Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout08282023 LAYDOWN - City Clerk City of Seward,Alaska City Council Meeting Minutes October 24, 2022 Volume 42,Page 144 Sorensen said the final installation for the electric vehicle charging station at the chamber would be done on November 12,2022. She reminded everyone that the cost of that charging station had been covered by a grant from the Volkswagen settlement agreement. Next weekend would be busy with Halloween activities, including a downtown and harbor trick or treating activity and a haunted house.Kids could download a bingo card from the chamber's website and if they attended two or more locations,they could turn in their card at the chamber and receive a big candy bar. The chamber had started planning for the January 1, 2023 fireworks display. The timing of the fireworks was being discussed and might be changed to earlier in the evening on December 315t or moved to sometime on January 1st In response to Wells, Sorensen said use of the charging station was paid for by the user. Presentations —None 8/28/23 LAYDO" - Minutes from 10/24/2022 PUBLIC HEARINGS Public Hearing Item Resolution 2022-096 Resolutions Requiring Public Hearing Resolution 2022-096,Recommending Kenai Peninsula Borough Approval Of The Preliminary Right Of Way (Row)Acquisition Plat For The Seward Airport Located In T 1N & 1S R 1W Sec 34,35,2 &3, Seward Meridian SW,That Point Known As The Seward Airport,Physical Location,2310 Airport Road;Acquiring And Replatting Various Legals Located In Sec 34,35, 2 & 3, Seward Meridian SW. Motion (Osenga/DeMoss) Approve Resolution 2022-096 Bower said representatives from the Alaska Department of Transportation(DOT)were here tonight to answer questions. DOT Project Manager Joy Vaughn introduced herself and Angela Folk,Assistant Project Manager. Vaughn said the DOT had filed for an acquisition plat last year. Before the DOT began purchasing property, they filed a preliminary plat; once that was approved, they could begin purchasing property. The state had started purchasing property once their preliminary plat made it to the borough. During that process, questions arose about whether the DOT would be doing a subdivision; as a result, some things were added to the plat,including the installation of utilities and fire hydrants and that there would be a guarantee of beach access. Subsequently,the DOT went back to the city to request those additional conditions removed from the plat so the project could move forward. Vaughn said,historically,the Resurrection River has flooded the airport property routinely; in 2013,the main runway was flooded eight times.Each time there was a flood event,it necessitated the surface pavement to be repaired. The DOT could not keep repairing the runway every time the river overran it. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Meeting Minutes October 24, 2022 Volume 42,Page 145 In considering how to fix the problem, the state hydrologist examined the property and discovered several things. The Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA)put out maps for insurance purposes called Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM); the maps for the Seward airport indicated there was a floodway directly across the runway at the airport, and this was different than the airport being in a floodplain.Bringing in fill to a floodway was not allowed by federal law. As a result, Vaughn said the DOT could not continue to fix the runway over and over to protect their investment. Another issue, Vaughn said, was when the DOT materials folks went to the airport and "thumped"the runway, a process similar to using seismometers,they discovered the flooding has not only been peeling to surface off the runway, but also has been weakening the subgrade. They determined that the runway could no longer support a large aircraft landing on it. Therefore, the DOT had to reduce the weight of incoming aircraft that would be allowed to use the runway. Following those tests, the hydrologist concluded that, if the runway was raised to a level where flooding no longer impacted it,the result would be that flood waters would back up onto other properties up river. Vaughn said the DOT's first approach would be to maintain the airport infrastructure; however, the DOT determined they could not just simply repave the runway, nor could they bring fill into the floodway because it was prohibited by federal law, nor could they raise the level of the runway without causing damage to other properties. Vaughn said the DOT relied on federal funds to cover 93% of the costs to repair airports. Therefore, the projects had to comply with federal regulations in order to be considered eligible for funding. Vaughn said, in addition to the concerns she outlined, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) required runways to be designed for a "design aircraft". In this regard, the FAA had consultants would study the aircraft that took off and landed to determine how much of the runway was being used. The study for the Seward airport resulted in the FAA determining they would never rebuild the long runway, yet because the subgrade of the long runway was compromised, it would have to be rebuilt in order to be safe. Vaughn clarified that simply exposing the D1 gravel underneath the asphalt would be considered reconstruction;in order to justify reconstruction of the long runway, larger planes would have to take off and land at least 500 times a year, cumulatively. Vaughn said the FAA has been amenable to lengthening the short runway, so that is the focus the DOT has taken. She said the DOT had to defend and justify extending the short runway, and the FAA agreed to it after about six months. Vaughn said the FAA would not pay for bringing in utilities or fire hydrants to the airport property,nor would they grant access to the public to cross the property to access the beach because that kind of access did not already exist. The DOT wished to purchase the tidelands to the south in order to wrap up the project. The DOT had already purchased all the property to the bay, and the city's parcel was the last piece the DOT wanted for the purpose of protecting the runway approach. The city's parcel would not be City of Seward,Alaska City Council Meeting Minutes October 24, 2022 Volume 42,Page 146 developed by the DOT,but would be in place for if/when the city decided to extend the short runway from 3,300 feet to 4,000 feet. Notice of the public hearing being posted and published as required by law was noted and the public hearing was opened. Carol Griswold, inside the city, said the city turned down an offer to sell the parcel to the DOT in June this year. She did not believe this particular parcel was considered surplus city land, according to the Municipal Land Plan which recommended the city retain ownership of all city- owned tidelands. Griswold stated she had also discovered a fiber optic cable lease for$104,800 for 10.57 acres which ran across the city's parcel; the Municipal Land Plan recommended the city continue ownership and continuation of this lease. Griswold was concerned that these conflicts were not noted on the preliminary plat. She didn't understand how or why the city would sell a parcel of land which had an income-producing lease on it, and recommended the city coordinate an easement for the DOT which excluded the lease. Griswold noted that there was another parcel of 23.6 acres that had an easement on it for airport aviation and hazard purposes which was south of the long runway;this was not sold to the DOT,but was an easement. She thought it would be prudent for the city to require that easement to revert back to the city once the long runway was abandoned by the DOT. She asked council to postpone this resolution until the plat could be updated and the supporting materials could be corrected. Tim McDonald, inside the city, was concerned that there was not enough attention being paid to visitor traffic; he thought there should be a road cut in as a by-pass starting at the airport at the abandoned long runway and going to the cruise ship terminal to alleviate road traffic on the Seward highway going into town.McDonald said the Resurrection River needed to be built up with large rip rap to prevent the river from continuing to flood the airport. He wondered if having an airport nearer to Kenai Lake would be a more appropriate location. No one else appeared and the public hearing was closed. Council suspended the rules to speak with the DOT. Osenga asked what capacity the DOT had determined the airport to be at today, and what capacity did the DOT anticipate the airport to handle after the project was completed. Vaughn said the goal was to have an airport that could be maintained, and right now the long runway could not be maintained. Vaughn said what could be done was to repave the aprons and the short runway; the DOT was proposing to lengthen the short runway so that the capacity of the airport would not be reduced as much as it would if the short runway was not lengthened and the long runway went away. The usage study indicated the use of the airport was more on par with keeping the short runway,but the DOT had been able to justify to the FAA that the short runway should be lengthened. Calhoon wondered what the DOT would do if they did not purchase the last parcel from the city and the city decided they did not wish to lengthen the short runway. Vaughn said if the city decided not to have the short runway lengthened, she would have to consider what the DOT would do. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Meeting Minutes October 24, 2022 Volume 42,Page 147 In response to Wells, Vaughn said the because the city wanted to have a long runway, the DOT built their plan in such a way accomplish two things: for the DOT to repair and lengthen the short runway to 3,300 feet, and to set up the city to extend the runway to 4,000 feet in the future. McClure wondered if this was a catch 22 situation wherein if the runway wasn't long enough to properly document airplane traffic to justify having a 4,000 foot runway, there was no way to prove that a longer runway was needed. Vaughn said there was an alternate approach to justifying a longer runway and that would be through forecasting; one of the concerns currently with the airport was with the approaches, and if the approaches were improved it could have an impact.Vaughn said the current approach required an airplane to be at an altitude of 2,500 feet in order to see the runway, and if the weather was bad, that could be difficult; the reason the planes needed to be so high was because they had to be able to execute a missed approach. Vaughn said, if the approaches were improved,it may become economically viable for a commercial carrier to operate out of the airport; if they operated flights often enough, a forecast may be used to justify building a longer runway. Calhoon recalled when Seward had a commercial airplane business in the summertime and said they didn't survive from a business standpoint. He favored having a good, solid short runway that would enable small aircraft and medical transport to have access. Osenga understood that the long runway could no longer be used, but he wanted to look ahead at the future to allow for the possibility of extending the runway.He favored getting the short runway repaired and lengthened to 3,300 feet, and setting up a future generation to have the choice to lengthen to 4,000 feet. Vaughn wanted to clarify the situation regarding public access to the beach. She said there is not, and never has been,legal public access to cross the airport property in order to access the beach. The public has access to the beach tidelands, but the public cannot legally cross airport property In order to get to the beach; the public could access the beach by boat. Vaugh also wished to clarify the appraised value of the tidelands property that the DOT requested to purchase from the city. The DOT made an offer based on the appraised value that they received, and the DOT's expectation was that if the city wished to have their own appraisal done,the city could do that and then counteroffer back to the DOT. In response to Bower, Vaughn said the DOT tried to determine the exact path of the fiber optic cables and it was difficult to determine. They traced the location from where the cables came on shore to try to determine the path, and the cables may cross over a portion of the property,but she couldn't say that with certainty. Calhoon wished to know what length the short runway could go to without the DOT purchasing the city's parcel. Motion to Postpone (Calhoon/DeMoss) Postpone Resolution 2022-096 to allow the DOT to determine how long the short runway could be extended to without City of Seward,Alaska City Council Meeting Minutes October 24, 2022 Volume 42,Page 148 purchasing the tidelands parcel from the city. Osenga wondered what the impact of having a postponement would have on the DOT'S plans. In response,Vaughn said it would simply postpone the project;there was the possibility that the long runway could be impacted in the meantime if the river flooded again.Vaughn added that the short runway would also be raised when the project was underway. Motion to Postpone Passed Yes: DeMoss,Wells, Calhoon, McClure No: Osenga UNFINISHED BUSINESS —None NEW BUSINESS Other New Business Organization of City Council Nominate,elect,and swear in a council member as Vice Mayor with a term to expire October, 2023. DeMoss nominated Osenga to be Vice Mayor. There were no other nominations. Motion (DeMoss/Calhoon) Elect Osenga as Vice Mayor with a term to expire October, 2023. Motion Passed Unanimous The city clerk delivered the Oath of Office to Vice Mayor John Osenga. Appoint a liaison to the Seward Community Health Center with a term to expire October, 2023. Council appointed Osenga to be the liaison to the Seward Community Health Center with a term to expire October, 2023. Appoint a council representative to the Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District with a term of January 1—December 31,2023; this person also serves as the liaison to the Port& Commerce Advisory Board with a term to expire October, 2023, unless council chooses to make a separate appointment for the PACAB liaison. Council appointed DeMoss to be the council representative to the Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District with a term of January 1 —December 31, 2023. Council did not appoint a liaison to the Port & Commerce Advisory Board with a term to expire