Woodburn Independent Online

Aurora Airport master plan process starting next week

Plan will contain a control tower and more economic development at airport

• By: Patrick Johnson  
• Published: 10/28/2009 8:59:30 AM

Photo By: Josh KullaPlanning for growth
The Oregon Department of Aviation is in the beginning stages of a 16-month master planning process to determine the growth at the Aurora Airport.

AURORA — The Aurora State Airport is trying to land a new plan.
 
Oregon Department of Aviation officials said last week they are starting a 16-month master planning process that will chart the direction of how the airport will grow.
 
A planning advisory committee will include a group of community members from the airport and surrounding communities to help frame how the airport should expand.
 
“What we want to do is make sure we have a good cross section of the stakeholders around the airport,” said Mitch Swecker, state airports manager.
 
Consultants from W&H Pacific will outline the process Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. at the Maplewood Grange Hall.
 
They will finish creating the membership of the planning advisory committee and discuss the purpose of the master plan document.
 
The approximately $300,000 project is funded through a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration and the Oregon Department of Aviation.
 
The master planning process is expected to be controversial, with plans in the works for a control tower, increased economic development and issues surrounding water and sewer service to the busiest state-run airport.
 
“I have been doing airport projects for about 30 years, there is always some type of controversy,” said Rainse Anderson, director of aviation services with W&H Pacific, the consulting firm working on the master plan. “I was the project manager on the 2000 update of the master plan and, like all of our projects, we want to bring people together so we can work through the different issues.”
 
Gregg Dal Ponte, the interim director of the Oregon Department of Aviation, said last week that any decision about the master plan will run through the Oregon Aviation Board. Dal Ponte, replaced former director Dan Clem, who resigned last week to run for political office. Dal Ponte, who is director of the state’s motor carrier division, said he would be replaced in the next 90 days when a new director is found.
 
Dal Ponte said there were plans in place to put a tower at the airport, a fact Anderson confirmed.
 
“I can tell you there appears to be absolute agreement within the department, the community of stakeholders and amongst the members of the board of aviation that a tower at the Aurora Airport is an integral requirement and a current need,” Dal Ponte said. “There are two reasons, for safety and number two, although not as intuitive as safety, the tower will contribute significantly to the ability to provide some noise abatement which will be very well received by members of the community.”
 
Anderson said that the process of the master plan was going to dovetail into the DOA’s current process of working with the FAA to site a tower at the airport.
 
Swecker said that at this time there was no plan to extend the runway, but he also said they are trying not to “pre-judge what needs to happen at the airport in the master planning process.”
 
Dal Ponte said members of the aviation board have said they have a “fiduciary responsibility to manage the asset that the airport is to meet the needs of safety and the aviation industry.”
 
“The board sees Aurora as a key general aviation airport, a center of aviation employment — I believe there are 1,000 jobs represented on the facility — it is a place where using the industry jargon, through the fence economic development is transpiring and through the master planning process and discharging that fiduciary responsibility the department has, I think, the intent is to promote the viability of the airport in a way that the community substantially supports,” Dal Ponte said.
 
“I don’t think anyone is naive enough to think that everyone necessarily will be satisfied. But a key component of the master plan is to do a significant public outreach to garner an adequate understanding of the diversity of public opinion.”

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