TITLE
Recommendation to approve Update to Long Beach Airport Minimum Standards for Aeronautical Activities. (District 5)
DISCUSSION
Section 16.44.130 of the Long Beach Municipal Code requires the Airport Director to establish reasonable administrative regulations relating to all aeronautical activities at the Long Beach Airport (Airport), which historically has been accomplished by City Council-approved Minimum Standards for Aeronautical Activities (Minimum Standards). Minimum Standards are widely used throughout the aviation industry with the stated goal of protecting the level and quality of services offered to commercial and noncommercial users at airports. Within this framework, Minimum Standards that are appropriately developed and implemented promote safety, protect airport users, enhance the availability of services, support orderly development of land, and ensure efficiency of operations. The Airport has twice developed or updated Minimum Standards, first in 1998 and again in 2008. While certain activities and characteristics of an airport remain fairly consistent over time, there are evolving practices and emerging trends that compel airport operators to review their Minimum Standards periodically to ensure that operational, safety and business practices stay current with trends in the industry.
Because the last update was completed in 2008, it is appropriate to review and modify (as needed) the Airport’s Minimum Standards. Unlike the prior update, which included a substantive rewrite and resulted in a very thorough base document, the current update accomplishes the following: makes various administerial corrections to ensure consistency throughout the document; adds an aeronautical user group previously left out (Commercial Hangar Operator); deletes commercial airline operators’ information (more appropriately covered under Airport Rules and Regulations); adds new requirements related to fuel storage and reporting; and, adds a “Definitions” section to the document. The proposed changes are consistent with best practices of the aviation industry and help ensure a level playing field and promote safety, competition, and open access at the Airport. Staff engaged aeronautical users to ensure the proposed changes were reviewed prior to City Council action (as recommended by the Federal Aviation Administration) and to provide ample opportunity for input about the proposed changes. Meetings with the Long Beach Airport Association and written outreach to aeronautical users were employed to ensure a broad outreach.
The attached Long Beach Airport Minimum Standards for Aeronautical Activities document has been prepared and is submitted for consideration and approval. As made clear during the prior update, Minimum Standards, whether newly approved or otherwise modified, become effective and are applicable to aeronautical users conducting business at the Airport when entering a new lease agreement or otherwise amending a lease agreement. All other aeronautical users are subject to the Minimum Standards in effect at the time their lease is approved.
At the meeting of the Airport Advisory Commission on July 20, 2017, the draft Minimum Standards document was placed on the agenda, and staff presented an overview. The Commission was complimentary of staff’s work and voted to receive and file the item.
This matter was reviewed by Deputy City Attorney Richard F. Anthony on ------------------July 24, 2017 and by Revenue Management Officer Geraldine Alejo on July 28, 2017.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
City Council action is requested on August 15, 2017, to allow staff sufficient time to notify Airport tenants of the new Minimum Standards for Aeronautical Activities, with an effective date of September 1, 2017.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal or local job impact associated with this recommendation.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
JESS L. ROMO, A.A.E.
DIRECTOR, LONG BEACH AIRPORT
APPROVED:
PATRICK H. WEST
CITY MANAGER