The latest closure attempt began early this year as part of an attempt to find ways to close the County’s $215M budget gap. In March, the board voted for studies of the potential net financial benefits of developing the airport and the potential legal issues with closing the airport. The County Counsel’s report, released today, offered several actions that the County could take to attempt to close the airport. The report concluded “Should the Board determine that it wishes to pursue the sale or lease of the Reid-Hillview Airport, the legal procedures
would be extremely complex and lengthy.”

In accepting the report, Board of Supervisors Chair Pete McHugh said that a major portion of funds realized from any potential sale would have to be shared with the FAA, and that it was uncertain that the County could be successful in any attempt to close the airport.

Approximately ten of us spoke to the Supervisors, split roughly between pro and con positions, as did a member of the FAA’s Airport’s division, before the final vote. People speaking in favor of the airport pointed out that a previous County funded consulting report from SRI concluded that the airport was the safest possible use of the land, that RHV is designated as a reliever airport to San Jose International, and that flight training currently conducted at RHV would move to the other three airports in the County, increasing the number of operations and noise at those airports.

If past is prologue, this issue will come up again in the future. The Palo Alto Airport has a Joint Community Relations Committee that has improved the dialogue between airport users and nearby residents, and it appears there may be an opportunity to get one established for RHV early next year when new members come onto the Board of Supervisors. Ironically, the formation of such a committee has been blocked in the past by the one Supervisor who voted to close the airport, but who is leaving the Board in December.

Let’s continue to work to make Reid-Hillview Airport a model in the way it works with the community. This past Saturday’s activity, which brought out over 100 organizations and flew over 500 children, was a great example and resulted in favorable publicity. The next RHV Airport Day, on September 20, will be another great opportunity to showcase the airport, so please support RHVAA in this annual event.

Most of all, please fly responsibly by following all noise abatement procedures. Also, the next time you go flying, take along a friend who has an interest in flying and the means to pursue flight training. We all need to get actively involved in growing the pilot population if we’re to continue to have the clout we need to defend airports.

Best regards,
Max Trescott
President, SiliconValleyGA

Monday, August 11, 2008
RHV Terminal Building
Please print, read, and bring the Legal Options document

John Blair
Vice President
Coalition for Responsible Airport Management & Policy

“4. The County May Seek Congressional Relief
Notwithstanding the FAA’s position as outlined above, the County may seek relief through its congressional delegation. The City of Rialto, California, for example, was able to secure a provision in a federal transportation bill that directed the FAA to permit Rialto to close the Rialto Municipal Airport, with certain restrictions on the proceeds of the sale of the property.

CONCLUSION
Should the Board determine that it wishes to pursue the sale or lease of the Reid-Hillview Airport, the legal procedures would be extremely complex and lengthy. In addition to the administrative processes of the FAA and possible ensuing litigation, the County would be required to adhere to CEQA processes.”

You can bet that Supervisor Alvarado is working as hard as she can to get Representatives Lofgren and Honda to legislate away the contracts.

Here’s agenda item 41:

“41. Consider recommendations relating to Reid-Hillview Airport.

Possible action:

• Under advisement from March 18, 2008 (Item No. 17): Accept report from the Office of the County Counsel relating to legal options relating to Reid-Hillview Airport.
• Direct the Administration and/or County Counsel to take any action the Board deems appropriate.
• Accept report from the Roads and Airports Department relating to grants accepted from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for acquisition and development of Reid-Hillview Airport.

Transmittal CC02 081208 : Report Back on Legal Options Relating to Reid-Hillview Airport
Transmittal RA05 081208 : Reid-Hillview Airport Grant History
Map of Reid-Hillview Airport Property Parcels (Miscellaneous)
Reid-Hillview History Summary (Miscellaneous)
Reid-Hillview Airport Grant Summary 1962-present (Miscellaneous)”

Here’s the link to the full agenda on the County’s website:
http://www.sccgov.org/portal/site/scc/boardagenda?contentId=52914c96e3a9b110VgnVCM10000048dc4a92____&agendaType=BOS%20Agenda

I highly recommend that you read the Legal Options document in its entirety.

John Blair
Vice President
Coalition for Responsible Airport Management & Policy

During the tour Ken saw the hangars/shelters/tiedowns, the tower, and several FBOs (thanks for allowing us to interrupt your workday).

After the tour we gathered in the terminal to eat sandwiches and talk informally. Ken stated that he has not and does not want RHV to be closed, and that the tour helped educate him further in the value of RHV to the County and surrounding region.

The Supervisors have not yet received any information about the referral that will be presented to them on August 12. As soon as we find out more about it we will let you know, but it will likely not be released to the public until August 8, and even then some parts of it will be client-attorney privilege and not available to the public.

John Blair
Vice President
Coalition for Responsible Airport Management & Policy

1. Supervisor McHugh’s comments to the Commisioners (9:14, 1.4MB)
2. Supervisor McHugh’s Q&A with the Commisioners (28:24, 4.2MB)
3. Supervisor McHugh’s Q&A with the public (29:20, 4.3MB)

You may click on the link to play the sound file in your browser or right-click on the link to download the mp3 file to your computer and play it from there.

The short summary of Pete’s position is that the County has a $200M deficit and, while he has always been an airport supporter, he is not sure that the airport is the best use of the County’s land asset. He does not appear to have any other hidden agenda other than doing what he thinks is best for the County.

This is good. All we have to do is convince him that the airport is an important, irreplaceable asset, not just a convenient place for pilots to park their airplanes. I believe that the aviation community can easily make that case by working together and with other key organizations such as the City of San Jose, San Jose International Airport, the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, and the Santa Clara Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

When the referral on legal options comes back to the Board on June 3, Pete said that he will ask that it go to the Airports Commission for their comments before the Board takes further action.

Regards.
John Blair
Vice President
Coalition for Responsible Airport Management & Policy
(CRAMP)

Pete has always been a very strong supporter of Reid-Hillview Airport (RHV) and general aviation in the past, so this will be a great opportunity to hear why he has made this request.

I strongly encourage you to come to the meeting to hear what he has to say as well as to make your own comments to the Commission. However, please note the following:

• Pete has always been a pretty straight-up guy. The purpose here is for us to understand where he is coming from on this issue, not to criticize him. Please remain polite and respectful at all times.
• Pete will be discussing this with the Commission in the setting of a formal meeting. We (the public) may listen, and make our own statements to the Commission, but can not discuss this directly with Pete unless he does so voluntarily. Airport Commission meetings are often very informal because few people are in attendance, however the chair can always follow or revert to Robert’s Rules of Order in the interest of keeping the meeting in order.

This should be an interesting and informative meeting and I again encourage you to attend.

County Airports Commission Meeting
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
6:00 pm, Room 157
County Government Center
70 West Hedding Street
San Jose, CA 95110
(Located at 1st and Hedding. Park on Hedding)

Regards.
John Blair
Vice President
Coalition for Responsible Airport Management & Policy (CRAMP)

Note: Also posted the Airport commission meeting at Meetup.com…

http://aviation.meetup.com/79/calendar/7643335/

Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:54:37 -0700
Subject: Amended Airports Commission April 1, 2008 Agenda
From: Roy Stone <roy.stone@cob.sccgov.org>
To: Roy Stone <roy.stone@cob.sccgov.org>

Agenda Recipients:

An amended agenda for the April 1, 2008 regular meeting of the Airports Commission and supporting documents are attached.

Please note that Item No. 4 has been added and relates to a verbal report to be received from Chairperson McHugh regarding his original referral to Administration to request information associated with phasing out airport operations at Reid Hillview and developing the site for other uses.

Please respond via email if you have any difficulty in accessing the
documents.

—
Roy Stone
Deputy Clerk
(408) 299-5082