INFORMATION/ISSUES/CONCERNS Regarding:
Public Involvement with the PDK Master Plan Process (6/15/05):
(1) The Board of Commissioners (BOC) in August 2004 authorized the development
of a new PDK Master Plan, including extensive public involvement with which
would be conducted with the assistance of Professional Consultants. Those
consultants have engaged much research and have interviewed some 100 individuals
during the past nine months, at the cost of some $80,000 in public funds
thus far. Based on this work, the Consultants have submitted two strong reports--the
first on Public Involvement in the Master Plan Process, and the second, a
proposed 6-page PDK Mission & Policy Document.
(2) Only a single aspect of the Consultants’ first report on Public
Involvement was discussed in any detail by the AAB at its meetings in early
2005. None of the Consultants’ second PDK Mission & Policy Report
was discussed at the three AAB meetings on April 13, May 11, and June 9,
2005. Instead, those three AAB meetings worked entirely from one-page draft
documents written by one man, Richard Ossoff, the current AAB Chair, who
skillfully sidetracked all efforts to base the AAB’s discussion on
the professional Consultants’ Report.
(3) Based on community complaints prior to the May 11, 2005 AAB meeting,
the AAB did allow the public a single week to submit additional policy recommendations
to be considered by the AAB. At the June 8, 2005 AAB meeting, however, no
actual discussion was allowed of any but one of the nine policy proposals
sent in by the public. The one policy proposal that was discussed was brought
up--and then skillfully killed--by Mr. Ossoff.
(4) In addition, at the June 8, 2005 AAB meeting, Mr. Ossoff specifically
stated that--absent any request from members of the AAB--no discussion whatsoever
of any of the remaining eight policy provisions suggested by the public would
be allowed--and such discussion was discouraged even during the public comment
period at the end of the meeting when the public supposedly can present any
concerns it may have to the AAB!
(5) At the May 11, 2005 AAB meeting, Mr. Ossoff was repeatedly asked by
members of the public how that interested public could find out, in advance
of the next meeting, what proposals would be brought forward for discussion
by the AAB (this was in accord with the August BOC mandate that such on-going
discussion information be placed on the Web). Mr. Ossoff repeatedly refused
to address that question, finally stating that the question was irrelevant
because there would BE no prior discussion or documents circulated among
the Board prior to the June 8 AAB meeting.
(6) Mr. Ossoff’s May 2005 PDK Mission statement proposal read, in
its entirity as follows: "It is the mission of the DeKalb-Peachtree
Airport to operate a world-class, business-oriented, general aviation airport." That's
it. Nothing more. Gone entirely was the balance of the 1992 Master Plan mission
statement, as quoted in the 6-page Consultants’ Report: "Our Mission
. . . To Operate a Business Oriented Airport in a Safe, Efficient, and Fiscally
Responsible manner and to Preserve the Quality of Life, Recognizing a Partnership
between Residential and General Aviation Interests." The AAB a its May
2005 meeting eventually replaced Mr. Ossoff’s highly one-sided proposed
Mission Statement with the original 1992 statement, but the fact that Mr.
Ossoff could propose such a one-sided Mission Statement in the first place
suggests his strong pro-Airport bias.
(7) The one-page set of proposed policy measures that Mr. Ossoff introduced
at the April 2005 meeting and that the AAB at its June 2005 meeting approved
with modifications to be sent to the Board of Commissioners sound good on
paper. However, the provisions provide little explicit guidance as to how
the airport should be run (for example, that PDK Airport should be operated
in a “fiscally responsible” manner and in compliance with BOC
directives are hardly remarkable provisions). Omitted from Mr. Ossoff’s
proposed and approved policy statements are any explicit guidelines regarding
what the Airport can NOT do (for example, there is no prohibition on taking
engineering steps that would allow PDK in the future to change from being
a Class II General Aviation Airport to a Class III airport, or that would
explicitly prohibit future physical expansion of the Airport, except under
certain clearly specified circumstances). The Ossoff/AAB document instead
sets very general, “feel good” principles that could easily be
disregarded by the Airport any time that it chooses to do so.
(8) Two absolutely essential provisions--those (1) prohibiting PDK Airport
physical expansion beyond its current boundaries, except under certain specific
circumstances, and (2) prohibiting taking engineering steps that could make
PDK eligible to become a Class III airport in the future--are viewed by the
public as ESSENTIAL unless the BOC does intend to make PDK Airport a Class
III Airport in the future. In that case, the BOC should candidly and clearly
state its goals and allow full public discussion of them. Mr. Ossoff skillfully
killed the Class III prohibition by suggesting that such a statement was
unnecessary and that it might conflict with changing FAA guidelines in the
future. That objection could be easily handled by including in the statement
that this is subject to the FAA designations for CII and CIII airports at
the time that the provision are actually adopted by the BOC (for example,
in July 2005, or whenever).
(9) The PDK Airport Advisory Board, as currently constituted, appears to
lack the time, expertise, and will to evaluate PDK Airport issues critically
and effectively for the Board of Commissioners. Less than half of the present
AAB members have been active for as much as a single year. Four of the nine
members have resigned from the Board within the past six months, and 3 new
AAB members attended the AAB meetings for the first time during the past
two months, just when extremely complex and critical issues were being presented
to the AAB. Only 3 to 4 members of the AAB have regularly attended AAB meetings
during the past year. Unbeknownst to the Board, one AAB position remained
vacant for more than a year before the vacancy was finally acknowledged in
June 2005. With a handful of possible exceptions, few members of the AAB
are prepared to ask hard questions or to represent the public concerns before
the AAB.
(10) Mr. Remmel and Mr. Ossoff (along with any other AAB members who may
want to tag along) have now been empowered by the AAB at its June 2005 meeting
to present their policy recommendations in a Power Point dog-and-pony show
at a work session before the Board of Commissioners, as early as June 21,
if that could be arranged by Mr. Stogner. This would be a big mistake, in
my opinion. Prior to any such consideration, I believe there must be a full
and well-advertised community meeting held to fully air the public suggestions
and gain the full and fair access to the process that they have thus far,
in our opinion, been denied from exercising. If Remmel and Ossoff are allowed
to present their pro-Airport recommendations at a work session in the near
future, then I believe that other well-informed community members who have
concerns about the proposal should also be given the opportunity to question
them, as well, and rebut statements that they make, if the BOC is to get
a fully balanced perspective on the issues.
Larry Foster
Vice President, Hawthorne Civic Association
Read Master Plan related items:
Vision and Policy
Document- April 2005
Public Participation in
PDK Master Plan Derailed by PDK Airport Advisory Board
PDK
Policy Omissions Document 1 (pdf)
PDK
Policy Omissions Document 2 (pdf)
PDK
Policy Omissions Document 3 (pdf)
Letter
to DeKalb County Commissioner Kathie Gannon -discusses
Master Plan concerns.
Concerns Regarding Public
Involvement with the PDK Master Plan Process (6/15/05)
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