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STEUBENVILLLE -- The Jefferson County Airport Zoning Commission is still on track to have a preliminary report about zoning issues ready by early August, members of the commission said Monday afternoon during a teleconference meeting.
The commission was formed to make regulations for the area surrounding the Jefferson County Airpark in reaction to the possible reopening of the Crossridge Landfill.
Members of the commission were appointed by the Jefferson County Airport Zoning Board, which is the county commissioners.
Board member Brandon Reese said he spoke with the Ohio Department of Transportation Office of Aviation about questions the commission had at its meeting in February.
"They gave us an indication that the path that we're on is the correct path," Reese said the ODOT representatives told him of the way the commission is proceeding.
The question of how far out the commission has the authority to zone was what he raised with the ODOT office. That issue was brought up by Phil Bender at the February meeting while discussing potential land use policy.
The answer Reese got, he said, was the boundaries the zoning can cover go out to the initial approach fixes on the published approaches of the airport.
Reese said the commission has the tough job of being fair to the those that use the airpark and the landowners who would be affected.
"This is a very complex issue because there has to be a balancing of interests on how far we reach with this zoning," he said. "Even though ODOT Aviation says we can go clear out to the initial approaches, we as a board, knowing our county, knowing our property, knowing our property owners around us, have to make a balancing decision on what makes sense, what protects the airport users and what also protects and is fair to the land users in that area."
The area the commission has the authority to zone was said to be up to a 10-mile radius, though Reese and Bender agreed that there will likely not be a need to extend it out that far.
Bender said items that should be the focus of the commission are situations that could interfere with GPS signals used by the planes, that could create issues with wildlife or with events like laser shows.
"We're going to dig into that when we get back to meeting in person," Reese said.
Reese also said he had correspondence with local officials whose jurisdictions could be affected by the zoning.
While discussing the time frame for getting their report done, the options for meeting in person were a topic of discussion.
To comply with Gov. Mike DeWine's Stay Safe Ohio order, the consensus was that the meetings will be a mix of teleconference and in-person participation, with any in-person involvement following social distancing guidelines.
Should enough members of the public attend that it would become impossible for social distancing, the meeting could be moved or suspended.
Due to the need to review items including maps, meeting completely by teleconference would make it difficult to conduct the commission's business.
The plan is for the commission to meet on, or close to, a weekly basis to stay on track to have a report for the board by August.
After the report is submitted, there will be a public hearing process with the commission to hear from the public, for example land owners who could be affected, and consider changes and concerns before finalizing the regulations.
The commission will meet again at 6 p.m. Monday by teleconference.