LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
A3
Commissioners hear plans for Joseph airport
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — The
fi nal draft of a master plan for
upgrades to the Joseph State
Airport was presented to the
Wallowa County Board of
Commissioners during its
meeting Wednesday, Feb. 2.
The PowerPoint presen-
tation was made by avia-
tion planner Sarah Lucas of
the Oregon Department of
Aviation.
“We are at the close-out
phase of the master plan,”
Lucas told the commissioners.
She said the purpose was
to update the 1993 plan — the
last for which a master plan
was created. The plan was
released by the ODA on Jan.
27. A briefi ng similar to that
presented to the commission-
ers was given to the State Avi-
ation Board on Feb. 3.
Changes
The primary upgrades
involve “airside” improve-
ments. These include:
• For instrument approach,
options to pursue either a non-
precision straight-in or a non-
precision circling approach
were discussed in the plan-
ning phase of the master plan
update. It was decided with
input from the Planning Advi-
sory Committee and Life-
Flight Network that a circling
approach would be pursued.
• Clear a slight berm in
the taxiway for an object-free
area.
• Expand the fueling apron.
• Remove direct access
from the fueling apron to the
runway.
This last item is pressed by
the Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration, Lucas said.
“They want pilots to really
be thinking about what they’re
doing before they get on the
runway,” she said.
Secondary goals for the
plan would add hangars,
replace or relocate the existing
pilot building with a mixed-
use building, expand the air-
craft apron to provide hangar
access and large-aircraft park-
ing including for Medevac air-
craft. The secondary goals also
would remove 12 small-air-
plane tiedowns, reconfi gure
vehicle access and parking,
relocate or upgrade the elec-
tronic south and west vehicle
gates and expand the aircraft
fueling apron.
A portion of these goals are
expected to be accomplished
in the next fi ve years, Lucas
said at a cost of an estimated
$4,528,190, with the majority
of the funding coming from
the FAA.
As for establishing the type
of approach aircraft take to the
runway, Lucas said the FAA
prefers a circling approach
rather than a straight-in
approach, which satisfi es the
needs of LifeFlight.
The circling approach
brings an aircraft to the air-
port vicinity, when it can then
make a landing.
“There are so many obsta-
cles out there to get a straight-in
approach,” Lucas said.
She said to reconfi gure
the airport for a straight-in
not in our budget to fund
that,” Lucas said, though she
couldn’t really give a fi rm
answer to Hillock’s question.
What’s ahead?
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Sarah Lucas, an aviation planner with the Oregon Department
of Aviation, describes details of the fi nal draft of the Joseph
State Airport Master Plan during a PowerPoint presentation
Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022, for the Wallowa County Board of
Commissioners.
AIRPORT MASTER PLAN
https://centurywest.com/joseph-state-airport-master-plan/
approach would require
expanding some of the design
surfaces.
“It just isn’t cost-eff ective,”
she said, adding that it also
does not provide signifi cant
operational gains.
Obstacles
Some of the obstacles she
mentioned — that she said
she’s well aware the commis-
sioners are familiar with —
include the surrounding moun-
tains, the Enterprise watershed
that comes near the northern
end of the airport and a ceme-
tery to the south of the runway.
Some of the improvements
involve expanding the airport
property. The most feasible
expansion, Lucas said, would
be into what is now the city of
Joseph’s waste transfer station
at the west corner of the air-
port. But purchasing that 2.1
acres is still far down the road
and beyond what the initial
plans call for.
“In full disclosure, we
(the ODA) haven’t talked to
the city about that yet,” she
said. “They may say no. But
we don’t want to get the cart
before the horse.”
There also is a privately
owned parcel on the east side
that is considered in the mas-
ter plan, but it, too, is not yet
under consideration.
Commissioner John Hill-
ock asked if the state would
consider such an option, if
the landowner is willing and
requests a zoning change.
“It can, but the state, it’s
The fi nal steps for the plan
include:
• Complete a state agency
coordination review with
the Wallowa County Plan-
ning Department and the state
Department of Land Conser-
vation and Development. A
fi nal draft was sent Jan. 26.
Lucas said she received letter
from DLCD on Feb. 1 saying
the department found the plan
to be compatible with state
planning goals.
• Closeout grant with
consultant.
• The plan is available for
public review on the project
website.
• Send the fi nal mas-
ter plan to Oregon Aviation
Board for adoption at its April
2022 meeting.
• Seek to have the mas-
ter plan incorporated into the
Wallowa County Compre-
hensive Plan.
Lucas said of the three-
phase plan, only the fi rst fi ve-
year phase is solid. The lat-
ter phases can be expected to
change.
Hillock agreed.
“The FAA’s always going
to want more improvements,”
he said.
“I have to say I’m a huge
advocate of that,” Lucas
said. “I know that in the past,
the state has not been the
most proactive with work-
ing with all of the airports.
We own and operate 27 air-
ports with one airport man-
ager. They range from Aurora
State (south of Portland), a
busy general aviation air-
port, to McDermott (State
Airport in Malheur County)
and 2½ maintenance employ-
ees to maintain that. I really
don’t want to make it sound
like an excuse, but I do know
and I understand why the ten-
ants have felt neglected. That
is the reason I took this job is
to try to be that middle per-
son. I have seen changes, like
those tenant meetings you’ve
been a part of. … If nothing
else comes out of the (Air-
port Layout Plan), it’s starting
those conversations.”
Other business
In other business Wednes-
day, the commissioners:
• Approved an agreement
to donate 6 square feet of side-
walk in Joseph to the Ore-
gon Department of Transpor-
tation. It will accommodate
the ODOT’s work this sum-
mer to make sidewalks and
ramps compliant with Amer-
icans with Disabilities Act
standards.
• Approved an easement
for Randal and Mary Johnson
to replace a culvert on Prom-
ise Road.
• Hired Sean Cariss as a
reserve deputy with the Wal-
lowa County Sheriff ’s Offi ce.
• Rehired Amy Stangel as
a counselor with the Depart-
ment of Youth Services to
catch up on some work.
This week’s featured book
IN BRIEF
Homeland to raffl e
elk hunt tag
WALLOWA COUNTY
— A three-day guided elk
hunt on the Zumwalt Prairie
Preserve is being off ered in a
raffl e by the Nez Perce Wal-
lowa Homeland, according
to a press release.
The hunt is for one hunter
and two guests with a land-
owner preference bull elk
tag donated by the Nature
Conservancy.
Raffl e tickets for the right
to purchase the tag will be
sold through March 27 — or
until they sell out.
Tickets cost $50 each, with
only 200 tickets to be sold. In
order to ensure opportunity
for Nez Perce people to par-
ticipate in the raffl e, 50 tick-
ets will be reserved for Nez
Perce only until March 1.
Tickets are available
online at wallowanezperce.
org/elk-tag-raffl e. The win-
ner of the raffl e will be
announced live, with the
date and time still to be
determined.
Proceeds from the sale of
raffl e tickets will support the
Homeland’s annual Snake
River School fl oat trip, a
multiday outing for Nez
Perce youths to learn STEM
and TEK from tribal instruc-
tors while connecting with
their ancestral homeland by
boat.
Fishtrap to receive
$10,000 grant for
youth writers
ENTERPRISE — Fish-
trap is among the 23 arts
organizations statewide that
each will receive $10,000
their educational projects
in partnership with Oregon
schools through the coming
fi scal year, the Oregon Arts
Commission Arts Learning
funding announced Tues-
day, Jan. 25.
Shannon
McNerney,
executive director of Fish-
trap, said the grant is crit-
ical to the group’s funding
and they have received sim-
ilar grants for several years.
“It’s
a
cornerstone
for our youth funding,”
she said. “It’s one of the
key components.”
McNerney said Fishtrap
plans to use some of the
money to bring in a play-
wright writer in residence
this spring, as well as use
the money to fund the schol-
arships Fishtrap provides to
youths of about $550.
The OAC’s announce-
ment said Fishtrap will
use its grant to support the
continuum of arts learn-
ing opportunities it off ers to
youths across Eastern Ore-
gon. In 2021-22, it hopes
to engage 500 young rural
writers ages 7-18 with its
youth writing programs.
“We’re looking for-
ward to getting kids writ-
ing again,” McNerney said.
“We miss their faces and
look forward to seeing them
this spring and summer.”
— EO Media Group
The Price
We Pay
by Marty Makary, MD
107 E. Main St. Enterprise OR
541-426-3351
bookloftoregon.com • bookloft.org
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