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 City of Worthington Ohio State Airport
Environmental Assessment Evaluation
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Why is expansion needed?

• OSU teaching mission does not mandate expansion
  for teaching students. OSU has no plans to train
  jet pilots.
• The OSU Service mission can be met without
  expansion.
• The airports full mission statement can also be
  met without runway expansion.
• See handout on OSUs Missions

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FAA Definition Environmental Assessment (EA)

• Concise public document for which a federal
  agency is responsible that serves to
• Briefly provide sufficient evidence and analysis.
• Normally for actions which are not likely to
  result in impacts.
• Airport sponsor and consultants normally prepare
  the EA.
• FAA decision may be either a FONSI or EIS.

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FAA Definition Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS)

• A detailed document which provides sufficient
  evidence and analysis.
• Normally for actions which are likely to result
  in impacts.
• MOU is developed between the FAA and airport
• Sponsor to properly implement the EIS.

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City of Worthington Independent analysis shows

• OSUS Draft Environmental Assessment has three
  major flaws
• It fails to reflect the full noise impact of
  future operations.
• The Compound Annual Growth Rate assumed by OSUs
  consultants does not reasonably represent the
  likely growth scenario of the airport.
• The altitude assumptions provided by OSU
  consultants fail to reflect actual aircraft
  traffic.

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City of Worthington Independent analysis shows
OSUS Draft Environmental Assessment fails to
reflect the full noise impact of future
operations in the following ways

• Predicting retirement of current serviceable and
  noisy aircraft.
• Failing to show any use of several noisy OSU
  Airport based aircraft.
• Exaggerating the actual climb profiles of
  aircraft by failing to consider Air Traffic
  Control restrictions
• Significantly underestimating future growth
  predictions.

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City of Worthington Independent analysis shows
OSU Airport based jet aircraft omitted from the
forecast operations include      a) Beechjet
400      b) 525 Cessna Jet      c) Citation
2      d) Falcon 50      e) Falcon 200     
f) Hawker Siddeley 800      e) Learjet 31   These
are noisy jet aircraft whose operation must be
included in the noise model.  Failure to include
these aircraft understates the noise impact.
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City of Worthington Independent analysis shows

• OSU Airport made an undocumented and
  unsubstantiated assumption that the following
  will be retired
• 100 of the Citation 3 fleet
• 100 of the Canadair 600 fleet
• 100 of the Citation 500 fleet
• 98 of the Citation 55 B fleet
• 100 of the Gulfstream IV fleet
• 100 of the Gulfstream V FLEET
• 83 OF THE Learjet 25 fleet
•  

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City of Worthington Independent analysis shows
The Compound Annual Growth Rate assumed by OSUs
consultants does not reasonably represent the
likely growth scenario of the Airport Operations.

• FAA requires worst case scenario
• OSU Projection 2.2
• Based on current and projected operations,
  Worthington projects up to 10 in worst case
  scenario

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City of Worthington Independent analysis shows
The altitude assumptions profiled by the OSU
consultants fail to reflect the actual climb
profiles of departing aircraft.
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Number of Aircraft Noise Events(for Measurement
Period February 17-25, 2004)
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
Total events 451
Worthington Events 229
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Environmental Categories
Environmental Factor Impact With Development Mitigation and/or Permit Requirements
Noise No Impact None required
Land Use and Zoning No Impact None required
Social Impacts No Impact None required
Socioeconomic Impacts No Impact None required
Air Quality No Impact None required
Water Quality Minor Impacts Required permits to be obtained Best management practices during construction
Section 4(f) Resources No Impact None required
Historic, Archeological, Architectural and Cultural No Impact None required
Biotic Communities Minor impacts to species that utilize forested areas and to aquatic biota in stream/ditches None required
Threatened and Endangered Species No Impact None required
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Environmental Categories (contd)
The 2004 OSU Airport Master Plan
Wetland Resources No Impact None required
Floodplains No Impact None required
Coastal Zones No Impact None required
Coastal Barriers No Impact None required
Wild and Scenic Rivers No Impact None required
Prime and Unique Farmland No Impact None required
Energy Supply and Natural Resources No significant Impact None required
Light Emissions No Impact None required
Solid Waste No significant Impact None required
Construction Short-term increase in noise and air pollution and construction traffic Compliance with FAA Advisory Circular 150/5370-10 Soil Erosion Control Permit NPDES Permit
Hazardous Waste No Impact None required
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South Hangar Construction
Description Corporate hangar, row T
Hangars, Issues Last hangars built in
1985 Wait list gt120 individuals and
companies Impact Increased aircraft operations
to meet demand and add services to support
programs Benefits Improved service to
customers/community Increased based
aircraft Increased student employment Increase
revenues Funding Revenue bonds (8.5M)
What is actually being constructed?
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North Hangar Construction (10 years)
Description Aviation research
facilities/Corporate offices/hangars Issue
Restricted growth potential of south
side Impact Increased aircraft
operations Benefits Attract RD firms to
community Assist with local economic
initiatives Increased student opportunities for
employment and research Increase revenues to
support academic programs Funding Public-private
partnership
What is actually being constructed?
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Community Support
The 2004 OSU Airport Master Plan

• Letters of support from Airport neighbors
• Resolutions of support from four resident
  associations
• Airport is included in local economic development
  initiatives

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Community Opposition As of October 14, 2004

• The City of Worthington has received 4 letters of
  support for airport expansion and 4 supportive
  hits on the Worthington Noise Complaint web site
• Opposition includes
• 5,886 different people logged in 9,208 complaints
  on air traffic noise in 1 year.
• 1,488 people signing petitions
• 78 letters of opposition
• City of Worthington Resolution favoring an
  Environmental Impact Statement
• The above totals 7,452 contacts plus the
  resolution

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FAA Handbook Requirements
43. REQUIREMENT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT. All
proposed actions which are not categorically
excluded require an environmental assessment
prepared by the airport sponsor. An environmental
assessment is defined in CEQ 1508.9 and further
elaborated on in 1501.3 and 1501.4. The
completion of an environmental assessment shall
normally precede the FAA's decision to prepare an
environmental impact statement since the
environmental assessment is a document used by
the FAA to determine whether potential impacts
appear to be significant. There are proposals,
however, which normally require the preparation
of an environmental impact statement per
paragraph 2l or on which the FAA and the sponsor
agree initially that impacts will be significant.
In these cases, the FAA and sponsor agree
initially that impacts will be significant. In
these cases, the FAA and sponsor may determine
that the scoping process should not await
completion of the environmental assessment. For
these proposals, the sponsor's preparation of the
environmental assessment shall be done
concurrently with scoping, as allowed in CEQ
1501.7(b)(3). If tiering is involved, sponsors
should consult Chapter 10 and request special
advice from the FAA prior to preparing an
environmental assessment.
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City of Worthington Request
The City of Worthington requests that MORPC pass
a resolution to encourage the preparation of a
Part 150 and full Environmental Impact Study.
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