Chapter 19.101E
PUBLIC USE AIRPORT AND SAFETY OVERLAY ZONE
Sections:
19.101E.020 Application of overlay.
19.101E.050 Uses permitted outright.
19.101E.070 Imaginary surface and noise impact boundary delineation.
19.101E.080 Notice of land use and permit applications within safety overlay zones.
19.101E.090 Height limitations on allowed uses within safety overlay zones.
19.101E.110 Land use compatibility requirements.
19.101E.120 Water impoundments within safety overlay zones.
19.101E.130 Nonconforming uses.
19.101E.010 Purpose.
This chapter is adopted to implement ORS 836.600 through 836.630 and policies of the comprehensive plan as they relate to the Grants Pass airport. It permits the airport’s continued operation and vitality consistent with state law by allowing certain compatible airport related commercial and recreational uses. It also includes safety standards to promote air navigational safety and to reduce the potential for safety hazards for property and for persons living, working or recreating on lands near the airport. [Ord. 2011-004 § 1; 2005 RLDC § 101.510.]
19.101E.020 Application of overlay.
This special use zoning district is limited to the Grants Pass airport and its safety overlay zones. The boundaries of the overlay shall be designated on the official zoning maps for Josephine County. The boundaries of safety overlay zones radiate from points at the ends of the airport’s primary surface as described in OAR 660-013-0070(1)(a) and Exhibits 1 and 4 that accompany that rule.
A. In any zone where an airport overlay is combined with a primary zone and any conflict in regulations or procedure occurs between the zone and the overlay, the most restrictive shall govern.
B. Height and land use limitations shall be imposed within the overlay and shall be consistent with the requirements of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Oregon Department of Aviation (ODA), and the Josephine County airport master plan. [Ord. 2011-004 § 1; 2005 RLDC § 101.520.]
19.101E.030 Use restrictions.
The following use restrictions shall apply within the areas designated as airport overlay on the official zoning map:
A. Runway Protection Zone. Only the following uses are permitted:
1. Agriculture, excluding the commercial raising of animals which would be adversely affected by aircraft passing overhead;
2. Airports and heliports, subject to the approval of a master plan by the Board of County Commissioners, providing that FAA permits have been obtained, and lines, towers, structures or poles do not penetrate the airspace of a clear zone approach or transitional surface of an airport;
3. Landscape nursery, cemetery, or recreation areas which do not include buildings or structures;
4. Pipeline;
5. Roadways, parking areas, and storage yards, while allowed, shall not be located so that the lighting will make it difficult for pilots to distinguish between landing lights and other lights, result in glare, or in any other way impair visibility in the vicinity of the landing approach;
6. Underground utility line.
B. Airport Overlay Zone. Any use listed in the primary zone, subject to the requirements of this chapter, may be permitted. [Ord. 2011-004 § 1; 2005 RLDC § 101.525.]
19.101E.040 Definitions.
“Aircraft” means any contrivance used or designed for navigation of or flight in the air, but does not mean a one-person glider that is launched from the earth’s surface solely by the operator’s power.
“Airport” means an area of land used for taking off and landing aircraft, together with all adjacent land used in connection with the aircraft landing or taking off from the strip of land, and any appurtenant areas that are used, or intended for use, for airport buildings or other airport facilities or rights-of-way, together with all airport buildings and facilities located thereon.
“Airport Hazard” means any structure, object of natural growth, or use of land, that obstructs airspace required for the flight of aircraft in landing or taking off at an airport, or is otherwise hazardous to such landing or taking off.
“Airport Sponsor” means the owner, manager, or other person or entity designated to represent the interests of an airport.
“Approach Surface” means a surface longitudinally centered on the extended runway centerline and extending outward and upward from each end of the primary surface.
1. The inner edge of the approach surface is the same width as the primary surface and it expands uniformly to a width of 2,000 feet.
2. The approach surface extends for a horizontal distance of 10,000 feet at a slope of 34 feet outward for each foot upward for all nonprecision instrument runways, other than utility.
3. The outer width of an approach surface will be that width prescribed in this section for the most precise approach existing or planned for that runway end.
“Conical Surface” means a surface extending outward and upward from the horizontal surface at a slope of 20:1 (one foot change in elevation for each 20 feet in distance from the starting point) for a horizontal distance of 4,000 feet.
“Department of Aviation” means the State of Oregon Department of Aviation.
“FAA” means the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Heliport” means an area of land, water, or structure designated for the landing and takeoff of helicopters or other rotorcraft. The heliport overlay zone applies to the following imaginary surfaces. The heliport approach surfaces begin at each end of the heliport primary surface and have the same width as the primary surface. They extend outward and upward for a horizontal distance of 4,000 feet where their width is 500 feet. The slope of the approach surfaces is 8:1 for civilian heliports and 10:1 for military heliports. The heliport primary surface coincides in size and shape with the designated takeoff and landing area of a heliport. The heliport primary surface is a horizontal plane at the established heliport elevation. The heliport transitional surfaces extend outward and upward from the lateral boundaries of the heliport primary surface and from the approach surfaces at a slope of 2:1 for a distance of 250 feet measured horizontally from the centerline of the primary and approach surfaces.
“Horizontal Surface” means a flat, elliptical surface at an elevation 150 feet above the established airport elevation. The extent of the horizontal surface is determined by swinging arcs of a 10,000-foot radius from the center of each end of the primary surface.
“Nonprecision Instrument Runway” means runway having an existing instrument approach procedure utilizing air navigation facilities with only horizontal guidance, or area type navigation equipment, for which a straight-in nonprecision instrument approach has been approved, or planned, and for which no precision approach facilities are planned or indicated on an FAA-approved airport layout plan or other FAA planning document.
“Other than Utility Runway” means a runway that is constructed for and intended to be used by turbine-driven aircraft or by propeller-driven aircraft exceeding 12,500 pounds gross weight.
“Primary Surface” is rectangular, centered on the runway, extends 300 feet beyond each end of the runway, and has a width that varies according to airport-specific criteria. The elevation of the primary surface corresponds to the elevation of the nearest point of the runway centerline. The width of the primary surface is 500 feet.
“Public Assembly Facility” means a permanent or temporary structure or facility, place or activity where concentrations of people gather in reasonably close quarters for purposes such as deliberation, education, worship, shopping, employment, entertainment, recreation, sporting events, or similar activities. Public assembly facilities include, but are not limited to, schools, churches, conference or convention facilities, employment and shopping centers, arenas, athletic fields, stadiums, clubhouses, museums, and similar facilities and places, but do not include parks, golf courses or similar facilities unless used in a manner where people are concentrated in reasonably close quarters. Public assembly facilities also do not include air shows, structures or uses approved by the FAA in an adopted airport master plan, or places where people congregate for short periods of time such as parking lots or bus stops.
“Runway Protection Zone (RPZ)” means an area off the runway end used to enhance the protection of people and property on the ground. The RPZ is trapezoidal in shape and centered about the extended runway centerline. The inner width of the RPZ is the same as the width of the primary surface. The outer width of the RPZ is a function of the type of aircraft and specified approach visibility minimum associated with the runway end. The RPZ extends from each end of the primary surface for a horizontal distance of 1,700 feet. A subset of the airport approach surface.
“Transitional Surface” means a sloping 7:1 surface that extends outward and upward at right angles to the runway centerline from the sides of the primary surface and the approach surfaces.
“Utility Runway” means a runway that is constructed for and intended to be used by propeller driven aircraft of 12,500 pounds maximum gross weight or less.
“Water Impoundment” includes wastewater treatment settling ponds, surface mining ponds, detention and retention ponds, artificial lakes and ponds, and similar water features. A new water impoundment includes an expansion of an existing water impoundment except where such expansion was previously authorized by land use action approved prior to the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter. [Ord. 2011-004 § 1; 2005 RLDC § 101.530.]
19.101E.050 Uses permitted outright.
The following uses and activities are permitted outright in the public use airport special use zoning district. They are described in fuller detail in OAR 660-013-0100.
A. Customary and usual aviation-related activities, including but not limited to takeoffs and landings; aircraft hangars and tie-downs; construction and maintenance of airport facilities; fixed-base operator facilities and other activities incidental to the normal operation of an airport.
B. Air passenger and air freight services and facilities, at levels consistent with the classification and needs identified in the Oregon Department of Aviation airport system plan.
C. Emergency medical flight services.
D. Law enforcement, military, and firefighting activities.
E. Flight instruction.
F. Aircraft service, maintenance and training.
G. Aircraft rental.
H. Aircraft sales and the sale of aeronautic equipment and supplies.
I. Crop dusting services and other agricultural activities.
J. Aviation recreational and sporting activities, including activities, facilities and accessory structures at airports that support recreational use of aircraft and sporting activities that require the use of aircraft or other devices used and intended for use in flight. Such activities shall be subject to the approval of the airport sponsor. [Ord. 2011-004 § 1; 2005 RLDC § 101.535.]
19.101E.060 Conditional uses.
The uses listed as conditional uses within the primary zone shall be subject to JCC 19.101E.030, 19.101E.090, and 19.101E.110, in addition to the requirements of the primary zone. [Ord. 2011-004 § 1; 2005 RLDC § 101.540.]
19.101E.070 Imaginary surface and noise impact boundary delineation.
The airport elevation, the airport noise impact boundary, and the location and dimensions of the runway, primary surface, runway protection zone, approach surface, horizontal surface, conical surface and transitional surface, direct and secondary impact boundaries shall be delineated and shall be made part of the official zoning map. All lands, waters and airspace, or portions thereof, that are located within these boundaries or surfaces shall be subject to the requirements of this zone. [Ord. 2011-004 § 1; 2005 RLDC § 101.545.]
19.101E.080 Notice of land use and permit applications within safety overlay zones.
Except as otherwise provided herein, the County Planning Department shall provide written notice of applications for land use or limited land use decisions, including comprehensive plan or zoning amendments, in an area within the largest of these safety zones, to the airport sponsor and the Department of Aviation in the same manner as notice is provided to property owners entitled by law to written notice of land use or limited land use applications.
A. Notice shall be provided to the airport sponsor and the Department of Aviation when the property, or a portion thereof, that is subject to the land use or limited land use application is located within 10,000 feet of the sides or ends of the runway.
B. Notice of land use and limited land use applications shall be provided within the following timelines:
1. Notice of land use or limited land use applications involving public hearings shall be provided prior to the public hearing at the same time that written notice of such applications is provided to property owners entitled to such notice.
2. Notice of land use or limited land use applications not involving public hearings shall be provided at least 20 days prior to the initial decision on the land use or limited land use application.
C. Notice of the decision on the land use or limited land use application shall be provided to the airport sponsor within the same timelines that notice is provided to parties to the proceeding.
D. Notices required under subsections (A) through (C) of this section need not be provided to the airport sponsor or the Department of Aviation where the land use or limited land use application meets all of the following criteria:
1. Restricts structures to a height of less than 35 feet (“Height of Building” is defined in JCC 19.11.100);
2. Involves property located entirely outside the approach surface;
3. Does not involve industrial uses, mining or similar uses that emit smoke, dust or steam; sanitary landfills or water impoundments; or radio, radiotelephone, television or similar transmission facilities or electrical transmission lines; and
4. Does not involve wetland mitigation, creation, enhancement or restoration. [Ord. 2011-004 § 1; 2005 RLDC § 101.550.]
19.101E.090 Height limitations on allowed uses within safety overlay zones.
A. The allowable height of any building, structure, or tree within the airport overlay shall conform to the following: the ground level elevation above sea level plus the height of any structure, building, use, or tree at its proposed elevation shall not penetrate any approach, transitional, horizontal, or conical surface of airport as indicated on the Josephine County airport master plan and/or County document, unless specifically allowed by the FAA and Josephine County as part of a conditional use permit.
B. Height exceptions or variances may be permitted when supported in writing by the airport sponsor, the Department of Aviation and the FAA. Applications for height variances shall be subject to the procedures and standards in Chapter 19.44 JCC, and shall be subject to such conditions and terms as recommended by the Department of Aviation and the FAA. [Ord. 2011-004 § 1; 2005 RLDC § 101.555.]
19.101E.100 Procedures.
An applicant seeking a land use or limited land use approval or a building permit in an area within safety overlay zones enacted by this chapter shall provide the following information to the County Planning Department, in addition to any other information required in the permit application:
A. The property development standards in the underlying zone shall apply to all development in this overlay. The standards contained in this chapter shall be in addition to the standards in the underlying zone.
B. If a height variance is requested, letters of support from the airport sponsor, the Department of Aviation and the FAA shall be submitted with the application. [Ord. 2011-004 § 1; 2005 RLDC § 101.560.]
19.101E.110 Land use compatibility requirements.
Applications for land use or building permits for properties within the boundaries of these safety overlay zones shall demonstrate that the proposed use will not:
A. Create electrical interference with radio communications between the airport and aircraft;
B. Make it difficult for fliers to distinguish between airport lights and other lights;
C. Result in glare in the eyes of fliers using the airport;
D. Impair visibility in the vicinity of the airport; or
E. Otherwise endanger the landing, taking off, or maneuvering of aircraft. [Ord. 2011-004 § 1; 2005 RLDC § 101.565.]
19.101E.120 Water impoundments within safety overlay zones.
No new water impoundments of one-quarter acre or larger shall be allowed:
A. Within an approach corridor and within 5,000 feet from the end of a runway; or
B. On land owned by the airport or airport sponsor where the land is necessary for airport operations. [Ord. 2011-004 § 1; 2005 RLDC § 101.570.]
19.101E.130 Nonconforming uses.
A. These regulations shall not be construed to require the removal, lowering or alteration of any existing structure or vegetation not conforming to these regulations. These regulations shall not require any change in the construction or alteration of the intended use of any structure, the construction or alteration of which was begun or completed prior to the effective date of this safety overlay zone.
B. No land use or limited land use approval or other permit shall be granted that would allow a nonconforming use or structure to become a greater hazard to air navigation than it was on the effective date of the overlay zone. 
[Ord. 2011-004 § 1; 2005 RLDC § 101.575.]