Council directs airport review on landing fees, communication and noise abatement after safety concerns

The Longmont City Council on Tuesday moved to task staff and the Airport Advisory Board with reviews of airport operations, landing fees, communications and the voluntary noise-abatement program after several public speakers and pilots raised safety and neighborhood concerns.

Council directed staff to return an update on airport operations, including landing fees, flight paths, lease length and fuel (unleaded) at the June 3 meeting. The motion passed unanimously.

Council also directed the airport advisory board to review public notification and communications practices tied to aviation incidents and to evaluate the city’s voluntary noise-abatement program and its outreach strategies. Those motions were made by Council member Robert Popkin and seconded by Council member Michael McCoy; both passed unanimously. “Aviation safety is critically important here,” Popkin said. He asked the advisory board to recommend improvements where needed.

Speakers at the meeting, many of them pilots and Longmont Airport tenants, described a recent incident in which shots were fired at an aircraft and criticized the timing and clarity of official notification. The Experimental Aircraft Association’s Longmont chapter told the council the episode had forced cancellation of youth flights and said the lack of timely communication had “compromised” safety. “We also work with about 200 kids that are enrolled in the aviation STEM program… Safety is our top priority,” Chad Reineke of the EAA said.

Several airport tenants warned that proposed landing fees could amount to a double charge for hangar renters and urged the council to align any fee proposals with federal and state grant rules. “The runway is federally funded so you cannot tell somebody they can’t land here,” pilot Howard Morgan said, noting broader economic benefits from a working municipal airport.

City staff and councilors discussed timing: the airport advisory board meets in early June, so a consolidated report on communications and noise-abatement outreach will be scheduled to avoid duplicate meetings. Councilors asked that the advisory board’s recommendations be returned together where feasible.

Council also heard from pilots who asked for clearer incident notification procedures, questioned whether authorities were notified quickly enough after the shooting reports and urged the city to work with the FAA and Boulder County on solutions. Police and city staff said they will track incident data and work with the advisory board on communication improvements.