Airport tower would require voter OK

The hoops and red tape required for Minden-Tahoe Airport to install a control tower include getting approval from voters.

In 2010, Airport Question No. 1 listed several limitations on the use of the airport, including going to the ballot for airport expansions.

One of the arguments for passage of the question, which modified the initiatives passed by voters in 1984 and 1992 limiting weight was that the any permanent FAA control tower would require voter approval.

The lack of a control tower is cited as a weakness in the airport’s marketing plan, which members of the advisory committee reviewed on Tuesday.

Officials acknowledged that any effort to obtain a tower will be a long-detailed process that won’t occur in the near future.

During an update last summer, then Airport Manager Chris Johnson said that a control tower doesn’t mean commercial air service.

“A control tower is 100-percent safety,” he said. “We’ve got rotary wing, which is helicopter and we’ve got gliders. We also have powered traffic, fixed wing, we have corporate jet traffic, we have fire attack aircraft, which come in regularly, whenever we have a fire, they come here to base and then we’ve got our flight school.”

On Tuesday, Airport Safety Manager Russ Smith recounted a Dec. 30 incident that occurred when visibility was down below a half-mile due to foggy conditions.

He said that a PC-12 aircraft departed the runway while airport operations was conducting a regular inspection, missing the cart by 20 feet. The incident is still under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration.

At present, airport users transmit whether they are on the runway by radio, but had there been a tower, the flight would have had to clear take off with an air traffic controller.

Officials say they don’t have any jurisdiction over aircraft after they leave the ground. The airport asks pilots to avoid flying over the neighborhoods to the north.

A competitive analysis compared Minden-Tahoe with other Western Nevada Airports.

The closest airport in Carson City has less room to expand and has a shorter runway than Minden-Tahoe, which has 990 acres and has a 7,400-foot runway.

But the capital’s airport has an economic impact of $65 million despite having three-fourth’s of the 400 aircraft based at Minden-Tahoe.

According to the analysis, not having a tower may be discouraging some air traffic from landing at the airport.

In addition to the lack of a tower, noise complaints from surrounding residents are also an issue for the airport.

It has been 38 years since Douglas County voters approved weight limits designed to reduce the airport’s impact on the Valley.

That initiative was revised by voters in 1992 and again in 2010 in order to comply with federal regulations.

Under the current rules, the airport’s weight limit is based on the pavement capacity. The county never enforced the weight limit and firefighting aircraft larger than the 50,000-pound limit regularly used the airport when they were stationed in Minden.

“We understand the impact that Minden-Tahoe Airport has on the community and is an integral part of our vision and mission,” according to the draft plan. “Douglas County families and residents need to be informed of our existence and offered opportunities to utilize us at capacity that benefits them and the community.”

The county is working to open the east side of the airport to hangars and soaring facilities.