Kodiak Meeting for Airport EIS Details: Nov 1 2011

I’m really pleased so many of you will probably be able to attend our meetings to discuss runway safety area alternatives that will be evaluated in the Kodiak Airport EIS.  We will have one interagency meeting in Kodiak and one in Anchorage, at the following locations and times:

Kodiak

• Date:  Tuesday, November 1
• Time:   1:30 pm
• Place:  Kodiak Harbor Convention Center, Katurwik Room
• Directions: Located at the corner of Rezanof Drive and Marine Way

Anchorage

• Date:  Thursday, November 3
• Time:  9:00 am
• Place:  Anchorage Federal Office Building Annex, Room B
• Directions:  The Annex building entrance is located on 8th, across the street to the south from the main Federal building (the main Federal bldg is the big 5-story or so structure at 222 W. 7th Avenue).  It looks like a building that is mostly underground.  The security guard can direct you to conference room A.

I expect that each meeting will take no more than two hours.  As I’ve mentioned before, please let me know if you would like us to meet separately with your organization concerning issues other than alternatives and we’ll work hard to accommodate your schedule.

Regards,

Leslie A. Grey
Environmental Protection Specialist
FAA - Alaskan Region, Airports Division
907-271-5453

Kodiak Airport EIS meetings scheduled for Nov 1 & 2

Good afternoon,
 
Based on feedback from a number of our key agency representatives, I have
scheduled Kodiak Airport EIS meetings in Kodiak and Anchorage for the week
of October 31, 2011.  The intent of these meetings will be to present
runway safety area alternatives that will be included in the Draft EIS.
FAA and members of the EIS consulting team will take this opportunity to
describe the alternatives, provide rationale for why some alternatives work
and others won’t, and explain the factors considered in developing a range
for full environment analysis.  We are inviting agency and tribal
representatives, as well as other project stakeholders and interested
persons, to attend.  Our schedule will be:
 
      Kodiak Meetings
            Tuesday Afternoon, November 1 – Alternatives Meeting for All
            Wednesday Morning, November 2 – Available for individual
            agency/tribal/stakeholder meetings
 
      Anchorage Meetings
            Thursday Morning, November 3 – Alternatives Meeting for All
            Thursday Afternoon, November 3 - Available for individual
            agency/tribal/stakeholder meetings
 
As you can see from the schedule, I have also set aside time to meet with
some of you who would like further consultation or to discuss other
elements of the EIS.  I or another member of my consultant team will follow
up with you shortly to make those arrangements.  Let me know if you or
others from your organization cannot attend the alternatives meeting, and I
will do my best to arrange a conference call or some other forum to cover
this information with you in the near future.
 
In the next few days we will reserve meetings rooms, and I will send
another announcement with locations and times.  In the meantime, please
don’t hesitate to call me at 271-5453 if you have questions or specific
requests.
 
Leslie Grey
Environmental Protection Specialist
FAA - Alaskan Region, Airports Division
907-271-5453

UPDATE: 30 September 2011 from Leslie Grey FAA

Good morning,
 
 
I just wanted to give you a quick heads-up concerning progress on the
Kodiak Airport EIS.  FAA has completed our examination of the factors that
may constrain or influence runway safety area design for the north-south
(18/36) and east-west (07/25) runways at the airport.  We’ll provide much
more detail in the near future on how we conducted this review and
analysis, but for now I’ll note that factors considered included:
 
 
1) operational requirements such as aircraft use and approach and departure
procedures,
 
 
2) landing aids such as the Runway 36 VASI and the Runway 25 glide slope,
 
 
3) runway utilization patterns,
 
 
4) federal safety requirements for the design aircraft, and
 
 
5) opportunities to avoid or minimize environmental impacts.
 
 
As a result of this effort, we’ve established a range of alternatives that
will be subject to a full examination of environmental impacts in the EIS.
 
 
Our consultants are at this time preparing materials that will depict the
details of these new alternatives (and I emphasize “new,” because most of
them were not included in the Preliminary Draft EIS).  My plan is to
schedule meetings with all of you sometime in November, in Kodiak and
Anchorage, to present these new alternatives and explain the work behind
our decisions.  Due to continuing uncertainty over the 2012 budget for
FAA’s Airports Program, unfortunately I can’t yet confirm that meetings
will take place, let alone times and dates.  But I hope to get approval
sometime in the next week or so, and will then notify you all of the
relevant details.
 
 
In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to call (271-5453) or write
(Leslie.Grey@faa.gov) if you have questions or comments or just want to
talk about the EIS.
 
 
Thanks very much,
 
Leslie A. Grey
Environmental Protection Specialist
FAA - Alaskan Region, Airports Division
907-271-5453