell City Council voted 6-3 in favor of the airport study in July.

The Federal Aviation Administration is paying $92,910 for the study. The city’s contribution is $4,890. City Manager Jane Howington said the study is being conducted to identify current needs at the airport.

Stelling said $45,000 of the $97,000 for the study will be used for public outreach.

 Many of the people in the audience were upset about another Airport Master Plan and fear the city could use the plan to push through an expansion of the general aviation airport at the south end of Kalispell.

The original Airport Master Plan in 1999 recommended an upgrade to accommodate larger aircraft. It also recommended the runway be widened from 60 to 75 feet and the runway be rotated 10 degrees to accommodate larger aircraft.

“We’re going to update the data,” Walla said.

This will include establishing current development costs, accurate aviation forecasts, new alternatives or sites, representative aircraft that use the airport, and considering changes in the environment that might impact an alternative site.

The Airport Master Plan will describe short-, medium-, and long-term plans for the airport, Walla said. It also will include drawings as part of the Airport Layout Plan.

Stelling will compile an airport inventory, a pilot survey from a five- or six-county area, and records research. The study will look at how much revenue is currently generated by the airport and will be generated.

The plan will include a 20-year projected aviation forecast.

It will consider facility requirements comparing what’s there and what’s needed. It will include noise exposure mapping and alternative options, such as doing nothing, relocating and on-site development alternatives.

The study will include a capital improvement plan that will look at a Federal Aviation Administration-funded option and a non-FAA-funded option.

Walla said the study will include motion-sensor photographs and a sound analysis.

Fred Howell opened public comment by calling it a “stupid study,” a comment that attracted applause from the audience. Howell later said he was venting.

“This whole thing started with antennas at KGEZ 10 years ago,” Howell said.

In response to a question from Tom Bass, Walla said the engineers would meet with landowners to the south of the airport “to gauge whether they’re willing to sell or not.”

Carl Feig asked about the noise study. Walla said microphones will not be part of the noise study. Instead, “modeling forecasts” will be used.

Walla said the city will appoint a committee that will decide how to weigh the various factors involved in the study.

Quiet Skies representative Scott Davis asked if the planes that use the airport as part of flight training will be differentiated from other flights when airport activity is gauged. Walla said they would not; they will all be lumped together.

Davis asked if the study will include information about what restrictions and regulations the Federal Aviation Administration would require if the city gets FAA funding to upgrade the airport.

Walla said he’s not an expert on FAA rules, but will include that information “as best we can.”

“Most of the public doesn’t know it’s being used for for-profit use,” Steve Eckels said, referring to Red Eagle Aviation’s flight-training business that leases land at the airport.

Walla said the study will consider the alternative of relocating Kalispell City Airport operations to Glacier Park International Airport.

The study will take 1 1/2 to two years, he said.

The next open house tentatively is scheduled for January 2011, followed by more in April and June. A public hearing will be held in January 2012 following the Federal Aviation Administration’s review of the plan.

Reporter Caleb Soptelean may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at csoptelean@dailyinterlake.com.