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Show If Skypark Ceased? Airports Would Be Affected Bs MARK D. MICKELSEN BOUNTIFUL If Sky-park Sky-park Airport suddenly ceases to exist, the consequences to Salt Lake International and Ogden Municipal airports will be serious, according to the latest status report from the Wasatch Front Regional Council. IN A memorandum addressed addres-sed to several South Davis city and county leaders, the WFRC spells out the fact that Skypark "plays an important role in FAA said no to the proposal, claiming lights would be insufficient insuf-ficient barriers to the potential dangers of the two structures. According to Mr. JefTeries. Utah State Code allows cities with airports in, or adjacent to them to protect the airports with special zoning. But he said he knows of no officials in Davis or Salt Lake counties who have exercised that power. HE SAID IT is crucially important im-portant for the cities to zone the areas so as not to interfere against the parties involved. But this, in itself is a problem, since no one wants to admit responsibility for the tower being there. "IT MIGHT take something like that (accident) to get someone to move." he explained. ex-plained. The director added that both North Salt Lake and Woods Cross have a lot of reasons for saying the airport benefits their city, but said neither one feels comfortable enough with that to put out money for development. The funds can be used both for capital improvements and for the overall operation of the facility. If. however, the airport cannot can-not comply with the requirements require-ments of the FAA study. Mr. Jefferies says the airpoit constituents con-stituents should still remove airspace obstructions and implement im-plement protective zoning. IF THIS IS not done, he said the life of the airport will be drastically reduced. Mr. Jefferies said the WFRC is worried that a pilot will hit the cracking tower and file suit of a couple hundred feet on the runway length to prevent any interference with 9(X) North. - Specific measures to protect pro-tect the airport from encroachment encroach-ment by continued development develop-ment will have to be taken by the cities involved. MR. JEFFERIES' letter to the cities and county officials says upgrading the airport to FAA standards "will insure the future operation of Skypark Sky-park Airport and its role in the System Plan (WFRC) by qualifying qual-ifying it for federal funds." meeting local aviation demands." de-mands." and that if the airport were no longer available. Salt Lake International. Ogden Municipal and other similar airports in the region would suffer significantly. The closure of the airport for any reason would result in overcrowded airplane basing facilities from one end of the Aasatch Front to the other. "FOR THAT reason.' reads the letter, "all feasible steps should be taken to insure continued functioning of the airport." The WFRC points out that the airport is currently in violation viola-tion of several Federal Aviation Avia-tion Administration (FAA) safety regulations, and recommends recom-mends to the cities involved and county that those problems prob-lems be taken care of as soon as possible. OF PARTICULAR concern to the council is the location of a Cowboy Oil Refinery cracking crack-ing tower and storage tank in close proximity to the airport's main runway both structures struc-tures potentially hazardous to incoming and outgoing planes. The FAA has asked Cow-boy Cow-boy Oil officials to remove the two structures, according to WFRC Director Wilbur Jefferies. Jef-feries. IN THE first instance, (he oil company refused, but told the FAA they would be glad to light the tower and tank for safety measures, he said. The with designated air space, or cause obstructions to the flight paths of departing and arriving planes. Currently the WFRC is recommending re-commending that a study be done to determine the costs and feasibility of bringing the now privately-owned facility up to FAA standards. IF IT IS determined that updating up-dating the airport is economically economic-ally feasible. Mr. Jefferies said a program for public acquisition acquisi-tion or an assurance of long-term long-term public use should be prepared. pre-pared. And even if the airport study turns up a "red light" towards development, the WFRC will still recommend that the facility facil-ity correct its safety problems and a spot in the WFRC's metropolitan met-ropolitan systems plan will be held for the facility. THE PROPOSED feasibility study will include the following: fol-lowing: To comply with FAA standards, stan-dards, structures conflicting with the airport's air space must be removed, specifically a refinery storage tank and cracking tower owned by Cowboy Oil. THE PRESENT 4.700 foot runway and taxi-way must be extended 700 feet to a total length of 5.400 feet. The extension exten-sion will require the closure of 2600 South and 1 100 North and may possibly interfere with 900 North in North Salt Lake. The FAA may grant i variance |
