PORT ANGELES — Worries about the effects of removing Lincoln Park trees were heard along with encouragement for doing whatever is necessary for improving the efficiency of William R. Fairchild International Airport during a meeting on a proposed Port of Port Angeles plan Thursday.
About 40 people attended the informal meeting at the Port of Port Angeles administrative office to hear from consultants and port officials on the options outlined in a proposed master plan.
Park’s trees in danger
Most of the hundreds of trees in Lincoln Park are doomed if the airport is to remain open, port officials and consultants said.
The trees have grown so tall they are encroaching or eventually will grow into the approach zone, regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, for the runway at the east end of the airport. Already, a portion of the runway is not being used now.
Even if the unclaimed part of the runway is not reclaimed, virtually all of the trees would have to be removed to permit the airport to use a new global positioning system, port officials said.
Dennis Lee, a Port Angeles resident, said he was in favor of whatever option would make the runway more usable.
“I’m a bit of a tree hugger myself, but I think there is plenty of room to create an urban park there that is open and just as usable or more usable to people,” he said.
“This is a good location for pilots to stop on their way to Alaska, so they’ll come and fill up on fuel, buy food and then they are gone — but that money they spend benefits the community.”
Tricia Cooper, who lives near Lincoln Park on West 19th Street, said she was concerned about noise.
“I’m concerned about the sound barrier they currently create between my house and the [Clallam County] Fairgrounds,” she said.
“What will that do to my property values? I understand the immense value of the airport to the community, but this is the human face on the other side of that.”
Dave Dickinson, who lives on West 17th Street near the park, said he is worried about the removal of the windbreak provided by the trees.
“Just before I came over, I counted at least six trees that might fall on my house and at least 30 that could fall on my neighbors’, and taking down the trees in the park would remove the wind block that is there right now — I’m worried about the lives and property at stake here,” he said.
Master plan
The master plan, which outlines the development of the airport for the next 20 years, will go to the FAA for approval after the port’s Airport Technical Advisory Committee and consultants finish it.
Once the FAA has approved the plan it will go to the port commissioners for approval — probably in December this year or January 2010, depending when it is returned from the FAA, Executive Director Jeff Robb said.
Of the three options for the airport runway in the plan, the most feasible one, according to Robb, would require reclaiming 1,354 feet on the east side of a runway that is now not usable because of the height of Lincoln Park trees.
That would cost about $3.5 million.
Reclaiming the portion of the runway that is closed would mean most of the trees in the park would have to be cut down and the park redeveloped.
Another option would be to publish information regulating the conditions under which runways could be used, Robb said, adding that wasn’t likely to be approved by the FAA.
The third option, at a cost of an estimated $21 million, would be to extend the runway about 1,107 feet to the west.
That option would require cutting trees in sensitive habitat areas near Dry Creek as well as working with multiple private landowners, Robb said.
New landing system
A new development is the recent addition of a global positioning system landing system, which has prompted the FAA to say that the angle of planes coming from the east to the west to land should be changed.
The current required measurement for the approach area coming into the runway from the east is that for every 20 feet a plane moves over the ground, 1 foot vertically must be cleared.
The new angle needed would change the ratio to 1 foot high for every 34 feet, meaning that planes come in at a shallower angle.
“Those trees have to be addressed or the runway will get shorter and shorter and the airport will have to be shut down,” said John Yarnish, one of the consultants and an engineer for URS Corp., adding that, eventually, even at the steeper angle, the trees would continue to encroach and have to slowly be cut down.
The GPS system helps private pilots as well as Kenmore Air, Robb said.
Kenmore Air currently has to fly about 30 miles extra in order to land from the west when weather conditions are bad, which costs about $160,000 to $180,000 annually, he said.
Both the port and the city have suggested that the park could be redeveloped and low-canopy trees could be planted that wouldn’t grow into the airspace.
Some of the shorter trees could be mixed in with other types of trees, trails and recreational areas, according to depictions shown at the meeting.
The last airport master plan was written in the early 1980s, Robb said.
Once the plan is formally approved, the port would purchase what is called an “avigation easement” that would grant the port the right to allow planes in the air space above the parcel of property.
Terminal
According to FAA regulations, the current terminal is too close to the runway, Robb said.
Each of the three options under consideration would place the new building close to the area of the current terminal, but shifted farther from the runway.
In 2008, about 350 trees were cut down in Lincoln Park because they were in the approach zone for the airport.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.
