July 23, 2014

Commissioner Cox

was present. Susan Holecheck, Pahrump Town Manager, explained the Town and County had been in the process of weighing the advantages and disadvantages of an airport since 1987 and the Town had received over $1 million in federal grant money. She warned that if the project did not go forward it was possible the FAA could reques t reimbursement of all or a portion of the federal money received. Also, the possibility of obtaining permission for future GA airports was declining because costs were escalating, there were declining grant monies, and environmental issues were preclud ing ventures. The cost for an airport today was $21.2 million with federal funding available of $17 million, leaving a $4 million shortfall. General obligation bonds could be the financing vehicle for that shortfall. July 23, 2014

Ms. Holecheck

advised Phase II of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) had been started for various studies like noise, environmental, and agricultural. Data would be compiled and reports drafted. Hopefully in September, 2014, the first of many public hearings would be conducted in Pahrump to specifically address resident questions. The Town would have to seek another grant to complete Phase II. Construction of the airport would start in 2017 and the doors would open in 2020 provided everything continued to go well from this point on.

Ms. Holecheck

felt the first issue the County needed to study and determine was whether to buy or lease the land. The land was not currently on the disposal list, and the total annual lease rate for the first five years was $48,750.00 per year. That lease was FAA AlP grant eligible and resulted in an annual cost to the Town or County of $3,047.00. The next question was whether the County wished to run the airport or operate it on a fixed operator basis. Ms. Holecheck believed it would be prudent for the Town and/or the County to assume the larger role of operating and maintaining the facilities, including the sale of aviation fuel, for at least the first ten years.

Ms. Holecheck

stated another factor to think about was the relationship of the 2014 Pah rump Regional Planning District (PRPD) Master Plan update to the 2009 Pahrump Valley Airport Master Plan and the 2003 PRPD Master Plan. The BLM had asked whether there were plans for a non-aviation related development around the GA airport. The 2003 PRPD Master Plan future land use map showed a heavy industrial land use adjacent to the proposed airport site with road accesses, including a beltway road, but the 2014 Master Plan update on the Nye County Web site showed no other development other than the airport lease area and no access to the airport other than the beltway. That had confused the FAA and they want confirmation that only the airport and the airport access road were proposed for the area at this time. The FAA also recommended the Town and County reconcile those differences before the PRPD Master Plan was finalized. Lastly, Ms. Holecheck discussed the Board’s execution of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding the future of the airport. Much of what the MOU covered would be coordinating and identifying which co-sponsors would be responsible for administrative activities for the airport, including submitting ACIPs, administering the EIS consultant contract, receiving/disbursing federal grant funds, administering local airport funds, and ultimately overseeing the design, construction and operation of the airport. Regarding the public comment made, Ms. Holecheck said one of the issues looked at when the master plan was started in 2007 was that aircraft traffic patterns would be to the west of the airport to minimize noise impacts. The nearest house to the south was five miles west, to the east was three miles away, and to the north was three miles away along Gamebird Road. There was also high ground between proposed site C and former site B. Site C was selected and that high ground would provide a visual buffer to July 23, 2014 the north and the east. Therefore the residential subdivisions to the east along Pahrump Valley Boulevard and to the north along Gamebird Road would not be impacted. Ms. Holecheck wanted the residents to know that the issues such as visual and noise impacts would be addressed during Phase II of the EIS and public hearings would be conducted so residents could be given some sense of assurance regarding those issues.

Ms. Holecheck

advised the Board that the Town of Pahrump had an airport room tax special revenue fund with a balance of $1 86,946.00 for FY2O1 3 and a proposed balance for FY2015 of $232,946.00, so that fund continued to grow. With the advent of future hotels there would be additional room tax collected. While the feasibility study indicated a potential $113,000.00 shortfall, she believed that could be dealt with and was not certain there would even be a shortfall given what she hoped would be the growth of Pahrump. Bill Dolan, Vice Chairman of the Pahrump Town Board and liaison to the airport project, said during this whole process the larger companies in town had submitted letters in support of the project, which would bring in more business not only for them but also for the Town. The private airport on the north end of town was in favor of this and would use the airport for refueling and overflow aircraft. McCarron Airport had also come on board and was in favor of the airport. The runway would initially be able to handle the medium-sized aircraft that North Las Vegas and Boulder City could not handle. Also, the Forest Service was very enthused about this idea and would like to discuss storing retardant, purchasing fuel, and staging smoke jumpers during the fire season. Mr. Dolan pointed out this airport was being paid for by grants and room tax money and no tax dollars from the Nye County public was being spent on it. He also thought the shortfall mentioned could be covered with the new hotels coming in. Judith Holmgren asked Ms. Holecheck if she had the comments collected during the environmental assessment (EA) scoping activity. Ms. Holecheck said she did not.

Mrs. Holmgren

asked if the grant money was spent on the EA and if the Town paid the match because if it did then it was entitled to a separate EA document. Ms. Holecheck said it was.

Mrs. Holmgren

asked where the fuel would come from to supply the airport. Ms. Holecheck advised that had not been determined yet, but she did not think it would be advantageous to say fuel would only be bought from this place in 2014 when the airport would not open until 2020. Dave Fanning, Public Works Director, added that right now fuel was only in Tonopah and was run by the fixed base operator. It came out of either Las Vegas or Reno and was bought from whichever had the best price. July 23, 2014

Commissioner Borasky

asked if there were reports showing what affect the opening of the lvanpah Airport would have on the Pahrump Airport. Ms. Holecheck did not believe Pahrump had any reports on that.

Commissioner Borasky

disagreed with the statement that the local public did not pay for any of the cost as he and his family had paid room tax. On the feasibility study, he questioned the 25-foot toad listed and thought that number was off after speaking with

Mr. Fanning

. Whether it was the perimeter toad or the access road, County standards were quite a bit above that, plus they needed additional overbuild and aprons. He suggested talking with Mr. Fanning about that.

Ms. Holecheck

stated she and Mr. Fanning would have future meetings with the FAA to bring forth the County’s requirements for roads and the numbers would be corrected at that time.

Commissioner Borasky

asked where the $113,500.00 subsidy shown in the cash flow analysis would come from.

Ms. Holecheck

explained if the Town was operating it there were operating revenues of $264,005.00 versus operating expenditures of $180,905.00, leaving a net income of $83,100.00, but if it was a fixed base operator then those numbers would be different. In evaluating the potential growth of Pahrump Ms. Holecheck did not see a shortfall. The airport room tax was created and additional funds would be deferred to that if necessary. Regarding the statement that noise would not have an effect on the south side of town,

Commissioner Borasky

noted that when a plane took off and landed it could be heard for many miles and he thought that was an inaccurate statement.

Ms. Holecheck

said that was based on the master plan and was information people had been operating under which was why during the EIS Phase II it was important to again analyze noise, air quality and flight patterns because things change. However, based on those prior studies the impacts were not deemed significant.

Commissioner Borasky

asked how much potential debt the County would be responsible for when the Town Board exited on January 5, 2015. Ms. Holecheck advised there was currently $262,446.00 in the airport revenue fund which they had never touched, so the County was not on the hook for any debt.

Commissioner Borasky

noted the comment made by Ms. Holecheck earlier regarding the federal government possibly recalling all the grants and said if they did that would definitely be a debt.

Ms. Holecheck

said FAA grants were not guaranteed and she put that information in because of her past experience. She described the efforts to establish a Mesquite Airport when she was there and how it was told to her then in an official capacity that if July23, 2014 that project did not go forward the FAA could want a portion of the federal monies returned.

Commissioner Carbone

questioned the need for an airport in Pahrump, the strategy for it, its use, and the benefits to the community and surrounding area.

Ms. Holecheck

said she had meetings with the private airport and the pilots indicated they received calls for emergency landings at that private airport. She referred to the Carpenter Canyon fire and how having an airport would have been beneficial then. She had also heard from the speedway that they had an incredible interest given the level of money and membership there and it was believed those people would be owners of aircraft. She was also heating the same thing from Front Sight since they get people coming in all the time. Ms. Holecheck felt there was a high potential for the airport, including aviation-related businesses.

Commissioner Carbone

noted some of the data provided was dated and probably not accurate anymore, including the percentage of growth of 5.2%. Regarding the 5,000 foot/75 foot wide runway and the plan to go to a 6,000 foot/i 00 foot wide runway,

Commissioner Carbone

questioned why that 6,000 foot/I 00 foot wide runway would not be built in the first place. He then discussed the types of fuel that would be stored on the site and how some older planes used a different fuel than what was planned and would not be able to use the airport to fuel up. He noted the price of fuel had also gone up since the feasibility study was done and the supply was going to be an issue. He was also curious about how many T-hangars were planned as the wording in the study made itsound like 100.

Ms. Holecheck

did not think the Board had made a determination on the T-hangars yet.

Commissioner Carbone

asked how much money had actually been asked for in grants and how much the Town had spent from 1985 when the project started to today. Ms. Holecheck advised they applied for $2 million in grant money and received $1 million due to inactivity on the grant. Their portion had been 6.75%, but she would have to look in the file for the exact figure.

Commissioner Schinhofen

asked Mr. Fanning if the County also backstopped the Tonopah, Beatty and Gabbs Airports with a memorandum of understanding or something similar to help them with grants or take responsibility if they failed. Mr. Fanning said no.

Commissioner Schinhofen

was not present.

Commissioner Borasky

assumed the Chair of the Board of County Commissioners.

Commissioner Carbone

noted the obligation bond were funds that would have to be paid back by either the taxpayers or the Town in some method and asked what the plan for that was knowing at least a $4 million bond would be needed. Ms. Holecheck stated July 23, 2014 that was why the was concerned now as to wanting the County as a co-sponsor. She did not think that had been discussed sufficiently as to how to pay those bonds back. Pam Webster commented a revenue bond was one thing, but if there was no revenue stream from this endeavor the revenue bond could not be relied on to cover the debt service and she had not seen the revenue stream identified yet.

Ms. Holecheck

said there was a need to start looking at how to bring businesses in as well as a use for the hangars and how many of them to build. She then outlined the grants that had been received by the Town totaling $1,394,004.00 with the Town’s match portion being $79,079.00.

Commissioner Carbone

noted the prior comments that the FAA could ask for a portion of that money back if this did not go forward. Ms. Holecheck said if that happened she hoped they would only ask for the Town’s match portion back, which the Town had clearly budgeted with over $200,000.00 currently in the fund now.

Commissioner Carbone

asked if anybody had laid out an actual phasing plan as far as the EIS. Ms. Holecheck advised their consultant phased the tasks out and compiling the data from the studies would be a large portion of what happened next.

Commissioner Carbone

wondered if this could fall apart if the SCM did not join in. Ms. Holecheck was not sure the BLM was desirous of this airport or as pro-active as they could be, but she thought because this land was not on a disposal list and would involve leasing costs that there were areas regarding this airport where assistance could be requested from the congressional delegation. Regarding the bond, Mr. Dolan stated the Town Board did discuss that but did not take any action on it because it was so far out in the future. They had also talked about creating an ad hoc committee at the appropriate time to move forward with deciding what needed to be done with fuel costs, construction, etc., and Mr. Dolan thought it was a good idea to create that ad hoc committee now until such time as the decision was made as to who would run the airport. On the runway, an initial runway of 6,000 feet was asked for with a parallel. The parallel was denied and he understood BLM had knocked it down to 5,000 feet. Mr. Dolan felt the 6,000 foot runway was needed to allow for larger airplanes. He also thought there was quite a bit of generating revenue potential from the sale of aviation fuel, storing of planes, and other aviation-related businesses that would be located at the airport.

Commissioner Carbone

said he would like to see a fixed number on the lease. He noted the labor charge between 2007 and today had changed and that residents in California had expressed concern about the planes going over their area.

Mr. Dolan

advised the Nevada League of Cities Legislative Committee was looking at a bill draft request to get the Legislature to change certain issues in prevailing wage for July 23, 2014 rural communities. That bill draft request went to the Legislative Government Committee this morning.

Commissioner Cox

asked if the bypass on Gamebird over to Barney was specially designed because of the airport or if it was something that was going to be done anyway. Mt. Fanning advised it came in after the airport started in 1985 to take the traffic off the downtown area and it could be either downsized or dropped altogether. That was one of the conflicts in the master plan that needed to be addressed.

Commissioner Cox

asked if that beltway would disappear if the airport was not built.

Mr. Fanning

advised it had been out there long enough to gain the attention of the BLM as to how the County wanted the circulation of traffic to be, but once it was lost it would be very tough to get back.

Commissioner Cox

asked who would pay for it and if the airport would put funds toward that road. Ms. Holecheck said if AlP money was still being received then some of the roads could be absorbed through that, but if the airport was not there and no grants were received she presumed the County would be on the hook for it.

Commissioner Cox

asked if the BLM had expressed any problems with putting the airport through there. Mr. Fanning said it was not on the disposal list and even though it was on that map and would not be built for some time, it had to go through the disposal process. There were a lot of things behind the scenes controlling that.

Commissioner Ccx

asked if the funding used for the Mesquite Airport could be obtained for this airport. Ms. Holecheck said the County would have to work with its congressional delegates as she did not believe Pahrump in its in unincorporated status would be able to get that funding.

Commissioner Ccx

asked where the money from the grants had been spent. Ms. Holecheck explained a vast portion was used to pay the consultant and admin costs. In Phase II of the EIS there would be four different companies involved and those costs would come out of the grant.

Commissioner Cox

expressed her concerns about the noise and the owners of the properties in the area. She wanted to see the letters of support that had been submitted for the project and wondered if those people still supported it. She also wanted to make sure people in California who lived in the flight path were notified and given a chance to comment.

Mr. Dolan

stated recent conversations with the gentleman from the airfield and the owner of the racetrack indicated their continued enthusiasm about the airport coming in. Front Sight was also still very interested. July 23, 2014

Commissioner Cox

commented it sounded like this was all being done for them. She wondered if this did not work out if they would be willing to put their money together and build their own airport.

Mr. Dolan

said this was not being built for them. It was being built for the community to bring people in for economic development purposes.

Commissioner Cox

said she did not see the airport becoming very big and still had issues with the location.

Mr. Bergman

described a lawsuit against the BLM regarding illegal occupations of lands and suggested the Commissioners read that as they might not have to fight for that part of it.

Commissioner Carbone

stated the Commissioners asked a lot of questions because they knew this would have to be broadened and the decision would not be made in the next two weeks. They would probably want some of the individuals who spoke to be part of a group. He said the Commissioners were aware of the lawsuit mentioned by

Mr. Bergman

and that would be discussed. He also wondered if Senator Harry Reid ever honored his offer in 2008 to contribute money to the cause or the Town out of a DOT grant to pay for the EIS.

Commissioner Borasky

adjourned the workshop. APPROVED this 2’ day ATTEST: Of ,2014.

Chair Ny

Cointy Clerk I Deputy