As San Martin residents prepare for battle with supervisors, new
assembly bill could diminish property values
A recently approved Assembly bill that expands disclosure
requirements when houses near airports are sold could put
far-reaching restrictions on land use in the South Valley as the
result of decisions that Santa Clara County supervisors are
scheduled to make Tuesday.
As San Martin residents prepare for battle with supervisors, new assembly bill could diminish property values
A recently approved Assembly bill that expands disclosure requirements when houses near airports are sold could put far-reaching restrictions on land use in the South Valley as the result of decisions that Santa Clara County supervisors are scheduled to make Tuesday.
Before the board will be a consultant’s finding that the bulk of general aviation demand for tie-down space or hangars in the next 20 years be satisfied at South County Airport. The recommendation is the crux of a year-long airport master plan update.
According to Shutt Moens Associates, most of the 324 new aircraft looking for homes in the county through 2022 would be diverted to South County. Constraints at Palo Alto Airport and Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose make them less able to accommodate new demand, according to the consultant.
South Valley residents, led by the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance, oppose major expansion of the airport. They say the Shutt Moens study ignores the county general plan, which calls for keeping San Martin small and rural, and doesn’t adequately take into account the noise that increased takeoffs and landings would generate.
“My concern is how they may affect people’s lives,” said Sylvia Hamilton, president of the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance. “If the airport runway doesn’t exceed 4,000 feet, not much will change. But over that length – up to 6,000 feet possibly – the effects will be tremendous in those safety zones,” Hamilton said. “Some landowners have their life savings in land they want for retirement or to pass on to heirs.”
The “build it and they will come” theory hasn’t been proven regarding South County Airport, Hamilton said. A 1993 study done for the county by Aries Consultants of Morgan Hill found that pilots faced with moving planes from Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose overwhelmingly chose Palo Alto and San Jose International airports, followed by fields in Hollister and Livermore, over South County, she said.
Only 9 percent of pilots selected South County as their replacement airport, Hamilton said.
But it remains to be seen what effect AB 2776, written by Assemblyman Joe Simitian, D-21st District, will have on future activity at South County Airport. Provisions of the bill are set to take effect Jan. 1, 2004.
Current law requires that sellers notify buyers of existing or proposed airports within two miles of the property of interest. But AB 2776 creates an “airport influence area” that may govern what activities can occur in potentially large areas surrounding airports. The bill was introduced in February and signed by Gov. Gray Davis in September.
In AB 2776, legislators found that people shopping for a house aren’t getting enough information about potential airport problems before they buy.
“The Legislature finds and declares that the current mechanisms for providing notice to homebuyers of potential airport impacts are inadequate, as evidenced by the number of complaints and lawsuits regarding airport noise by residents of surrounding communities,” the bill states.
Under Simitian’s bill, sellers would have to reveal if a property is within an “airport influence area.” The term is defined as “the area in which current or future airport-related noise, over-flight, safety or air space protection factors may significantly affect land uses or necessitate restrictions on those uses as determined by an airport land-use commission.”
The size of the airport influence area is determined by the length of the runway and its instrument rating. The latter criterion indicates whether visiting aircraft are small planes using sight approach or larger craft operating on instruments.
At small airports such as the San Martin facility, the area of influence typically extends 1.7 miles from every point of the runway and covers 12 square miles. For larger airplanes, the airport influence area can cover 30 to 50 square miles, and in addition include a tail on the approach end that extends for several miles.
Hal Yeager, a Stanford graduate in engineering and for 11 years a community advocate for neighbors of Buchanan Field in Concord, said the potential effects of AB 2776 are staggering.
An airport influence area can immobilize activity over a wide area, Yeager said, because people needlessly become fearful of potential problems.
Yeager recently was the only community representative on the Caltrans advisory committee that updated the agency’s Airport Land Use Handbook.
The Shutt Moens study predicts that 1,960 pilots will be looking for tie-down spots or hangars in Santa Clara County by 2002. San Jose International Airport, which is phasing out general aviation, is scheduled to have only 179 small aircraft based there. The remainder will have to settle at Palo Alto, Reid-Hillview or San Martin if they remain in the county.
South County Airport currently houses 90 airplanes, with hangars soon to be constructed for 100 more. But the majority of new arrivals will be diverted there if supervisors heed the consultant’s report.
San Martin residents know the area must absorb some of the increase in general aviation. But they say the area is being asked to assume the burden for demand for airport space that goes unsatisfied in North County.
County airport commissioners in October left unchanged the Shutt Moen recommendation on how many planes South County Airport can handle. But they recommended that the runway not be lengthened, a contradictory stance since more planes would surely include larger planes that need a longer runway.
Commissioners were scheduled to reconsider the decisions at their Nov. 8 meeting, but lack of a quorum prevented any action. The lost meeting can’t be rescheduled because the board of supervisors is set to take up the airport update study Tuesday.
