Bakersfield Municipal Airport May Be Sold To Developers

-------------------------------------------------------------
AOPA ePilot Volume 7, Issue 46 November 18, 2005
-------------------------------------------------------------

AOPA FIGHTS TO PROTECT CALIFORNIA AIRPORT

Despite federal grant obligations to keep California's Bakersfield
Municipal Airport [L45] open, the City of Bakersfield is seeking
approval to close it in order to sell the land to a developer for
residential use. AOPA is working with Bakersfield AOPA Airport
Support Network volunteer Richard Osborn and local pilots to
preserve the airport and has asked the FAA to step in and decline
any closure request from the city. The airport has received more
than $10 million in Airport Improvement Program funds. "With
nearly 100 based aircraft and over 25,000 operations each
year, Bakersfield Airport is a vital part of a statewide and
national aviation system of general aviation airports," wrote Bill
Dunn, AOPA vice president of airports, in a letter to the FAA.
"Clearly, the FAA recognizes the importance of this strategically
located airport and has included it within the FAA National Plan
of Integrated Airport Systems."


Apparently Bakersfield Airpark wasn't constructed on a former military
field:


http://www.bakersfieldairport.us/

Elynor Rudnick was the fifth child of the eleven children born to
Oscar and Libbie Rudnick, pioneers in the Kern County cattle and
sheep industry. Elynor maintained a life-long business interest in
agriculture while she pursued her chosen field of aviation.

Following WWII, she spearheaded the development of the Bakersfield
Airpark, located on South Union Avenue.

She owned and operated both fixed-wing and helicopter equipment,
which she used for agricultural spraying, and contract services to
the U.S. government in connection with surveys and oil exploration
on the north slope of Alaska.

In 1947 she accepted a contingent of student pilots from the soon
to be established country of Israel. These men (as young as 17
years old) and two women would become the first Israeli Pilots of
fledgling Israeli Air Force.

This daughter of Kern County will be long remembered by her
family, friends, associates, and the country of Israel which she
served with distinction.

=============================

http://couragecampaign.org/county/kern/blog

Councilwoman Carson's crusade for economic opportunity in her ward may
be blocked by the FAA

Councilwoman Carson's crusade for economic opportunity in her ward may
be blocked by the FAA Posted on Sun, 11/06/2005 - 7:42am.
http://www.bakersfield.com/local/sto...-5692912c.html
Note from Helen: Why does Bakersfield need TWO airports? The
Bakersfield Municipal airport is a failure because Meadows Field is
enough for our city. With the new WT terminal scheduled to open in
2006 with its big beautiful hangers for charters and its huge expanses
for bigger flights the FAA should be able to see the lack of need for
a second airport that has been a failure since its opening on the
south side of Bakersfield. We can only hope! The Bakersfield Municipal
airport provides very few jobs and it makes it nearly impossible to
bring in any other economic development into the area. Mad Props to
Councilwoman Carson for continuing her fight to close it down!
Bid to close airpark gets mixed reviews
City wants to clear way for development; airport users say FAA will
never agree
By JAMES BURGER, Californian staff writer
e-mail:
Posted: Saturday November 5th, 2005, 8:45 PM
Last Updated: Saturday November 5th, 2005, 11:04 PM
Every few years the city of Bakersfield tries to get rid of
Bakersfield Municipal Airport.
The dusty air strip huddles between the junk yards and scrap lots on
South Union Avenue and the aging tracts of homes to the east.
It isn't pretty.
It isn't a hotbed of activity.
And the footprint of its flight path blocks all development around it.
But it is a federally recognized airport purchased and improved with
millions in grant money from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The city owns and operates Bakersfield Municipal. But the FAA has to
bless any move to close it.
And the FAA doesn't close airports.
On Monday a Bakersfield City Council committee will consider sending a
letter to the FAA formally asking to close the airport. It will
promise to pay back millions in grant funds the city borrowed over the
last 20 years.
In all, closure could cost the city $10 million -- money it would hope
to earn back from the sale of the 200 acres of land the airport sits
on.
Councilwoman Irma Carson says the airport stands in the way of plans
to revitalize the surrounding area.
She wants to sell the airport land to developers who will replace it
with homes, new businesses and jobs for the low-income neighborhoods
she represents.
"We want to create a quality of life for the people who live in the
area. The need is really great for the area. We all know that," she
said.
One big question -- the one on everyone's mind -- controls whether
Carson's vision will ever reach reality:
Will the FAA ever allow Bakersfield Municipal Airport to be closed?
"I don't have an answer to that," said John Milligan, an FAA
supervisor who handles airport grant programs.
But the answer seems far closer to "no" than it is to "yes."
Milligan doesn't have an answer because, technically, he doesn't yet
have a request from Bakersfield to close the airport.
City leaders hope that promising to pay back all the grant money the
city has accepted from the FAA will sway the decision toward closure.
But Milligan said the FAA's first priority is not money, but keeping
the nation's airport system intact.
"(The city) would need to demonstrate to the agency that airport is
not needed for the aeronautical network," he said.
In other words, Bakersfield Municipal will need to be dead before it
will be closed.
Airport users argue Bakersfield Municipal is far from deceased.
It has a solid charter business, a growing list of hangar renters and
a business owner who has signed a deal with the city to build and open
a new restaurant at the airport.
And the city just resurfaced the runway with more FAA grant money.
"Whether the city wants it or not, they own it. And they can't sell
it," said John Harmon, who plans to open the Rocket Shop Cafe at
Bakersfield Municipal by June 2006.
Harmon is certain that the FAA won't close the airport.
City leaders sent multiple letters to the FAA in 2003 requesting
closure of the airport. They were turned down repeatedly. The last
rejection letter from the FAA was almost nasty.
"It was kind of, 'Didn't you get me the first time, stupid?' " City
Manager Alan Tandy said at a March 2003 council meeting.
Bakersfield leaders seem to know the FAA won't close the airport this
time, either.
"The only thing I can tell you is this would be a first for them. They
have not done it in the past. They are not in the business of closing
airports," said Public Works Director Raul Rojas.
But the city needs to have the question answered one more time.
Shane Ellis, the operations manager for Kern Charter Service at
Bakersfield Municipal, said he doesn't understand why homes belong
where the airport now sits.
"Are they really going to build homes right up to industrial -- junk
yards and scrap yards and mechanic shops?" he said. "I really don't
see this being a prime location for real estate -- but I'm also not a
developer."
Former Bakersfield City Councilman Mark Salvaggio understands the
pressure building up around the airpark's fate.
The housing market is hot and the southeast, traditionally an
unattractive zone for developers, has begun to grow.
"There are builders that want to build over there and they are being
limited by the airpark," Salvaggio said.
There is a sort of dark humor in that.
Salvaggio said the airport was purchased by the city in 1985 to become
a hub for economic growth and revitalization in the southeast.
Now the airport is seen as a barrier to growth.
Salvaggio said the airport should never have been bought by the city.
"That was a boondoggle, buying that," he said.
Former councilman, James "Curly" Barton, pushed the purchase,
Salvaggio said, because "it was owned by some cronies of his."
The concept of the airport as an economic engine never became reality.
Now Carson hopes she can reverse the mistakes of the past and bring
true redevelopment to the southeast.
But Bakersfield may have made an irreversible deal with the federal
government. The FAA seems likely, once again, to decide the airport
must stay open for business.
"My prayer is they have an understanding heart," Carson said.
======================================

http://www.bakersfield.com/special/a...-5692883c.html
Land purchase serves as buffer

County plans to avoid fights from residents over noisy airplanes by
owning a chunk of the neighborhood

By MISTY WILLIAMS, Californian staff writer
e-mail:

Posted: Saturday November 5th, 2005, 5:05 PM
Last Updated: Saturday November 5th, 2005, 5:05 PM

A decade ago, Meadows Field sat well beyond the fringe of Bakersfield.
Officials knew it probably wouldn't stay that way. Development would
eventually come, and it has.

Houses are rising up along Airport Drive within sight of the new
terminal.
"The thing that kills airports -- the thing we're deathly afraid of --
is residential zoning," said county airports director Ray Bishop.

That's because noise complaints from neighbors have created political
and legal nightmares for airports across the nation and the globe for
decades.

Bishop hopes to avoid those problems down the road by taking some
control of the future now.

Meadows Field is spending $700,000 on a noise study and 20-year master
plan for airport expansion, which should be finished by June, Bishop
said.

The airport also bought up 280 acres of land on its northeast side
about five years ago.

If an airport owns surrounding land, it has control of what's
developed there, he said.

Commercial or industrial buildings are a better fit than houses,
schools and other uses, which raise noise and safety concerns, he
said.

Many airports no longer have the luxury of buying up extra land, said
Klaasje Nairne, who manages San Luis Obispo's airport.

In many cases, there's little property left and it's too expensive,
Nairne said. San Luis Obispo paid $1.5 million for just two acres a
couple of years ago.

Of course, houses already jut up next to Meadows Field's southern edge
and have for 50 years.

Oildale resident Patti McElroy, who moved in across the street from
the airport three years ago, said the rumble of large jets sometimes
wakes her up.

"It's pretty bad sometimes," she said. "Sometimes it actually shakes
things off the wall."

But the big jets fly overhead only two or three times a week and she's
adjusted, McElroy said.

"You just kind of get used to it," she said.

Bishop said Meadows Field gets fewer than 10 complaints from residents
every year, just a fraction of what some airports receive.

Burbank's Bob Hope Airport receives between 400 and 600 complaints a
year, said spokesman Victor Gill.

The airport took an aggressive stance against noise with a voluntary
nighttime curfew, quieter jets and an insulation program for hundreds
of nearby homes.

Still, the airport authority spent 10 years in a strenuous legal
battle with Burbank over expansion plans that cost both sides
millions, Gill said. The city wanted stricter noise rules in return
for giving the OK on plans for a new terminal. The two are still at a
standstill.

It's that kind of legal entanglement, which thwarts expansion, that
Bishop hopes to avoid down the road.

The extra space around Meadows Field, which cost less than $4,500 an
acre, could one day serve as another runway or for aircraft parking,
he said.

Bringing in warehouse companies is an option that could attract more
business. Cargo carriers pick airports with nearby warehouses that
have cold storage for cut flowers, quarantine areas for animals and
other uses, he said.

Property north of 7th Standard Road is also attractive, Bishop said,
but will have to wait for now.

"I'm out of money," he said.

But having more land doesn't mean an airport can avoid noise
complaints altogether, said Bob Miller, senior vice president with a
Massachusetts-based noise consulting firm.

Developers in places like Dallas and Denver have built right up to the
edge of airport property that was once in the middle of nowhere,
Miller said.

"If the airport doesn't own the land then the airport doesn't have any
control over it," he said.

It comes down to zoning.

That's why Meadows Field staffers and county planners are working
together to ensure expansion plans mesh with Kern's general plan.

The county's Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan, adopted in 1994,
helps govern what kind of development sprouts up around Meadows Field.

But local leaders will need to work together in the future to make
sure poor land-use decisions don't hamper Meadows Field's growth, said
Kern County Supervisor Jon McQuiston.

Shafter and Bakersfield are growing, and both may eventually be making
decisions that could have an impact, McQuiston said.

"We learn from the example of the L.A.s and the Burbanks," Bishop
said. "They have been kind of a road map for us of what not to do."

There is plenty of other land out there. Leave the airport alone.
"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...

-------------------------------------------------------------
AOPA ePilot Volume 7, Issue 46 November 18, 2005
-------------------------------------------------------------

AOPA FIGHTS TO PROTECT CALIFORNIA AIRPORT

Despite federal grant obligations to keep California's Bakersfield
Municipal Airport [L45] open, the City of Bakersfield is seeking
approval to close it in order to sell the land to a developer for
residential use. AOPA is working with Bakersfield AOPA Airport
Support Network volunteer Richard Osborn and local pilots to
preserve the airport and has asked the FAA to step in and decline
any closure request from the city. The airport has received more
than $10 million in Airport Improvement Program funds. "With
nearly 100 based aircraft and over 25,000 operations each
year, Bakersfield Airport is a vital part of a statewide and
national aviation system of general aviation airports," wrote Bill
Dunn, AOPA vice president of airports, in a letter to the FAA.
"Clearly, the FAA recognizes the importance of this strategically
located airport and has included it within the FAA National Plan
of Integrated Airport Systems."


Apparently Bakersfield Airpark wasn't constructed on a former military
field:


http://www.bakersfieldairport.us/

Elynor Rudnick was the fifth child of the eleven children born to
Oscar and Libbie Rudnick, pioneers in the Kern County cattle and
sheep industry. Elynor maintained a life-long business interest in
agriculture while she pursued her chosen field of aviation.

Following WWII, she spearheaded the development of the Bakersfield
Airpark, located on South Union Avenue.

She owned and operated both fixed-wing and helicopter equipment,
which she used for agricultural spraying, and contract services to
the U.S. government in connection with surveys and oil exploration
on the north slope of Alaska.

In 1947 she accepted a contingent of student pilots from the soon
to be established country of Israel. These men (as young as 17
years old) and two women would become the first Israeli Pilots of
fledgling Israeli Air Force.

This daughter of Kern County will be long remembered by her
family, friends, associates, and the country of Israel which she
served with distinction.

=============================

http://couragecampaign.org/county/kern/blog

Councilwoman Carson's crusade for economic opportunity in her ward may
be blocked by the FAA

Councilwoman Carson's crusade for economic opportunity in her ward may
be blocked by the FAA Posted on Sun, 11/06/2005 - 7:42am.
http://www.bakersfield.com/local/sto...-5692912c.html
Note from Helen: Why does Bakersfield need TWO airports? The
Bakersfield Municipal airport is a failure because Meadows Field is
enough for our city. With the new WT terminal scheduled to open in
2006 with its big beautiful hangers for charters and its huge expanses
for bigger flights the FAA should be able to see the lack of need for
a second airport that has been a failure since its opening on the
south side of Bakersfield. We can only hope! The Bakersfield Municipal
airport provides very few jobs and it makes it nearly impossible to
bring in any other economic development into the area. Mad Props to
Councilwoman Carson for continuing her fight to close it down!
Bid to close airpark gets mixed reviews
City wants to clear way for development; airport users say FAA will
never agree
By JAMES BURGER, Californian staff writer
e-mail:
Posted: Saturday November 5th, 2005, 8:45 PM
Last Updated: Saturday November 5th, 2005, 11:04 PM
Every few years the city of Bakersfield tries to get rid of
Bakersfield Municipal Airport.
The dusty air strip huddles between the junk yards and scrap lots on
South Union Avenue and the aging tracts of homes to the east.
It isn't pretty.
It isn't a hotbed of activity.
And the footprint of its flight path blocks all development around it.
But it is a federally recognized airport purchased and improved with
millions in grant money from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The city owns and operates Bakersfield Municipal. But the FAA has to
bless any move to close it.
And the FAA doesn't close airports.
On Monday a Bakersfield City Council committee will consider sending a
letter to the FAA formally asking to close the airport. It will
promise to pay back millions in grant funds the city borrowed over the
last 20 years.
In all, closure could cost the city $10 million -- money it would hope
to earn back from the sale of the 200 acres of land the airport sits
on.
Councilwoman Irma Carson says the airport stands in the way of plans
to revitalize the surrounding area.
She wants to sell the airport land to developers who will replace it
with homes, new businesses and jobs for the low-income neighborhoods
she represents.
"We want to create a quality of life for the people who live in the
area. The need is really great for the area. We all know that," she
said.
One big question -- the one on everyone's mind -- controls whether
Carson's vision will ever reach reality:
Will the FAA ever allow Bakersfield Municipal Airport to be closed?
"I don't have an answer to that," said John Milligan, an FAA
supervisor who handles airport grant programs.
But the answer seems far closer to "no" than it is to "yes."
Milligan doesn't have an answer because, technically, he doesn't yet
have a request from Bakersfield to close the airport.
City leaders hope that promising to pay back all the grant money the
city has accepted from the FAA will sway the decision toward closure.
But Milligan said the FAA's first priority is not money, but keeping
the nation's airport system intact.
"(The city) would need to demonstrate to the agency that airport is
not needed for the aeronautical network," he said.
In other words, Bakersfield Municipal will need to be dead before it
will be closed.
Airport users argue Bakersfield Municipal is far from deceased.
It has a solid charter business, a growing list of hangar renters and
a business owner who has signed a deal with the city to build and open
a new restaurant at the airport.
And the city just resurfaced the runway with more FAA grant money.
"Whether the city wants it or not, they own it. And they can't sell
it," said John Harmon, who plans to open the Rocket Shop Cafe at
Bakersfield Municipal by June 2006.
Harmon is certain that the FAA won't close the airport.
City leaders sent multiple letters to the FAA in 2003 requesting
closure of the airport. They were turned down repeatedly. The last
rejection letter from the FAA was almost nasty.
"It was kind of, 'Didn't you get me the first time, stupid?' " City
Manager Alan Tandy said at a March 2003 council meeting.
Bakersfield leaders seem to know the FAA won't close the airport this
time, either.
"The only thing I can tell you is this would be a first for them. They
have not done it in the past. They are not in the business of closing
airports," said Public Works Director Raul Rojas.
But the city needs to have the question answered one more time.
Shane Ellis, the operations manager for Kern Charter Service at
Bakersfield Municipal, said he doesn't understand why homes belong
where the airport now sits.
"Are they really going to build homes right up to industrial -- junk
yards and scrap yards and mechanic shops?" he said. "I really don't
see this being a prime location for real estate -- but I'm also not a
developer."
Former Bakersfield City Councilman Mark Salvaggio understands the
pressure building up around the airpark's fate.
The housing market is hot and the southeast, traditionally an
unattractive zone for developers, has begun to grow.
"There are builders that want to build over there and they are being
limited by the airpark," Salvaggio said.
There is a sort of dark humor in that.
Salvaggio said the airport was purchased by the city in 1985 to become
a hub for economic growth and revitalization in the southeast.
Now the airport is seen as a barrier to growth.
Salvaggio said the airport should never have been bought by the city.
"That was a boondoggle, buying that," he said.
Former councilman, James "Curly" Barton, pushed the purchase,
Salvaggio said, because "it was owned by some cronies of his."
The concept of the airport as an economic engine never became reality.
Now Carson hopes she can reverse the mistakes of the past and bring
true redevelopment to the southeast.
But Bakersfield may have made an irreversible deal with the federal
government. The FAA seems likely, once again, to decide the airport
must stay open for business.
"My prayer is they have an understanding heart," Carson said.
======================================

http://www.bakersfield.com/special/a...-5692883c.html
Land purchase serves as buffer

County plans to avoid fights from residents over noisy airplanes by
owning a chunk of the neighborhood

By MISTY WILLIAMS, Californian staff writer
e-mail:

Posted: Saturday November 5th, 2005, 5:05 PM
Last Updated: Saturday November 5th, 2005, 5:05 PM

A decade ago, Meadows Field sat well beyond the fringe of Bakersfield.
Officials knew it probably wouldn't stay that way. Development would
eventually come, and it has.

Houses are rising up along Airport Drive within sight of the new
terminal.
"The thing that kills airports -- the thing we're deathly afraid of --
is residential zoning," said county airports director Ray Bishop.

That's because noise complaints from neighbors have created political
and legal nightmares for airports across the nation and the globe for
decades.

Bishop hopes to avoid those problems down the road by taking some
control of the future now.

Meadows Field is spending $700,000 on a noise study and 20-year master
plan for airport expansion, which should be finished by June, Bishop
said.

The airport also bought up 280 acres of land on its northeast side
about five years ago.

If an airport owns surrounding land, it has control of what's
developed there, he said.

Commercial or industrial buildings are a better fit than houses,
schools and other uses, which raise noise and safety concerns, he
said.

Many airports no longer have the luxury of buying up extra land, said
Klaasje Nairne, who manages San Luis Obispo's airport.

In many cases, there's little property left and it's too expensive,
Nairne said. San Luis Obispo paid $1.5 million for just two acres a
couple of years ago.

Of course, houses already jut up next to Meadows Field's southern edge
and have for 50 years.

Oildale resident Patti McElroy, who moved in across the street from
the airport three years ago, said the rumble of large jets sometimes
wakes her up.

"It's pretty bad sometimes," she said. "Sometimes it actually shakes
things off the wall."

But the big jets fly overhead only two or three times a week and she's
adjusted, McElroy said.

"You just kind of get used to it," she said.

Bishop said Meadows Field gets fewer than 10 complaints from residents
every year, just a fraction of what some airports receive.

Burbank's Bob Hope Airport receives between 400 and 600 complaints a
year, said spokesman Victor Gill.

The airport took an aggressive stance against noise with a voluntary
nighttime curfew, quieter jets and an insulation program for hundreds
of nearby homes.

Still, the airport authority spent 10 years in a strenuous legal
battle with Burbank over expansion plans that cost both sides
millions, Gill said. The city wanted stricter noise rules in return
for giving the OK on plans for a new terminal. The two are still at a
standstill.

It's that kind of legal entanglement, which thwarts expansion, that
Bishop hopes to avoid down the road.

The extra space around Meadows Field, which cost less than $4,500 an
acre, could one day serve as another runway or for aircraft parking,
he said.

Bringing in warehouse companies is an option that could attract more
business. Cargo carriers pick airports with nearby warehouses that
have cold storage for cut flowers, quarantine areas for animals and
other uses, he said.

Property north of 7th Standard Road is also attractive, Bishop said,
but will have to wait for now.

"I'm out of money," he said.

But having more land doesn't mean an airport can avoid noise
complaints altogether, said Bob Miller, senior vice president with a
Massachusetts-based noise consulting firm.

Developers in places like Dallas and Denver have built right up to the
edge of airport property that was once in the middle of nowhere,
Miller said.

"If the airport doesn't own the land then the airport doesn't have any
control over it," he said.

It comes down to zoning.

That's why Meadows Field staffers and county planners are working
together to ensure expansion plans mesh with Kern's general plan.

The county's Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan, adopted in 1994,
helps govern what kind of development sprouts up around Meadows Field.

But local leaders will need to work together in the future to make
sure poor land-use decisions don't hamper Meadows Field's growth, said
Kern County Supervisor Jon McQuiston.

Shafter and Bakersfield are growing, and both may eventually be making
decisions that could have an impact, McQuiston said.

"We learn from the example of the L.A.s and the Burbanks," Bishop
said. "They have been kind of a road map for us of what not to do."

Larry Dighera wrote:
Despite federal grant obligations to keep California's Bakersfield
Municipal Airport [L45] open, the City of Bakersfield is seeking
approval to close it in order to sell the land to a developer for
residential use.

Have they considered some good Rockin' ? A nice concert facility is a
cultural asset!

AOPA is working with Bakersfield AOPA Airport
Support Network volunteer Richard Osborn and local pilots to
preserve the airport and has asked the FAA to step in and decline
any closure request from the city. The airport has received more
than $10 million in Airport Improvement Program funds. "With
nearly 100 based aircraft

Sure, keep 100's of acres off the tax rolls for 100 users.

and over 25,000 operations each

Less than 100 operations per day. Any Greyhound service near L45?

JG

by jgrove24@[EMAIL PROTECTED] Nov 22, 2005 at 04:05 PM


Larry Dighera wrote:
Despite federal grant obligations to keep California's Bakersfield
Municipal Airport [L45] open, the City of Bakersfield is seeking
approval to close it in order to sell the land to a developer for
residential use.

Have they considered some good Rockin' ? A nice concert facility is a
cultural asset!

AOPA is working with Bakersfield AOPA Airport
Support Network volunteer Richard Osborn and local pilots to
preserve the airport and has asked the FAA to step in and decline
any closure request from the city. The airport has received more
than $10 million in Airport Improvement Program funds. "With
nearly 100 based aircraft

Sure, keep 100's of acres off the tax rolls for 100 users.

and over 25,000 operations each

Less than 100 operations per day. Any Greyhound service near L45?

JG

Hey!! AOPA Truth Squad is MY idea. ;-)