Douglas County considers raising airport weight limits

Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 | 12:41 p.m.

MINDEN, Nev. - More than 20 years after they voted to restrict development at Minden-Tahoe Airport, Douglas County residents could be asked to increase the weight limit on planes landing there.

Voter approval of a 2006 ballot measure raising the limits could be critical to securing federal grants that provide about 95 percent of the airport's funding, County Commissioner Jim Baushke said.

Federal Aviation Administration officials could consider the weight restrictions discriminatory and cut federal funding to the airport, Baushke warned.

"If we can't get a new weight limit approved during the next election and the FAA won't fund improvements, we may have to close down operations at the airport," Baushke said.

In 1984, voters approved a ballot measure restricting development at the airport by limiting the weight of planes landing there to 30,000 pounds. In the early 1990s, a dual-wheel aircraft restriction was set at 50,000 pounds.

Local pilot John Morgan said the 1984 weight ordinance was passed to maintain the airport's rural, general aviation character, and could not be changed without a vote of the people.

Officials think the airport's primary runway was built to handle 75,000 to 80,000 pounds.

"Minden-Tahoe Airport can't discriminate against classes of planes, but we can have a weight ordinance based on what the runway will support," Morgan said. "If we violate that agreement, they (FAA) could demand that we return the money."

County Manager Dan Holler said public meetings to address the isssue will be held, but county commissioners must first draft the ballot question.

The airport generates about $45 million in annual revenues and 500 jobs in the county with no support from local taxpayers, Baushke said.