TAC meeting 4.6.17 VROOM... Variety in Rural Options of Mobility Attachment 5c-1 Administrative Draft 3.28.17 Note to reviewers: New text is underlined with a solid line. Text that has merely been moved is underlined with a dashed line. Minor corrections and edits are not underlined. 6. AVIATION SYSTEM ELEMENT With the region’s nine public-use airports, residents and visitors have access to faster travel which can connect them to (or from) “Aviation gives the interregional, interstate, and international destinations. The aviation State’s multimodal system is part of a multimodal transportation system, as it connects transportation system people and packages (air passengers and air freight) to surface access, range, and speed.” (highway), sea, and rail transport. Humboldt’s aviation system is part of a robust California aviation system which – California Aviation System Plan, 2016 improves mobility options, generates tax revenue, saves lives through emergency response, medical, and firefighting services, produces over $170 billion in air cargo revenues annually, and generates over $14 billion to the State’s tourism industry (2016 RTP Guidelines). AIRPORT ACCESS & MOBILITY Airside & Landside “Airside” and “landside” are terms that describe areas of an airport. When navigating around airports, landside generically means the area outside (external to) the passenger boarding area, and airside generically means the internal area for boarding aircraft, including skyways and runways. The boundary between the two is that area of security checkpoints, and passport and customs control. When discussing airports in the context of transportation planning, the landside and airside areas are considered more broadly. In this context, the landside area encompasses the external roads and other travelways that give ingress and egress to the airport, which usually means including local roads and state highways. The broader airside includes the airport’s surface grounds for ground support and emergency vehicles, including ramps, aprons, runways, and taxiways. Congestion and other barriers on either side can impede mobility. Congestion on the landside can affect whether passengers make or miss their scheduled flights; congestion on the airside can affect how well airplanes meet their scheduled arrival and departure times. In this sense, landside deals more with ground transportation, whereas airside deals more with air transportation. In furthering the goal for regional transportation mobility, access, and connectivity, the multi-modal transportation system focuses on local airports’ landside. HCAOG 20-Year RTP – 2014 2017 administrative draft 87 6. Aviation System Element TAC meeting 4.6.17 VROOM... Variety in Rural Options of Mobility Attachment 5c-1 Administrative Draft 3.28.17 Ground access to airports is important not only to passengers, but also to airport employees, air cargo, and public transit. To have an integrated, multi-modal system, people must have a choice of modes to reach an airport, with access being comfortable and convenient for walking, biking, transit, and taxis/shuttles, as well as driving. The quality of ground access also certainly affects goods movement/freight operations/performance. For instance, the pavement condition (particularly for heavier trucks), number of lanes, and lane widths will affect freight access/movement. REGIONAL AVIATION SYSTEM Six Of the region’s nine public-use airports, six are owned by the County of Humboldt and managed by the Aviation and Airport Division of the Humboldt County Public Works Department. The other three are owned by three different jurisdictions: the City of Eureka owns and manages Samoa Field Airport (formerly called Eureka Municipal Airport); the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council owns and manages the Hoopa Airport; and the Shelter Cove Resort Improvement District #1, owns and manages the Shelter Cove Airport, located in Shelter Cove. The only airport with commercial passenger service is the County’s California Redwood Coast– Humboldt County Airport (formerly the Arcata-Eureka Airport).1 AIRPORT PLANNING The perception that airports are just places for airplanes to take-off and land has long been Airport Land Use Commission dismissed by aviation system planners. Instead, Every county in which a public-use airport is located is required to airports should more establish an Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC) (per California accurately be viewed as economic enterprise hubs, PUC, Sections 21670 et seq.) This Commission has the single- purpose employment centers, to protect airports and public safety by overseeing the compatibility of mixed-use commercial land uses adjacent to public-use airports. The ALUC is responsible for business centers, bulk preventing the creation of new noise and safety problems in the vicinity cargo transfer centers, of public-use airports in its jurisdiction. ALUCs are an advisory body transit hubs, and more. to local planning jurisdictions. – California Aviation System Plan, 2011 The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is the county’s designated ALUC. As the ALUC, the Board has authorized a nine-member Aviation Advisory Committee (AAC) to advise them on aviation matters within the county. The two planning bodies, the ALUC and the AAC, must evaluate potential conflicts such as noise, safety, airspace, and overflight. They do this in two primary ways: (i) by preparing Airport Land Use Compatibility Plans (ALUCPs); and (ii) 1 The County of Humboldt has applied to the FAA to rename the airport and expects it to be approved in 2014. HCAOG 20-Year RTP – 2014 2017 administrative draft 88 6. Aviation System Element TAC meeting 4.6.17 VROOM... Variety in Rural Options of Mobility Attachment 5c-1 Administrative Draft 3.28.17 by reviewing local agency general and specific plans for consistency with the ALUCP goals and objectives (per CPUC §21676(a)). The ALUC makes safety recommendations via consistency determinations. Airport Land Use Compatibility Plans Airports must be operated consistently with the policies of the region-wide Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan (ALUCP). California statute authorizes ALUCs to prepare the ALUCP, and and apply it when they review local government general plans and specific plans, including airport master plans. Acting under its authority as the ALUC, the County Board of Supervisors adopted the Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan: Humboldt County Airports (prepared in March, 1993; last amended and adopted in 1998) (County of Humboldt, 1998). The Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan (ALUCP) sets policies and criteria for assessing whether land uses between Humboldt’s public use airports and proposed development in surrounding areas are compatible. The compatibility criteria set standards for building heights, building construction, and restricted uses of land. The ALUCP’s compatibility criteria and review policies apply broadly to all airports in the County. Additionally, the plan has specific policies, compatibility maps, and background data for the five County-operated General Aviation airports plus Shelter Cove Airport. The ALUCP does not contain specific policies or compatibility zones for the Samoa Field Airport (formerly Eureka Municipal Airport) or the Hoopa Airport or, although has policies and criteria that regulate allowed uses and residential densities around the Hoopa Airport. Each of the County-owned airports, additionally, operates according to its respective Airport Master Plan. The current airport master plans are: • Arcata-Eureka Airport Master Plan Report, Public Review Draft. Accepted by the Board of Supervisors on September 9, 2005 “Incompatible land uses (County of Humboldt, 2005a). (This airport is being around airports are renamed the California Redwood Coast–Humboldt County considered the largest imminent and continuous Airport.) threat to California’s air • Dinsmore Airport Master Plan Report, Revised May 2007 transportation system of (County of Humboldt, 2007a). public-use airports.” • Garberville Airport Master Plan Report. Accepted by the Board – California Aviation System of Supervisors on September 4, 2007 (County of Humboldt, Plan, 2016 2007b). • Kneeland Airport Master Plan Update. September 2005 (County of Humboldt, 2005b). • Murray Field Airport Master Plan Report. Accepted by the Board of Supervisors on September 4, 2007 (County of Humboldt, 2007c). • Rohnerville Airport Master Plan Report. Accepted by the Board of Supervisors on September 4, 2007 (County of Humboldt, 2007d). (Hoopa, Samoa Field, and Shelter Cove Airports do not currently have master plans.) HCAOG 20-Year RTP – 2014 2017 administrative draft 89 6. Aviation System Element TAC meeting 4.6.17 VROOM... Variety in Rural Options of Mobility Attachment 5c-1 Administrative Draft 3.28.17 AIRPORT FACILITIES The FAA categorizes public airports as primary or nonprimary in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS). Primary “Of the various ways to airports have scheduled air carrier service for 10,000 or more transport cargo, aircraft, enplaned passengers per year; nonprimary airports have scheduled with their speed and passenger service for 2,500 to 9,999 enplaned passengers per year. distance, are especially efficient at transporting The nonprimary category also includes general aviation airports long-haul, low-weight, and reliever airports (FAA 2016a). The California Redwood Coast high value, time-sensitive Airport is the only primary airport in Humboldt. The other eight goods.” are classified as general aviation (GA) airports, which