This items is for the City Council to consider adoption of the Addison Airport Master Plan. The Master Plan is used to determine the long-term development plans for an airport. It is important to the Town because air transportation is a vital community industry and that the requirements for new or improved projects be anticipated.
In February 2014, the Town of Addison received a grant from the Texas Department of Transportation, Aviation Division (TxDOT) for professional services for an Addison Airport Master Plan study. Through a selection process guided by TxDOT, Garver Engineers was chosen to perform the services related to this grant. The purpose of an Airport Master Plan is to develop short, medium, and long term development plans that will provide a framework and justification for proposed capital improvements on the airport. From these plans, several alternatives for development are analyzed, considered, and chosen. The cost of the improvements are then estimated and prioritized into a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The Airport Layout Plan (ALP) is created from this information and becomes a part of the master plan. In order for projects in the CIP to be eligible for federal funding they must be included on the ALP. In order to ensure that the ALP is up to date and all the projects identified by the airport are included on the ALP, the FAA recommends that the master plan be updated approximately every five years or when the major capital improvements from the previous master plan have been completed.
Since the previous airport master plan was completed in 2004, many of the projects and objectives from that previous master plan have been accomplished and significant improvement project on the airport have been completed. These include such projects as the rehabilitation of Runway 15/33 and Taxiway Alpha, and the Engineered Materials Arresting System on the runway's south end. With the completion of these major airside projects, the focus of this update to the master plan is the redevelopment and management of the landside facilities.
There are specific elements of an airport master plan. They are: Inventory, Aviation Activity Forecasts, Facility Requirements, Airport Alternative Analysis, Capital Improvement Plan, Financial Plan, and Airport Layout Plan.
Two committees were formed to guide the planning process. The Executive Committee was comprised of Town and Airport staff along with the consultant, Garver. This committee provided technical input to the process and made recommendations to the next level, the Project Steering Committee, which was comprised of citizens and community leaders that were appointed by Council, airport tenants, including representatives from the Fixed Base Operators, and representatives from the Planning and Zoning Commission. FAA and TxDOT representatives served as ex officio members of the committee. The Steering Committee's role was to consider the information that was presented and the alternatives that were being proposed, ask questions related to that information, and then make a final recommendation as to what to include in the draft master plan that would be considered by Council for adoption. One public meeting was held on September 26, 2014, to solicit input from interested members of the community. Additionally, the Airport Strategic Plan, which was adopted by Council in November 2013, was used to inform the development of the Master Plan. The goals that are included in the Strategic Plan were specifically followed as the Master Plan was being drafted.
On June 14, 2016, the Council was provided an in-depth presentation on the contents of the Master Plan. The FAA and TxDOT have approved the Airport Layout Plan. The Steering Committee was sent the final draft of the master plan and their final comments were solicited. We received responses from the majority of the committee members, most of which indicated that they had no comments about the plan. One written response was received by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association representative and this is attached herein.
The next step is for Council to consider the adoption of the Addison Airport Master Plan. Once the Master Plan is adopted it will be sent to TxDOT for their acceptance. The Master Plan then becomes official and staff will begin execution.
Copies of the Airport Master Plan and Strategic Plan can be found at https://addisontexas.net/index.php?section=addison-airport_all-documents. |