Davis CommentsNovember 2°1, 2009
Good evening Mayor and City Council Members.
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KALISPELL MANNING DEPARTMENT
My name is Scott Davis; I live at 448 5t", Avenue West,
Kalispell, Montana. I would like to speak to the issue of the
F.A.A. involvement of the proposed rebuilding and expansion of
the Kalispell City Airport. This letter contains excerpts from
Mr. Lex Blood's letter to the Council on March 7th 2005. And I
have been given permission by Mr. Lex Blood to do so.
Lex and I and many others, have been interested in the City
Airport situation for over 10 years now, as various steps in the
rehabilitation process have been studied and discussed.
Discussions have usually involved a group consisting primarily
of members of the Airport Advisory Board and City Council and
airport managers and staff. Lex's and my previous questions and
comments were directed toward the obvious and serious concerns
of resident safety and noise disruption. Both issues extend .well
beyond the physical limits of the Airport, as we are reminded in
August of 2005 crash of a plane on the west side of Kalispell,
just blocks from the Nigh School. And another crash on the south
end this summer. We have been very lucky that there have been no
residential deaths by downed aircraft. But luck does run out,
are we doing the best to prevent it.
Even if low flying planes don't crash, they always make
noise that is particularly irritating in the high traffic 'period
of summer, just as we're expecting to enjoy opening our windows
and enjoying our back yards. Also Somewhat less obvious, but
very -real, is the property values suffer in areas of diminished
safety, security, and i n.creased noise as those of us .who live on
the East and West and South sides of Kalispell, and the fear the
elderly have expressed of low flying aircraft, the numbers are
in the thousands. And now the Council has ok a lot of new
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1. The Airport -land is owned by the City of Kalispell. It
belongs to all taxpaying residents. The City presently receives
no tax revenue from this land and a small amount from
improvements. The question is, airport property being used to
its highest and best use?
2. This is a choice piece of real estate. The approximately 73
plus acre tract lies between the reconstructed U.S. 93 and the
Airport Road, with recently installed utilities, and near to the
New Kalispell Bypass-. The tract is approximately the lengt4 of
our entire main street and as wide as from 1st Avenue, East to
Ist. Avenue. West. All most the size of our down town area.
3. I'm not aware of any new real estate appraisal of the Airport
Property is available, but a review of reports prepared for the
airport reconstruction and discussions with local realtors,
indicates that that tract has a value of up to 20 million
dollars in around 2004 and 2005. And in a 1999 Morrison-Mariele
report that was grossly low -end valued put the property value in
excess of 8 million dollars (ten years ago). This -is no longer a
74 acre cow pasture on the far out skirts of Kalispell! I
4. Today, with the exception of some improvements on the
property, the city receives no tax revenue or net income from
the present use. If you had an asset worth let's say 20 plus
million dollars., wouldn't you expect even a minimum of 3%. Do
the math, $600,000 annual return.
5. Despite off-cited,cIaims of significant off -site revenue
generation, no realistic evaluation has been done to quantify
this. Airport backers contacted the economics department at FVCC
years ago regarding conducting such an economic evaluation, but
as far as I know no study was done.
6. The biggest gap in this entire scenario is that while there
has been extensive study given to various sites for this Airport
expansion, there has been no evaluation of the best and highest
,iuse for this land. Such a process would include an economic
evaluation of a number of potential development possibilities,
including the present airport. With comparative information -in
hand, the City and the Taxpayers can make an informed decision.
A sale of any or all of this property would yield a double
return -revenue from the sale and tax revenue from development.
7. There also seems to be a false choice put forward, either
this airport, at this location, or no city airport. In reality,
there are alternatives. One is basically a free -bee; Glacier
Park International has stated its ability and wngness to
serve all General Aviation needs now furnished at thecity
airport. They are required to do so by Federal Regulations. In
addition, a couple other total relocations were considered by
Morrison-Mariele and Peccia reports. Each cost less, up to 50%
less, than the proposed reconstruction and would still receive
FAA grant funding as well.
After a request by the City to GPI to manage the Kalispell
Airport, an internal report done for the GPI board also
recommended a total relocation just a few miles east of
Kalispell. This information was included in a letter to the city
in 2004, with specifics of an offer to manage such an airport.
Any relocation would leave the city of Kalispell with a choice
74 acre parcel for sale or development. Also there are federal
grant moneys available for such development.
8. 1 have read that Kalispell is the only city on Kontana that
is served by both a large commercial aviation airfield and a
generai aviation airfield. This includes Missoula, Butte,
Helena, Great falls, Bozeman, Bngs, Sidney, and West
Yellowstone. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? What they know that
we dort " V'
9. Has the City adequately assessed the opinions of the City
Residents? It doesn't look like it.
As far back as 1997, (12 years ago) Mr- Gabbert Of the Airpo
District Office of the F . A.A. in Helen, Montana, writing to
Kalispell City Manager Mr- Krepps, cites the essential need fo
s.
such assessment from it residents, the tax payers them self' I
A full and easily understood fact sheet and, questio�=&i
should be circulated after the range of alternatives i-s--
developed and er-anomic r_Gst/benefits of each have beert
evaluated. Taxpayers have a reasonable right to know and have -
consequential voice in how their assets are being utilized,
particularly in matters of such magnitude, both financially arnil,
for the fu-ture growth of - the city.
Has this been done? I'd like to see this fact sheet and
questionnaire and the results pl-ease.
As of last week ' I was informed by the F.A.A. that the City of
Kalispell has to do a new / complete environmental assessment
(E.A.) as the shelf life of one is only 3 years. Also the city
tf Kalispell needs to do a new site selection study for F.A.A.
involement, because of all the new subdivisions and development
if the land around our city airport. They said we are back to
square one.
To sum this up. I would say that the city has a signcant gap
in it performance of due diligence with regard to the decision
on the future of this tract of land and the potential costs and/
or benefits to us all. You as the City Council are the trustees
of the city assets. We, the taxpayers, expect and deserve a
thorough evaluation of all options before such future
commitments are made. And hopefully this upcoming election will
produce such results.
Thank you; here is a copy for the record.