Port puts dog park addition on hold

At the Port of Orcas Commissioners meeting on Sept. 25, the commissioners agreed with Chair Garth Eimers’ recommendation that the Eastsound Off-Leash Dog Park organizers be asked to delay a proposed shelter project for the park, which is located on port land.

The commissioners also reviewed progress with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on the Global Positioning System (GPS) Approach and continued work on the 2009 budget.

During the recent Port compliance check the FAA inspectors made note of the dog park, located along Mt. Baker Road near the corner of North Beach Road. The FAA communicated to Airport Manager Bea vonTobel in a follow-up, “The dog run will be a problem.”

The FAA has been criticized by Congress for allowing airports to use land purchased with FAA money for non-airport functions, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. The FAA administers the Airport Improvement Program, (AIP) which provides grants to airports for construction, equipment purchase, and similar capital improvements. In exchange for the grant airports must provide a written grant assurance that reserves use of airport land and revenues for the benefit of aviation. The port purchased the land where the dog park is located with a FAA grant. Eimers said, “The acceptance of the dog park has been more than we had anticipated, but it is a temporary situation. I have a concern about putting anything up that looks permanent. We are in a borderline compliance situation right now and I believe we should just leave any structure on hold for the time being.”

Dog park organizer Jeff Hanson had been raising money to create a shelter, with donated labor for its design and building.

GPS Coming

The Port has been trying to get a GPS Approach published since 2003. vonTobel reported that the FAA had informed her that the approach was in production with a fall of 2009 publication date. “This will change the air space around the airport making it an Instrument Fight Rules (IFR) designation. This allows aircraft to use instruments in the cockpit to more precisely align with the runway. It is especially important to the Port of Orcas because we are a commercial service airport and having the GPS Approach would mean that commercial carriers would have more days of access during inclement weather,” vonTobel said after the meeting.

Budget

The commissioners began a review of the 2009 budget, noting that the only significant increase in expenditures for next year were for elections. With three seats up for election to the Port Commission in November of 2009, they will need to budget $3,000 to cover costs of the election booklet and the election itself.

The next Port of Orcas meeting is scheduled for Oct. 9 at the Port Authority office at 7 p.m.

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