The City Municipal Airport Joint Airport Zoning Board, created and established by joint action of the City Council, the Board of Commissioners of Yellow Medicine County and the Town Board of Minnesota Falls pursuant to the provisions and authority of M.S. § 360.063, as it may be amended from time to time, hereby finds and declares that:
(A) An airport hazard endangers the lives and property of users of the Granite Falls Municipal Airport, and property or occupants of land in its vicinity; and also if of the obstructive type, in effect reduces the size of the area available for the landing, takeoff and maneuvering of aircraft, thus tending to destroy or impair the utility of the airport and the public investment therein;
(B) The creation or establishment of an airport hazard is a public nuisance and an injury to the region served by the Granite Falls Municipal Airport;
(C) For the protection of the public health, safety, order, convenience, prosperity and general welfare, and for the promotion of the most appropriate use of land, it is necessary to prevent the creation or establishment of airport hazards;
(D) The prevention of these airport hazards should be accomplished, to the extent legally possible, by the exercise of the police power without compensation;
(E) The prevention of the creation or establishment of airport hazards, and the elimination, removal, alteration, mitigation or marking and lighting of existing airport hazards are public purposes for which political subdivisions may raise and expend public funds;
(F) The Granite Falls Municipal Airport is an essential public facility that serves an important public transportation role and provides a public good;
(G) The Transportation Section of Chapter 6: Vision Statements, Goals, Objectives and Strategies of the Yellow Medicine County Comprehensive Plan, April 2006 states in Objective 3 that “The County needs to work in partnership with cities, townships, the Upper Sioux Community, regional counties and cities, the Area Transportation Partnership and Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT) to provide a transportation system and road network that moves people and products economically”. The plan identifies a strategy of “work(ing) to ensure that the transportation system and road network encourages employment and growth and opportunities throughout the entire county” (Strategy 3). The airport zoning process is a cooperative effort in part by the City of Granite Falls and Yellow Medicine County and Minnesota Falls Township to allow for growth and opportunities within the region; as such, the goals of the county are advanced; and
(H) This chapter amends and replaces the Granite Falls Municipal Airport Zoning Ordinance dated June 1, 1996.
(Ord. passed 1-4-2012)