The Leelanau Township board unanimously approved its new Woolsey Memorial Airport Administration and Management Ordinance at its regular meeting on June 9.
As stated in the approved ordinance, its purposes are “to promote and secure the public health, safety, and general welfare of persons, property owners, and property in the township of Leelanau by providing for and establishing reasonable procedures, rules, and regulations and enforcement thereof for the safety, administration, management, operation, stewardship, and uses of the township’s Woolsey Memorial Airport.”
In addition, it will be used to ensure the continuing qualification of Woolsey Memorial Airport for public use and licensure as at least a basic utility airport under Michigan Aeronautics Commission rules; as well as to provide for on-site accommodation of aeronautical, public, civic, educational and recreational activities consistent with law and airport safety.
Gerry Schatz, a township planning commission member who assisted in drafting the ordinance, said at the meeting that it gives the board a framework for making policy over time. He explained how it also formalizes the authority of the airport manager and it elevates safety as a priority.
“It gives the airport manager flexibility as well as formalizing the authority and it shows that the township recognizes its responsibility and is taking positive measures to be safe because otherwise you have a very great liability exposure,” Schatz said at the meeting. “Another thing it does is it basically gives the township a chance to recognize what we got. There is a lot of pressure on these little rural airports around the country, and it gives you a chance to save it.”
Included in the ordinance was also section 9, which highlights the creation of a Woolsey Memorial Airport Consultation Panel. According to the section, the township supervisor, subject to township approval, will appoint a Woolsey Memorial Airport Consultation panel, whose members may be compensated for attendance at meetings.
The panel will include: an airport pilot who utilizes the airport; no more than three at-large members who are year-round residents of Leelanau Township or the Village of Northport that may utilize the airport; the Leelanau Township Fire Chief or designated alternate from Leelanau Township Emergency Services; and an “ex officio” seat with designees open to those from the following entities: the Leelanau Township board; a local historical or cultural organization, a Federal Aviation Administration-recognized flight school; United States Coast Guard; Michigan State Police; and Leelanau State Park. The panel will meet at least once a year at the call of the airport manager and meetings will be subject to the open meetings act.
“It really is necessary to have some sort of user group so that administration of the airport is not in one person’s pocket entirely to come to the board occasionally,” Schatz said. “The thought is that there ought to be a way for outside interests to relate in some way to the operation of the airport.”
The board discussed approving the ordinance amid the region’s busy visitor season to have something in place and to later come back to it to assess if any changes are needed, looking at what works and doesn’t work over the next several months. The motion to approve the ordinance included that it will be reviewed in October with input from the public.
To read the airport ordinance in its entirety, go online to https://leelanautownshipmi.gov.
