PORT ANGELES — The public will have one more chance to comment on whether the vast majority of the hundreds of trees in Lincoln Park should be cut down to clear the approach to a William R. Fairchild International Airport runway before the Port of Port Angeles sends its proposed airport master plan to the Federal Aviation Administration for evaluation.
The meeting — at 5 p.m. today at the Port of Port Angeles administrative office at 338 W. First St. — will include the presentation of three alternatives for runway length — each with its own requirement for the number and location of tree removal — and three options for the location of a new terminal.
Both the removal of trees in the park, which is owned by the city of Port Angeles, and the new terminal are needed because of a combination of FAA regulations, new navigation equipment at the airport and expansion plans for the airport, said port Executive Director Jeff Robb.
“I think this should be thought of as a great opportunity,” Robb said.
“This is a chance to make the park even more friendly to the community.”
Currently it is dark, and it is underused at this point, he said.
“But we have the chance to work with the city to plant some low-canopy trees and develop it into any kind of park that will be most beneficial to the community. We can improve the trail system and really develop it.
“This was discussed at length at our last public meeting [on the master plan].”
Any of the three options for a new terminal location would cost about $16.1 million, Robb said.
The master plan would create a direction for the next 20 years or so.
The last airport master plan was written in the early 1980s, Robb said.
After approval by the FAA, the proposed plan would go to the port commissioners for approval.
Most trees
Most of the trees in Lincoln Park would have to be cut down if one of the alternatives is implemented — and that option is the most feasible of the three, according to Robb.
In that option — alternative 2 — the 1,354 feet of runway on the east side of the airport that cannot be used now would be reclaimed. That would mean that both the runway protection zone and approach zone would be pushed to the east.
The plan would cost the port about $350,000, Robb said.
The runway protection zone is a trapezoid, or four-sided, area off of the end of the runway. Currently most of the runway protection zone falls within the airport over the unused portion of the runway.
The runway approach zone is a rectangle-shaped area off of the end of the runway protection zone. Currently this area falls across L Street and covers a small portion of the park where 350 trees were cut down last year. The trees had grown too tall for the approach.
If the rest of the runway is reclaimed, both zones will move east, as will the end of the runway.
The runway protection zone would end about where the runway approach zone currently is.
The new approach area would fall over virtually all of Lincoln Park.
In both the approach area and the protection zone, the FAA regulates the proportion of horizontal feet to vertical feet. The current measurement for the approach area is for every 20 feet along the ground, 1 foot vertically must be cleared.
Already some trees at the current runway length are approaching that height.
The FAA requires a shallower slope for a global positioning approach, which it recently approved for the airport.
It would change the measurements so that for every 34 feet, 1 foot vertically must be cleared.
“Most of the trees would fall into that area,” Robb said.
“Also we believe, and I think that some in the city government agree, that it would be beneficial to take care of the problem now so that we aren’t constantly going back to ask them to cut down more trees.”
The global positioning system approach was installed to help not only private planes, but Kenmore Air during bad weather conditions, Robb said.
Kenmore has said that during bad weather conditions the pilots must fly past the airport and turn around to land from the west because the angle of the trees does not comply with FAA regulations.
Kenmore has said flying around costs the company tens of thousands of dollars a year.
If no agreement could be reached on cutting trees down, the runway would be gradually shortened, Robb said.
“We believe an agreement will be reached — the city has been very cooperative,” he said.
“But hypothetically the runway would become shorter and shorter until it was not usable anymore.”
Part 77 regulation
However, the trees could be in danger because of a FAA regulation called Part 77, even outside of the other regulations, Robb said.
Part 77 requires that all objects that are 150 feet taller than the surface of the runway be cleared.
The radius that it would affect is unclear at this point. A complicated formula depends on runway length — which would vary depending on the various options — as well as a host of other factors.
However, it is likely that most of the trees would be affected by the rule, even without extending the runway in that direction, Robb said.
If that option were implemented the port would work with the city to come up with a viable option for the park.
The port would purchase what is called an “avigation easement” which would grant the port the right to allow planes in the air space above the parcel of property.
Under Part 77, 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.
Other options
Two other options are also in the master plan to gain more runway space, which Robb said is necessary for the long-term viability of the airport.
“We are at the absolute shortest the runway could be and still allow the Fed Ex plane to land,” he said, citing that plane as an example of the types of aircraft that are increasing in demand.
One of the ideas is to simply publish information on what kinds of planes can land in what directions.
“Unfortunately this type of thing almost never works and is rarely accepted [by the FAA],” Robb said.
The third option is to extend the runway to the west. An additional 1,107 feet would be added to the west.
That option would cost the port $17.8 million, Robb said.
“The other issue we get into with this one is that it would include clearing areas like Dry Creek, which has several critical habitats,” he said.
“We get into the same problem with cutting down trees there, but in the other direction, and this time it would affect these habitats.
“So although we have three alternatives, two of them are not very valid ones at this point.”
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.