Community meetings on Airport Master Plan wrap up; next stop is City Council

After years of planing and months of public input, the new Airport Master Plan for South Lake Tahoe was presented to the community on Tuesday. About a dozen people attended to see and hear what the final plan might look like.

Since buying the Tahoe Valley Airport from El Dorado County in 1983 for $1, the City of South Lake Tahoe has been supporting its operation which at one time saw almost 300,000 people a year pass through.

The airport will not close, but it will unlikely see commercial flights again according Michael Hotaling, the consultant with C & S Companies who is preparing the master plan.

"Unless there is a significant subsidy to entice an airline to come back, it won't happen," said Hotaling. "But, the master plan preserves the right to add it in the future."

The new master plan will maximize the potential for general aviation.

"Most airports of this type do not turn a profit," said Hotaling. "They support the facility and are a part of the community."

As the plan was being created, engineers evaluated the environment, air quality, wildlife, land use, flood plains and the stream environmental zone. They also had to take into consideration the future size of planes, number of potential flights and approach speeds as they created alternatives to the layout of the runways and taxi lanes.

Hotaling presented seven alternatives to the master plan. All of them took four major factors into consideration: Safety, Security, Sustainability, Capacity.

The airport will continue to be a source of safety for the surrounding mountains in case of a fire or other emergency, no matter which alternative is selected.

Airfield Alternative 1 - Leave airport as is.

Airfield Alternative 2 - Ensures the airfield facilities meet FAA design standards
while preserving flexibility for future airport revenue generating operations. This is accomplished by maintaining the existing airfield pavement dimensions and
configurations while making improvements to the taxiway system layout to meet
updated FAA design standards. This alternative would accommodate the existing
design aircraft, the Falcon 2000, but would not meet all design standards for the future design aircraft, the Gulfstream V1. The current 100' width of the runway is 25' more than required and is excellent shape.

Alternative 3 and 4 involve ensuring the airfield facilities meet FAA design standards and provide for a safe aircraft operating environment while minimizing impacts to the Airport’s operation, environment, and surrounding community.

Airfield Alternative 3 - Reduce airfield pavement dimensions to accommodate B-II
standards; narrow runway to 75 feet from both edges to maintain the existing
centerline location.

Airfield Alternative 4 - Reduce airfield pavement dimensions to accommodate B-II
standards; narrow runway to 75 feet from the eastern edge to minimize the
Airport’s footprint.

Alternatives 5, 6 and 7 seek to maximize the Airport’s future potential and, specifically, accommodate the future design aircraft (Gulfstream V) which already operates at the Airport frequently. In order to do so, these involve improvements and configuration changes to accommodate aircraft within Aircraft Approach Category C (approach speeds 121 knots or more but less than 141 knots) and Airplane Design Group III (aircraft with wingspans up to 79 feet but less than 118 feet and tail heights up to 30 feet but less than 45 feet). These have significant environmental impact. The three alternatives are described below:

Airfield Alternative 5 - Shift the runway east in order to meet the FAA design standard for runway centerline to taxiway centerline distance (400 feet; the Airport’s current distance fluctuates between 285 and 292.5 feet).

Airfield Alternative 6 - Shift the taxiway west in order to meet the FAA design standard for runway centerline to taxiway centerline distance (400 feet; the Airport’s current distance fluctuates between 285 and 292.5 feet).

Airfield Alternative 7 - Shift the runway east and the taxiway west (i.e., splitting the required distance) in order to meet the FAA design standard for runway centerline to taxiway centerline distance (400 feet; the Airport’s current
distance fluctuates between 285 and 292.5 feet).

During the March, 2015 community meeting, the audience was in favor of Alternative 1, 2 and 7. C & S used the criteria of the economy, efficiency and resource conservancy to come up with ratings of each alternative. After that process, alternatives 1 and 2 tied for the best choice.

The master plan presented also involved five alternatives for the building and services provided at the airport.

Landside Alternative 1 - Leave as is.

Landside Alternative 2 - Consolidate facilities to maximize non-aeronautical land uses.

Landside Alternative 3 - Maintain flexibility to accommodate future growth potential.

Landside Alternative 4 - Focus on growth potential that seeks to maximize Airport
revenues and optimize available land assets.

The next steps:
1. City Council will select the best alternative in the next two months.
2. An Airport Layout Plan (ALP) drawing set will be completed.
3. They will develop a financing plan.
4. Publish the final draft.
5. California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) analysis performed.
6. Review of ALP.
7. City Council will adopt ALP.
8. Plan submitted to FAA for approval several months down the road.

Once these steps are completed the City will be able to see federal funding. Demand will help drive future change as well.

Noise from larger planes can actually be less than the current, smaller planes. There are modest growth predictions for the airport so the issue of increased noise shouldn't be an issue. Since 1990, airports cannot implement noise curfew unless they were grandfathered in prior to that date. Some airports have tried to fight this and become exempt at the cost of millions, with a very low rate of success.

There is no control tower in the new plan. For big events such as American Century Celebrity Golf the FAA brings in a temporary control tower. It will be in place July 14 to 20.