Implementation & Administration

The Sonoma County Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC) is responsible for preparing and, after duly noted public hearings, adopting an airport land use compatibility plan in compliance with the content requirements of Section 21675 of the California Public Utilities Code.

The Sonoma County Airport Land Use Commission (ACLU) and its staff should take care to keep the CALUP up-to-date. It should review the plan as often as necessary, although according to state law it may not be amended more than once per year.

It will be especially important to review the plan whenever the airport master plans or airport layout plans are amended. Changes in runway alignments or runway lengths in particular could require amendments to the CALUP. At the same time, it is important for the Airport Land Use Commission to ensure that the CALUP is considered during any future master plan update studies.

The Airport Land Use Commission also should review the CALUP when new guidance documents are prepared by the California Department of Transportation. It is important for the CALUP to consider the latest relevant information and research on noise, safety, and height compatibility issues, particularly when that information has been evaluated and weighed through an authoritative consultation process.

The Airport Land Use Commission and staff should also review the CALUP whenever experience indicates that unanticipated difficulties are being encountered that might be solved through appropriate amendments to the plan.

The State Aeronautics Law (Public Utilities Code Chapter 4, Article 3.5) requires local general plans and specific plans to be consistent with the adopted Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plans of County Airport Land Use Commissions. The ALUC shall review the local general plans and specific plans of the affected jurisdictions to determine consistency with the ALUC’s policies within 180 days of adoption of the Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan.

Where inconsistencies exist, the ALUC shall notify the affected jurisdiction. The local agency may overrule the ALUC after holding a public hearing and after making specific findings that the existing plans are compatible with the purposes of the aeronautics law. A two-thirds majority vote of the governing body is required. (See Section 21676(a)).

Until such time as the ALUC finds that the local general plan or specific plan is consistent with the Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan; or the local agency has overruled the ALUC’s determination, all actions, regulations, and permits shall be referred to the ALUC for a consistency determination (Section 21676.5 (a)).

If the ALUC finds that the local agencies have not revised their general or specific plans or overruled the ALUC with the required two-thirds vote, State law enables the ALUC to require that the local agencies submit all development actions, regulations, and permits to the ALUCAbbr for review. If the ALUC finds that the proposed action is not consistent with the Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan, the local agency shall be so notified and shall hold a public hearing to reconsider its plan. The local agency may overrule the ALUC with a two-thirds vote of its governing body if it makes specific findings that the proposed action is consistent with the purposes of Section 21670 of the Aeronautics Law. (See Section 21676.5(b)).

Where the local agencies have amended their general and specific plans to be consistent with the Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan, or where they have overruled the ALUC's findings of inconsistency, then the following types of actions proposed within the primary airport referral areas shall be referred to the Airport Land Use Commission for determination of consistency with the Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan prior to their approval by the local jurisdiction:

1. The adoption or approval of any amendment to a general or specific plan affecting the Commission’s geographic area of concern as indicated in paragraph 1.1 (Section 21676 (b)).
2. The adoption or approval of a zoning ordinance or building regulation which (1) affects the Commission’s geographic area of concern as indicated in paragraph 1.1 and (2) involves the types of airport impact concerns listed in paragraph 1.2 (Section 21676 (b)).
3. Adoption or modification of the master plan for an existing public-use airport (Section 21676 (c)).
4. Any proposal for a new airport or heliport whether for public or private use (Section 21661.5).

Other types of actions which may involve a question of compatibility with airport activities should also be referred to the ALUC through voluntary agreements with the local government agencies (Section 21676.5 (b)). The ALUC shall review the following types of actions:

1. Any proposed expansion of a city’s or an urban service district’s sphere of influence within an airport’s planning area.
2. Any proposed residential rezoning or planned unit development consisting of five or more dwelling units within an airport’s planning area.
3. Any request for variance from a local agency’s height limitation ordinance within an airport’s planning area.
4. Any proposal for construction or alteration of a structure (including antennas) taller than 150 feet above the ground anywhere within the County.
5. Any major capital improvements (e.g., water, sewer, roads) that would promote urban development.
6. Proposed land acquisition by a government entity (especially, acquisition of a school site).
7. Any other proposed land use action, as determined by the local planning agency, involving a question of compatibility with airport activities.
8. Any proposal requiring notification to the Federal Aviation Administration under Federal Aviation Regulations Part 77, Subchapter B, regardless of the location in the County. There is no requirement for local agencies to enter into these voluntary agreements.

Proposed development actions subject to ALUC review must be submitted to the ALUC for review prior to approval by the local government entity. All projects should be referred to the ALUC at the earliest reasonable point in time so that the ALUC’s review can be duly considered by the local jurisdiction prior to formalizing its actions.

When reviewing a land use proposal, the ALUC has a choice of either of two actions: (1) find the project consistent with the Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan; or (2) find the project inconsistent with the Plan. The ALUC cannot, however, find a project consistent with the Plan subject to the inclusion of certain conditions in the project.

Once a project has been found consistent with the Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan, it need not be referred for review at subsequent stages of the planning process (e.g., for a general plan amendment and again for a zoning change) unless: (1) major changes to the project are made during subsequent review and consideration by the local jurisdiction; or (2) the local jurisdiction agrees that further review is warranted.

The ALUC must respond to a local agency’s request for a consistency determination on a project within 60 days of referral. If the ALUC fails to make the determination within that period, the proposed action shall be deemed consistent with the Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan.

When reviewing airport master plans for existing airports, the ALUC has three action choices:

1. Find the airport master plan consistent with the Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan.
2. Disapprove the airport master plan on the basis that it is inconsistent with the ALUC’s Plan.
3. Modify the Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan (after duly noticed public hearing) to reflect the assumptions and proposals in the airport master plan.

When reviewing proposals for new airports or heliports, the ALUC’s choices of action are:

1. Approve the proposal as being consistent with the specific review policies listed in Section 2.3 below.
2. Approve the proposal and adopt a Compatibility Plan for that facility. Adoption of such a plan is required if the airport or heliport will be a public-use facility.
3. Disapprove the proposal on the basis that the noise and safety impacts it would have on surrounding land uses are not adequately mitigated.
4. When reviewing master plans for existing airports, the ALUC shall determine whether the activity forecasts or proposed facility development identified in the proposed master plan differs substantially from the forecasts and developed assumed for that airport in the Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan. Attention should specifically focus on:
   1. Activity forecasts that are: (1) significantly higher than those in the Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan; or which (2) include a significantly higher proportion of larger or noisier aircraft.
   2. Proposals to: (1) construct a new runway or helicopter takeoff and landing area; (2) change the length, width, or landing threshold location of an existing runway; or (3) establish an instrument approach procedure.

The ALUC shall determine whether the proposed airport master plan is consistent with the Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan. The ALUC shall base their determination of consistency on findings that the forecasts and development of the airport would not result in greater noise, overflight, and safety impacts or height restrictions on surrounding land uses than are presently assumed in the Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan.

The Airport Land Use Commission should ensure that proper coordination is established between its staff and local governments to ensure the efficient administration of the development review process. The local jurisdictions with land use regulatory authority within the airport influence areas must understand the boundaries of the airport influence areas and have clear maps available to them. The city or County planning departments are usually the first point of contact with a developer. It is important that they be able to relay information as to whether a project is subject to review by the Airport Land Use Airport Land Use Commission.

It is also important that the local government agencies be kept informed as to the appropriate staff contact for the ALUC when information about the Airport Land Use Commission's development review process is desired.

It may be appropriate for the ALUC and its staff to consider preparing a simple handout or brochure which explains the ALUC's development review process. It might include information about the process of reviewing a development proposal, scheduling a proposal for a hearing before the ALUC, and the consequences of action by the ALUC.

Sonoma County has established a geographic information system (GIS) for the entire county. The system is managed by the County Permit and Resource Management Agency, Information Systems Department. The GIS is essentially an intelligent computerized mapping system. Geographic data can be analyzed and mapped in many different ways. Among the data in the system are streets, streams and watercourses, railroads, and property lines.

Administration of the CALUP would be enhanced if the boundaries of the regulatory areas were added to the GIS. The system could be used in various helpful ways. For example, if the boundaries of a development project were encoded into the system, the GIS could be queried to determine whether the parcel was inside a CALUP regulatory area. If it was, a map could be produced and an estimate of the affected land area could be produced.

For the GIS system to be effective, it is necessary to encode the airport layout plans into the system as well as the various regulatory areas. This would ensure the proper definition of runway coordinates, bearings, and elevations, the foundations for defining the regulatory area boundaries.

A GIS can be especially helpful in the administration of height standards. If the FAR Part 77 Airspace Plans were entered into the system in a three-dimensional format, a GIS with three-dimensional topographic data would be capable of producing a structural penetration analysis quickly and easily. As long as the structure location, height, and surface topography were known, the system could determine whether a penetration of a Part 77 surface would occur. It could also produce three-dimensional maps of the affected area. The ALUC staff should coordinate with the Information Systems Department staff to determine if the County GIS can be adapted for this purpose. If so, the ALUC should consider developing three-dimensional Part 77 Airspace Plans.

Sonoma County and the airport area cities may consider amendments to their general plans from time to time. The major consideration of the ALUC as it reviews future general plan amendments is to ensure that the standards of the CALUP are incorporated into the General Plan such that compliance with the General Plan assures compliance with the CALUP policies..

In some noise and safety zones, the policies of this Plan prohibit or limit the density of residential development. From the standpoint of airport compatibility, any future amendments to local general plans or new specific plans involving density transfers generally would be acceptable. ("Density transfer" means allowing credit for unused residential development potential within the particular noise/safety zone to be transferred to a part of the property outside the noise/safety zone.) This shall not be interpreted as acceptance of any waivers from the land use compatibility policies of this plan. Density transfers shall be acceptable only if all land use policies within the airport influence area are complied with.