Letter.Airport Issues Explained The article ("VICA VICA Vocational Industrial Clubs of America VICA Video Conferencing Alliance (UK) VICA Vocational Industrial Chapters of America VICA Vision Counsel of America Panel Votes Down Airport Plan," April 14) addressed the April proceedings of the VICA Transportation Committee regarding the discussion of a new master plan alternative for Van Nuys Airport Van Nuys Airport (IATA: VNY, ICAO: KVNY, FAA LID: VNY) is a public airport located in Van Nuys, California in the San Fernando Valley, within the Los Angeles city limits. . Two crucially important issues were not mentioned in that article. First, Van Nuys Airport presently exists under a plan, and that plan designates the entire airport for aviation purposes. Second, both L.A. City Planning city planning, process of planning for the improvement of urban centers in order to provide healthy and safe living conditions, efficient transport and communication, adequate public facilities, and aesthetic surroundings. and Los Angeles World Airports Los Angeles World Airports or LAWA is the airport oversight and operations department for the city of Los Angeles, California. This department owns and operates Los Angeles International Airport, LA/Ontario International Airport, Palmdale Regional Airport, and Van have opined that land requirements, necessary for the support of aviation demand at the end of the planning window, very closely approximate the land allocations for aviation as are embodied em·bod·y tr.v. em·bod·ied, em·bod·y·ing, em·bod·ies 1. To give a bodily form to; incarnate. 2. To represent in bodily or material form: in the present plan. Very much to the point, the L.A. City Planning Department sent a memorandum to the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council noting that some 243 out of 274 acres were needed for aircraft parking. Omitted from that document was any reflection on land required by aviation businesses such as completion centers, avionics avionics (ā'vēŏn`ĭks), electronic instruments used in air or space flight; also the design and production of such instruments. Early planes had few instruments, but as aviation and aircraft became more complex, so did instrumentation. shops and interiors shops not engaged in the basing of aircraft. It also ignored the carve-out of some 15 acres for a new General Services helicopter facility in the middle of prime aviation land. Additionally, it ignored the loss of just over three acres under FAA set-back requirements that LAWA LAWA Los Angeles World Airports LAWA Lawrence's Warbler (bird species) recently noticed for enforcement, and finally it was mute mute (my  t), in music, device designed to diminish uniformly the loudness of a musical instrument. about the decision to release 2.2 acres of
critically needed aviation land at the corner of Hart Street and
Hayvenhurst to commercial purposes (an ideal location for expansion of
an adjacent piston aircraft facility.)
The proposed new alternative ignores the business forces that will move investors to develop land at Van Nuys Airport by artificially circumscribing land use. That action is specifically intended to constrain con·strain tr.v. con·strained, con·strain·ing, con·strains 1. To compel by physical, moral, or circumstantial force; oblige: felt constrained to object. See Synonyms at force. 2. supply and prevent the basing of new and quiet turbine aircraft at the Airport. The parties negatively impacted by that kind of planning aren't just important Valley businesses at the airport, but it goes far beyond that. The aircraft supported by Van Nuys Airport are the commercial arteries of Valley businesses and beyond. VICA has never taken a position with respect to which types of aircraft should occupy which land, and it is my personal belief that it should not do so now by endorsing the proposed alternative. There is clearly a need to assure parking for the over 500 piston aircraft now based at the airport, but the method used to gain that assurance from the city should not be the politicization of turbine aircraft and the sacrifice of their contribution to the economic vitality of the Valley. The limited business support enjoyed by the new proposal is a product of the development moratorium A suspension of activity or an authorized period of delay or waiting. A moratorium is sometimes agreed upon by the interested parties, or it may be authorized or imposed by operation of law. imposed on the airport by the city council, and that is only because the proposed alternative gives the false hope for businesses that they will finally be able to activate plans for developing properties at the airport. But the truth of the matter is that there will be very limited development at the airport if the proposed plan is adopted. A close examination of the proposal reveals that after the helicopter and piston lands are set aside, there is virtually no undeveloped land remaining for aviation purposes at Van Nuys Airport. Robert L. Rodine Principal Consultant, The Polaris Group and Co-Chair VICA Transportation Committee |
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