Zoning vital for safety of everyone near airport
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Airport director John Patterson says it is imperative the airport have zoning regulations in place in order to protect its airspace, which could be infringed upon in a number of ways, even resulting in the facility being shut down in certain situations.
Airport officials want to advise local residents of the existence of the regulations, and how they will affect construction near the airfield.
‘This is in the way of a public service announcement and public awareness statement just to let people know about the changes that we’ve had here at the airport,’ Patterson said. ‘The airport itself has had zoning that surrounds the airport in a three-mile radius since July of 1971. In February of this year we changed the administration of this zoning and created an actual Airport Zoning Committee.
‘The purpose of this is not only to protect the airport, but the surrounding community as well,’ Patterson continued. ‘It protects the citizen’s investment in the airport by making sure that we don’t lose the airspace around it. Because an airport has got to have airspace in order to operate.’
Patterson said a special map has been generated by city planner David Baird that delineates the different levels of zoning restrictions. There are five specific zones dictated on the map, according to Patterson.
Those zones include:
‘ The permanent surface zone
‘ The transition zone
‘ The non-precision approach zone
‘ The horizontal zone
‘ The conical zone
‘These zones protect the airport and surrounding community from electrical interference, from radio transmissions interference that could interfere with communications between the airport and airplanes,’ Patterson said. ‘There’s also ground-based navigation here that transmits on a radio frequency, and it would block anything that would interfere with that for the safety of flyers.’
Patterson says the runway lights at the airport are also of concern.
‘It is important to be able to distinguish between airport lights and other types of lights,’ Patterson said. ‘The zoning won’t allow other bright lights to be put up within the three-mile radius of the airport which would confuse flyers coming in.’
There are some other rather unusual restrictions which are nonetheless important when it comes to pilot safety.
‘Another concern is glare in the eyes,’ Patterson said. ‘No structures with bright or reflective metal roofs that could cause sun glare will be allowed.’
Structures or industry that could obstruct visibility near the airport will also be restricted. Patterson says the airport is one of the main entranceways for the county and it’s vital for it to be well cared for and have adequate technology.
‘If an industry representative interested in establishing a plant here came in here during bad weather and we didn’t have instrument approach for them to come in, they might go to another airport in another community,’ Patterson said.
The final concern is preventing high concentrations of people or dwellings in the vicinity of the airfield.
‘You wouldn’t want a hospital or a school, something that’s going to involve a high concentration of people where the planes are the slowest and the lowest,’ Patterson said. ‘Or where they are going to make a lot of jet or prop noise and you’re trying to conduct a class.’
Patterson says the airport also depends heavily on federal grants and those grants have strict guidelines for airports.
‘When I apply for these grants, I have 39 grant assurances I have to adhere to,’ Patterson said.
For more information on the zoning around the airport and the restrictions involved, which can affect everything from business and home construction to cell towers, contact Patterson who will pass any questions along to the Airport Zoning Committee, which makes the final determination.