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Resident urges reappointment of airport commission, cites FAA 'Mosaic' rules and low overflights
Summary
A resident asked the council to reappoint an airport commission and adopt voluntary pilot guidelines after citing the FAA's recently released Mosaic rule changes and an increase in low overflights near a junior high school.
During public comment on Aug. 4, Oakdale resident George Hoover urged the City Council to reappoint an airport commission and consider voluntary guidelines for pilots after the FAA released its Mosaic rules.
Hoover said the Mosaic rules are designed to expand pilot training capacity and that Oakdale Municipal Airport is being used as a training base by pilots from outside the community, producing frequent low overflights. He gave on-record tallies of pilot registrations in Stanislaus County (he said 286 pilots registered in the county, 48 in Oakdale, and 16 crop dusters operating on private fields) and said many training flights originate in Antioch, Stockton and Tracy. He asked the council to look at Longmont, Colorado’s voluntary pilot guidelines website as a possible model and to reconstitute the airport commission to address noise and training operations.
Hoover said some flights pass low over his house near Oakdale Junior High and Sierra View while children are in session and that the runway’s orientation places approaches close to neighborhoods. He asked the council to “get this thing under control before this town grows” and noted the city will face a bypass in 2028 that could change traffic and land use patterns.
Council response and context: Council members acknowledged the concern but indicated the council could not take substantive action about pending private development (a neighborhood Walmart was mentioned earlier in public comment) because planning commission review is required. Staff and council did not adopt any formal changes to airport policy during the meeting; staff advised that reappointing an airport commission and studying voluntary pilot guidelines would be appropriate follow-ups and requested residents meet with staff to review options.
Ending: The record shows the concern was raised during public comment; staff and council directed residents to follow up with staff (city manager’s office and airport manager) for further discussion and suggested bringing any formal proposals to the council or planning/airport bodies for consideration.
