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Nicholas Pela presenting the San Manuel Master Plan at last week’s Public Information Meeting. Andrew Luberda | Miner
San Manuel Miner
The second and final Public Information Meeting (PIM) took place last Wednesday at the Terminal Building at the San Manuel Airport. The purpose of the meeting was to inform members of the local community about the airport’s future plans, and to solicit input from the public concerning the plans.
Wednesday’s meeting represented one of the final steps in the planning process, which began last October, before the Master Plan is completed and presented to the Pinal County Board of Supervisors in December.
An Executive Summary of the Airport Master Plan was formally presented to more than 20 airport planning consultants, county officials and local community members.
The Airport Master Plan covers all aspects of the planning process, in accordance with the current requirements of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT).
Nicholas J. Pela, the Airport Project Planner, summarized the Executive Summary during a 90-minute presentation.
The Executive Summary is a concise overview of the contents of the Airport Master Plan.
Among the hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of pages included in the Master Plan is an assessment of the existing airport infrastructure and an evaluation for compliance with current FAA design standards, aviation demand, land use, airport plans, and much more.
The majority of the plan, which covers the next 20 years, addresses scenarios that may or may not occur. However, there are immediate maintenance needs and improvements that are scheduled within the next four years.
Being prepared to make changes when necessary is an important component of the plan. An increased number of operations or an upgrade to the airport’s classification, requiring an extension to the runaway to accommodate larger aircrafts requires the plan to be flexible.
“We don’t predict the future,” Pela said about developing the Master Plan. “What we try to do is give a set of tools that are flexible going into the future and there are things that happen that you have to react to.”
One of the first tasks of the project was an inventory or assessment of the airport in its current condition. This is an important step, especially in determining compliance with federal requirements and potential funding.
“If you accept a federal or state grant you have to be in compliance with design standards,” said Pela.
According to the Executive Summary, the airport was found to be in generally good condition. Maintenance and other facility needs were identified.
Currently the Airport is leased from BHP. While the Master Plan does not recommend buying the land, Jim Petty, the Pinal County Airport Economic Director, is negotiating a potential purchase. The process to purchase the land will take three years, including an environmental assessment because FAA and/or ADOT funding will be used.
The first five years of the plan (2014-19) is split in two phases: the Immediate (2014-16) and Short Term Development (2017-19) Phasing Plans.
The work in these phases consists primarily of maintenance, rehabilitation, capacity, and safety projects that will allow the airport to better accommodate its existing activity.
This includes a program of pavement maintenance, apron construction with shaded aircraft parking, runway and taxiway rehabilitation, access road relocation, 2-5 unit tee hangars and aprons, taxiway lighting, auto parking, and more.
The access road location is necessary in order to comply with FAA guidelines that require roads not to be within the limits of the Runway Protection Zone (RPZ), a trapezoid area at each end of the runway.
As previously stated, FAA compliance is important in securing future funding.
To review the Executive Summary or the Airport Master Plan in its entirety, please visit http://bit.ly/1t87rjx.
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
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