Page 175 - Planning and Design of Airports

142 Airp o r t Pl anning

The overall objective of the airport project plan is to provide the
specific details of the development which will satisfy immediate avi-
ation needs and be consistent with the objectives and constraints
identified in the airport master plan. More specifically it is a detailed
plan for
1. Developing the specific physical facilities at an airport
including the architectural and engineering design for these
facilities
2. Determining the environmental effects of this development
through the construction and operational phases
3. Determining the detailed costs and financial planning for the
development
4. Establishing a schedule for the construction and phasing of
the specific items of development in the plan

Land-Use Planning
A land-use plan for property within the airport boundary and in
areas adjacent to the airport is an essential part of an airport master
plan. The land-use plan on and off the airport is an integral part of an
area wide comprehensive planning program, and therefore it must be
coordinated with the objectives, policies, and programs for the area
which the airport is to serve. Incompatibility of the airport with its
neighbors stems primarily from the objections of people to aircraft
noise. A land-use plan must therefore project the extent of aircraft noise
that will be generated by airport operations in the future. Contours of
equal intensity of noise can be drawn and overlaid on a land-use map
and from these contours an estimate can be made of the compatibility
of existing land use with airport operations. If the land outside the
airport is underdeveloped, the contours are the basis for establishing
comprehensive land-use zoning requirements.
Although zoning is used as a method for controlling land use
adjacent to an airport, it is not effective in areas which are already
built-up because it is usually not retroactive. Furthermore jurisdic-
tions having zoning powers may not take effective zoning action.
Aircraft operations into and out of the airport may be made unnec-
essarily complex to minimize noise encroachment on incompatible
land uses. Despite these shortcomings the planner should utilize
zoning as a vehicle to achieve compatibility wherever this approach
is feasible.
Airports become involved in two types of zoning. One type is
height and hazard zoning, which is mainly to protect the approaches
to the airport from obstructions. The other type is land-use zoning.
The extent of land use in the airport depends a great deal on the
amount of acreage available. Land uses can be classified as either