Airports: airport land use commissions.

(1) The State Aeronautics Act governs the creation and operation of airports in this state. The act provides for the establishment of county airport land use commissions to carry out various requirements, including the formulation of a comprehensive land use compatibility plan to provide for the orderly growth of airports and the area surrounding airports within the jurisdiction of the commission, and to safeguard the general welfare of the inhabitants within the vicinity of an airport and the public in general. The act requires each county in which there is an airport served by a scheduled airline, with certain exceptions, to establish an airport land use commission. The act additionally requires each county in which there is an airport operated for the benefit of the public to establish an airport land use commission, but authorizes the board of supervisors of a county, upon making certain findings, to declare that the county is exempt from establishing an airport land use commission. The act requires that an airport land use commission include in its membership, 2 persons having expertise in aviation, as defined. This bill would revise the definition of a person having expertise in aviation. (2) The act provides that, notwithstanding the above-described requirements, if the board of supervisors and the city selection committee of mayors in the county responsible for appointing a commission each makes a determination by a majority vote that proper land use planning can be accomplished through the actions of an appropriately designated body, then the body so designated shall assume the planning responsibilities of an airport land use commission pursuant to the act, and a commission need not be formed in that county. This bill would require that a planning body designated in accordance with these provisions be a countywide body. (3) Under the act, the board of supervisors of a county and each affected city in that county may make a determination that proper land use planning can be accomplished by the county and the affected cities, in which case an airport land use commission need not be formed. If a commission is not formed pursuant to these provisions, the act requires the supervisors of the county and each affected city, subject to the review and approval of the Division of Aeronautics of the Department of Transportation, to provide for the preparation of the airport land use compatibility plan, among other things. This bill would additionally allow a city in which an airport is located to assume the planning responsibilities of an airport land use commission if, prior to January 1, 2011, the board of supervisors of a county and city council of any city in which an airport was located made a determination that the proper land use planning could be accomplished by the city and other requirements are met. (4) Under the act, the general plan or special plans of a local agency, including a city, county, or special district, are required to be consistent with the airport land use compatibility plan, and each local agency whose general plan or plans includes areas covered by an airport land use compatibility plan is required to submit a copy of its plan, any amendment, any zoning ordinance, and any building regulation, to the airport land use commission, unless exempted, or to the designated body performing planning as an alternative to the airport land use commission. If the plan, amendment, zoning ordinance, or building regulation is inconsistent with the airport land use compatibility plan, the airport land use commission or designated body is required to notify the local agency, and the local agency is required to have a hearing to reconsider its plan or action. Under the act, a public agency owning any airport within the boundaries of an airport land use compatibility plan may overrule an airport land use commission's action or recommendation affecting an airport within the jurisdiction of that public agency, after a hearing, by a 23 vote of its governing body, except the County of Marin, which may overrule by a majority vote of its governing body, if it makes specific findings that the proposed action is consistent with the purposes of protecting public health, safety, and welfare, minimizing the public's exposure to excessive noise, and minimizing safety hazards within areas around the public airport. This bill would repeal the authority of the County of Marin to overrule an airport land use commission's action or recommendation affecting an airport within the county by a majority vote. (5) The act authorizes the Department of Transportation to establish individual revolving fund subaccounts for eligible airports, as specified, in the Aeronautics Account in the State Transportation Fund and to annually credit $10,000 to individual airport subaccounts. These moneys may be accumulated up to 5 years and are required to be paid to public entities on request for expenditures on preapproved eligible projects for airport and aviation purposes and operation and maintenance purposes. This bill would require the division, when it determines that funding is sufficient, to inform counties that do not have an operating airport land use commission of the availability of funds for commission startup costs, and would authorize the division to grant fund moneys to counties that apply for funding. The bill would, upon the second anniversary of the division providing notice of the availability of funds, prohibit a county owned or operated airport in a county that does not have an operating airport land use commission or authorized alternative planning body, as defined, to be eligible for funding from the individual airport subaccounts, until that county establishes an operating airport land use commission or authorized alternative planning body.