[JYO] Informal Notes on the Leesburg Airport Commission Meeting

Thanks to Dennis Boykin for taking notes...

Ed

- - -

Here are some informal notes regarding the Town of Leesburg Airport 
Commission Meeting, October 21st, 2003

1)   Betsy Fields, Town of Leesburg Director of Development, presented the 
background on the Airport Gateway project.
   - Envisioned as a physical gateway to welcome and orient visitors to the 
Town of Leesburg, County of Loudoun, and the Leesburg Airport.
   - The gateway concept will encompass informational panels along the 
entrance to the terminal, an informational kiosk inside the terminal (including 
a 
cockpit and learning devices), and a sculpture garden/landscape area on the 
airside patio of the terminal.
   - The JetStream 41 fuselage donated by ACA is an available resource, but 
no decisions have been made regarding it's use. 
   - Comments regarding the similarity between this discussion and the 'Sam 
Legard Memorial Sidewalk' concept discussed previously this year were not 
offered.
   - An RFP was drafted by the EDC and presented to the Airport Commission 
for review.

2)   ILS Working Group
   - The appropriation is held up in Congress; although the bill is back in 
markup; the JYO ILS and the required road realignment funding is still intact.
   - The EA appears to be an 18 to 24 month process; the entire project is 
probably a three year effort.

3)   A suggestion was made by Bill Whyte that Leesburg might consider having 
an Open House / Airshow as a celebration of the new Terminal.  Volunteers will 
have to be solicited for such an effort. Ed Levine volunteered to help 
coordinate this event.

4)   Councilmatic Report
   - VA Department of Aviation and FAA officials briefed the Town Council (in 
working session) on the importance of the Leesburg Airport as a reliever 
airport in the National Airspace System.  They impressed upon the Town Council 
the 
importance of protecting the state's $ 4.5 Million investment ($ 19 M federal 
investment) over the last 10 years from excessive residential encroachment. 
Growth in based a/c and annual operations will continue, as will airport 
revenue.

5)   Airport Director
   - Terminal construction is on schedule and under budget, planning on a 
March completion.
   - South end T-hangars demolition will be this winter.
   - Runway rehab:  90% drawings should be complete by end of November - 
construction planned for this summer.
   - Corporate area will go forward for 3rd party commercial development - 
town staff is developing RFP.
   - A technical advisory group will support the airport master planning 
process.  Input from A/C owners and commercial tenants will be filtered thru 
the 
ILS working group.
   - Based on new state guidance, fencing has been moved from capital project 
funding to security funding.  Town staff is pushing to get funding from the 
February VAB meeting for initial fencing.
   - The gyrocopter incident on Monday created some ruts in the runway - 
which will have to be repaired before the winter.
   - The State of Virginia DEQ has begun enforcing federal guidelines on 
hazardous waste.  The specific problem at hand is dumping fuel from sump tests 
- 
the GATS cup is the preferred solution.  The FBO will need to locate dump sites 
around the tiedown areas for those folks that don't want to pour the fuel 
back into their tanks.  By setting up the recycling system, the airport becomes 
a 
recycler, rather than a hazardous waste producer.     
                   
6)  The airport security subcommittee will meet Thursday the 23rd at 7:30 PM 
in the Town Council Conference Room.

7)  Multiple a/c in T-Hangars was approved by the airport commission at the 
last meeting.  The policy will allow the master lessee to 'sublet' to a 
room-mate, but each occupant must sign a lease with the town.  Any lifting 
devices 
must be floor mounted only.

8)  Self-service fuel:  The proposed solution will be commercial, rather than 
operated by the town.  The motion to direct staff to create and publish an 
RFP was made and seconded, and approved unanimously.  An engineering study will 
be needed to determine a location for the island, which will be done as part 
of the master plan.

9)  Tiedown list:  The new policy will alternate each available spot between 
the private users waiting list and the newly created commercial users waiting 
list.  The commercial list will require an FBO license to be listed.  Motion 
was approved.

10) Tiedown and T-Hangar deposit:  A new policy was proposed that would 
require 1 months rent as deposit.  Motion was approved.

11) New Piedmont Hawthorne GM was introduced. Welcome to Jeff Milford.


The next Leesburg Airport Commission meeting will take place on November 18th 
at 7:30 PM at the Leesburg Town Hall.  The December meeting may be held as an 
Open House.  Details will be worked out at the November issue.

Other related posts: