BENTONVILLE -- An update on creating a policy to regulate events held at the municipal airport should be available early August, said Ben Peters, city engineer and airport manager.
Peters reported Thursday to the Airport Advisory Board the city's legal department is spearheading the policy effort. It's working with Kaplan, Kirsch & Rockwell, a consulting firm in Colorado with aviation experience, to develop regulations.
Camille Thompson, city staff attorney, was out of town Thursday. She should be able to provide an update at the board's August meeting, Peters said.
Events scheduled to be held at the airport not strictly aeronautical in nature have been cancelled or placed on hold as city officials expressed concern about liability issues. Sheep Dog Impact Assistance was one organization told it would have to find someone else to hold its event. The group held its annual Patriot Day at the airport the past two years.
"Everything that is not strictly aviation is on hold," Peters told the board. "Fly-ins, pilot events, those sorts of things are acceptable."
Summit Aviation, the fixed-based operator at the municipal airport, provided the city with a list of 28 events scheduled this year. The majority were aviation-focused, and a few were geared toward the public.
Board members discussed possibly holding a workshop sometime in July to discuss the preliminary work done on the event policy and evaluate scheduled events, but they didn't come up with a date or time on Thursday.
The events that cause the most concern are community-based events, especially if outside vendors are included and events that raise money, Brian Baldwin, board chairman, said in discussion.
"We hope to get some resolution on these, meaning we don't want them to be thrown to the waste side," he said. "But we want some guardrails to live with."
The municipal airport is subsidized by taxpayers. The airport board's vision is to make it more accessible to the public. The challenge comes in creating a policy that allows that, but also doesn't compromise safety and Federal Aviation Administration regulations, the board discussed.
The board also agreed to move its meetings to the first Thursday of each month to better accommodate members' schedules. The next meeting will be held at 1 p.m. Aug. 4 at the Community Development Building at 305 S.W. A St.
NW News on 06/24/2016