Wait for Noise Study, Airport Director Urges

Marana Regional Airport’s director urged the Town Council Tuesday to hold off on approving any residential development near the field while a noise study is performed, saying it could jeopardize the air park’s future as an aviation and employment center.

The town has landed more than $10 million in state and federal grants over the last four years for upgrading the former county airport, according to airport director Charles Mangum. The town airport, 11700 W. Avra Valley Road, is about five miles west of Interstate 10.

“We’re trying to make it an economic hub for our community,” said Mangum.

At the Town Council study session Tuesday evening, Mangum showed a projected noise “paddle” that comes very close to Saguaro Springs, a 2,500-unit development planned for a former field between Twin Peaks Road and Avra Valley Road just west of Rattlesnake Pass.

A golf course planned for a desert area just west of the development falls within the airport’s anticipated noise paddle, according to Mangum.

Even if the area is safely outside the noise and safety area, he said, home buyers probably should be notified of their proximity to the airport because of sound reflecting off the mountains that separate the area from Continental Ranch.

Mangum told the council that the town had to match only 10 percent of the state grants and 5 percent of the federal grants. He said the improvements, most of which are funded through the grants, are being done with the intention not only of making a better airport, but also of sparking economic development at the municipal air park.

Grant money was spent on water lines and hydrants for fire protection, fencing, buying adjacent property, lighting upgrades, runway and taxiway repairs and extensions, and the airport master plan and ongoing noise and land use compatibility studies. Other improvements, including dozens of new hangars, were built by private developers.

Town Manager Mike Reuwsaat has said he hopes to see both a corporate jet center and businesses developed at the airport. About 275 planes are based at the airport. Long-term plans include a control tower.

* Contact reporter Dan Sorenson at 434-4073 or dsorenson@azstarnet.com.