1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to metropolitan government; defining minor 
  1.3             use and intermediate use airports for certain 
  1.4             purposes; establishing a reliever airport sound 
  1.5             abatement council; amending Minnesota Statutes 1998, 
  1.6             section 473.641, subdivision 4; proposing coding for 
  1.7             new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 473. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 473.641, 
  1.10  subdivision 4, is amended to read: 
  1.11     Subd. 4.  [EXPANSION OR UPGRADE OF METRO AIRPORT.] 
  1.12  Notwithstanding any other law, the metropolitan airports 
  1.13  commission shall not use revenue from any source, as described 
  1.14  by section 473.608, for construction of air facilities to expand 
  1.15  or upgrade the use of an existing metropolitan airport from 
  1.16  minor use to intermediate use status ~~as defined by the~~ 
  1.17  ~~metropolitan development guide, aviation chapter, adopted~~ 
  1.18  ~~pursuant to section 473.145~~.  The St. Paul downtown airport is 
  1.19  an intermediate use airport.  The following airports are minor 
  1.20  use airports:  Flying Cloud, Crystal, Anoka county - Blaine, 
  1.21  Lake Elmo, and Airlake.  For the purposes of this subdivision, a 
  1.22  "minor use" airport is an airport that has a primary runway 
  1.23  between 2,500 and 4,000 feet in length, and an "intermediate 
  1.24  use" airport is an airport that has a primary runway between 
  1.25  4,001 and 8,000 feet in length.  The existence before January 1, 
  1.26  1999, of a runway in excess of 4,000 feet at an airport 
  2.1   classified as a minor use airport does not cause the airport to 
  2.2   be reclassified from a minor use airport to an intermediate use 
  2.3   airport. 
  2.4      Sec. 2.  [473.657] [RELIEVER AIRPORT SOUND ABATEMENT 
  2.5   COUNCIL.] 
  2.6      Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITION.] For the purposes of this 
  2.7   section, "sound abatement council" refers to the reliever 
  2.8   airport sound abatement council established in this section. 
  2.9      Subd. 2.  [ESTABLISHMENT; PURPOSE.] A reliever airport 
  2.10  sound abatement council is established to study and evaluate the 
  2.11  problem of noise created by the operation of reliever airports 
  2.12  in the metropolitan area, to recommend sound abatement policies 
  2.13  to be adopted and implemented by the metropolitan airports 
  2.14  commission, and to evaluate any established sound abatement 
  2.15  policies for reliever airports in the metropolitan area. 
  2.16     Subd. 3.  [MEMBERSHIP.] (a) [COMPOSITION OF 
  2.17  MEMBERSHIP.] The sound abatement council consists of the members 
  2.18  specified in this subdivision.  A majority of the members must 
  2.19  be local representatives. 
  2.20     (b) [STATE OFFICIALS.] The executive director of the 
  2.21  metropolitan airports commission or the executive director's 
  2.22  designee and the commissioner of transportation or the 
  2.23  commissioner's designee are members of the sound abatement 
  2.24  council. 
  2.25     (c) [USER REPRESENTATIVES.] The director of each reliever 
  2.26  airport shall appoint a user representative as a member of the 
  2.27  sound abatement council. 
  2.28     (d) [LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES.] A city or township abutting or 
  2.29  within two miles of the boundary of a reliever airport may 
  2.30  appoint one member to the sound abatement council.  Initially, 
  2.31  the cities of Mounds View, Blaine, Lake Elmo, St. Paul, Brooklyn 
  2.32  Park, Brooklyn Center, Crystal, Circle Pines, Lexington, and 
  2.33  Eden Prairie, and the townships of West Lakeland and Baytown, 
  2.34  shall appoint the local representatives to the sound abatement 
  2.35  council.  Additional cities or townships whose borders abut or 
  2.36  are within two miles of a reliever airport may participate as 
  3.1   members upon written notice to the chair of the reliever airport 
  3.2   sound abatement council. 
  3.3      Subd. 4.  [MEMBER QUALIFICATIONS.] Reliever airport user 
  3.4   representatives shall have knowledge of aviation issues at their 
  3.5   respective airports.  Local representatives must be elected 
  3.6   officials of their communities or the elected officials' 
  3.7   designees. 
  3.8      Subd. 5.  [TERMS OF OFFICE.] Members of the sound abatement 
  3.9   council serve two-year terms.  Terms of office must be staggered 
  3.10  so that one-half of the reliever airport user representatives 
  3.11  and one-half of the local representatives are appointed every 
  3.12  year. 
  3.13     Subd. 6.  [EXPENSES AND ADMINISTRATION.] The metropolitan 
  3.14  airports commission shall provide the funding necessary for the 
  3.15  operation of the sound abatement council, as well as 
  3.16  administrative and staff assistance when requested by the sound 
  3.17  abatement council. 
  3.18     Sec. 3.  [INITIAL MEETING AND BYLAWS OF COUNCIL.] 
  3.19     Initial members of the reliever airport sound abatement 
  3.20  council must be appointed by July 1, 1999.  The cities of Mounds 
  3.21  View, Blaine, Lake Elmo, St. Paul, Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn 
  3.22  Center, Crystal, Circle Pines, Lexington, and Eden Prairie, and 
  3.23  the townships of West Lakeland and Baytown, shall appoint the 
  3.24  initial local representatives to the sound abatement council.  
  3.25  The executive director of the metropolitan airports commission 
  3.26  or the executive director's designee shall convene the initial 
  3.27  meeting of the sound abatement council no later than one month 
  3.28  after the appointment of members, and thereafter the sound 
  3.29  abatement council shall continue to meet once a month or as 
  3.30  determined by the sound abatement council's bylaws.  At its 
  3.31  initial meeting the sound abatement council shall elect a chair 
  3.32  from among the local representatives, and provide for bylaws. 
  3.33     Sec. 4.  [APPLICATION; LOCAL APPROVAL.] 
  3.34     Sections 1, 2, and 3 apply in the counties of Anoka, 
  3.35  Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington.  
  3.36  Sections 2 and 3 are effective for each city or township named 
  4.1   upon compliance by the city or township and its chief clerical 
  4.2   officer with Minnesota Statutes, section 645.021, subdivision 3.