American Planning Association - Transportation Planning Division

AIRPORTS COMMITTEE

Higher Visions for Airports
FY 2006 WORK PROGRAM5
FY 2006 WORK PROGRAM, March 2005
Airports-in-the-Region Status Report, March 2005
Airports-in-the-Region Work Program, October 2004
Airports-in-the-Region, an APA Divisions Council Forum, April 2004
From the Chair
Report Examines Relationship Between Transportation Policy and Open Space, March 2003

Higher Visions for Airports

Given a dearth of planning guidance on how airport commercial districts should be designed, engineered, and managed, TPD has established the AIR -- Airports in the Region -- Committee. Two active members spoke at a British-organized conference on passenger terminals in Fort Lauderdale last month. AIR Chair Dan Wong, who works as a planner at San Francisco Airport, described airside perspectives on airport-land use compatibility to the international gathering at Passenger Terminal Expo. Fort Lauderdale's convention center is clean and efficient, located aside the major port, within the first security perimeter.

TPD Secretary Larry Fabian, who researches and writes about innovative airport and airfront configurations, addressed landside issues of land use complementarity – the problems and planning challenges of the growing array of commercial development emerging around airports. Given the traffic airfront development generates, curb space is a precious commodity at an airport. It should be carefully managed within a ground access policy that assures efficiency and security. This takes planning precision and disciplined enforcement.

Former TPD chair Whit Blanton sees many useful products arising from AIR activities. There is a need for good case studies, comparative analysis, policy guidance, planning and design standards, recommendations for zoning and building ordinances, etc. All these can be communicated in articles for Planning and elsewhere. As chair of the Divisions Council, Whit is in a good position to make things happen. If you want to contribute to this effort, contact Whit at wblanton@citiesthatwork.com .

Airports-in-the-Region, an APA Divisions Council Forum
Sunday, April 25, 2004, 1 to 4 PM

In many of our metropolitan areas, the airport and its adjacent commercial areas contain more employees and income-generating economic activity rivaling that of traditional downtowns or suburban office parks. Often located at the urban area fringe, these transportation hubs for passenger and/or cargo can have a profound effect on development patterns, the environment and natural resources, and the regional transportation network. Yet unlike downtowns and other “activity centers,” the planning profession has paid scant attention and has offered little guidance about how best to harness this powerful resource within a comprehensive, long-range perspective.

How can planners shape these emerging Airfront Districts to better achieve regional and local objectives? Whether they are large international hubs with major cargo facilities, metropolitan area reliever airports, or general aviation facilities in rural areas, airports and their surrounding land uses play an increasingly dominant role in shaping a region. Understanding those influences, the ways airports operate, and successful intergovernmental strategies is the focus of APA’s Airports-in-the-Region initiative, led by APA’s Divisions Council.

This initiative is the focus of a special forum held at the APA National Planning Conference in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, April 25th from 1 to 4 PM in the Omni Shoreham hotel. The extended session features a panel representing diverse interests, including the Federal Aviation Administration and regional and local governments, along with the perspective of APA’s various divisions and an interactive breakout session to determine how APA should focus its efforts in the coming year.

The Divisions Council, comprised of the elected chairs from each of APA’s 18 special interest divisions, is the perfect entity for taking a multi-disciplinary approach to research and development on planning issues. For the first time, this group will come together to focus on best practices guidance for the airfront – a term used to describe the commercial, industrial and transportation facilities that support an airport. If you are attending the APA Conference, please make plans to attend this educational and interactive forum to learn and offer your insights.

DENVER AIRFONT ISSUES WORKSHOP SUMMARY
WHAT IS AN ‘AIRFRONT’?

One significant observation that emerged from a day-long workshop on “Airfront” issues last spring (1) in Denver is that little research has been done on the commercial districts that have emerged and continue to evolve around airports. There was also consensus that as aviation becomes more important for local economies participating in the larger global economy, the need to better understand, develop, configure and manage airport districts grows more important. Indeed, fundamental economic factors are at play, and aviation – air traffic of both passengers and goods -- will become increasingly important.

Urban planners have largely focused on the economic development of downtown districts (Central Business Districts, or CBDs) and suburban industrial, office and retail parks, often referred to as Major Activity Centers (MACs). There is a broad understanding of current dynamics, infrastructure needs, and long-term trends in these settings. Their relevance to the economic and social well-being of their regions is well recognized. This is not so true of airports. While there have been major concerns about noise, air quality, ground water pollution, and highway congestion arising from airport construction and operations, there is little comprehensive data on the “airfront” mixtures of car rental facilities, hotels and meeting facilities, freight and cargo services, light or just-in-time manufacturing, warehousing, and other economic activities that require frequent air shipments and highly mobile employees.

It would help planners and developers to better understand the parameters of airfront districts. How are they similar to or different from CBDs and other MACs? What influences and sustains their development? How are they changing? A recent airfront phenomenon, for example, is the consolidation of scattered car rental operations into a single site with shared shuttle services to and from the airport terminal(s). Will the same consolidation and interconnection evolve for hotels and trade show facilities? Will districts adopt sustainable design principles and development guidelines? What utility, recycling, heating/cooling and telecommunication needs can be provided more efficiently on a district basis? When are common transport services viable? How “smart” should they be? As commercial building is a generator of wealth in real estate, can publicly orchestrated airfront implementations be a new source of revenues for airport authorities -- that someday may compete with landing fees, retail sales, parking, and ticket surcharges?

Urban planners have largely focused on the economic development of downtown districts (Central Business Districts, or CBDs) and suburban industrial, office and retail parks, often referred to as Major Activity Centers (MACs). There is a broad understanding of current dynamics, infrastructure needs, and long-term trends in these settings. Their relevance to the economic and social well-being of their regions is well recognized. This is not so true of airports. While there have been major concerns about noise, air quality, ground water pollution, and highway congestion arising from airport construction and operations, there is little comprehensive data on the “airfront” mixtures of car rental facilities, hotels and meeting facilities, freight and cargo services, light or just-in-time manufacturing, warehousing, and other economic activities that require frequent air shipments and highly mobile employees.

A list of 23 specific research needs emerged from the Workshop that can better define “airfronts,” their components and dynamics. Some needs relate to FAA programs, policies and analytic tools. Others focus on globalization and just-in-time industrial trends, while others relate to zoning, density and transport issues. What are good examples of wealth-generating airfronts? What are best practices and methods of governance and management? What legislative initiatives might be appropriate? Are there incentives to capture the entrepreneurial spirit of developers, landowners, and public authorities to help integrate airfronts and connect them to airports and their regions? More knowledge and analysis is clearly needed.
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(1) Organized cooperatively by the Transportation Planning Division of the American Planning Association and the Advanced Transit Association on March 29, 2003, the day before APA’s annual convention.

AIRFRONT RESEARCH NEEDS
ATRA/TPD Workshop on Airfront Issues
Denver, March 29, 2003

1. What strategies can be used to reduce landside air emissions from public and private vehicles?
2. What are future security requirements for airports and surrounding airfronts? How will they affect the interchange between airside and landside circulation? Can better security procedures be configured around advanced circulation systems like automated people movers (APMs) and advanced baggage/cargo handling systems?
3. What range of aviation alternatives should be considered in airport systems planning? In other words, shouldn’t alternatives to aviation such as rail, high-speed rail and other ground transport be considered?
4. What FAA planning tools are available and applicable to city and regional planning?
5. How should an airport master plan be expanded to better incorporate and induce (catalyze) airfront development?
6. What are the parameters of an airfront? How many hotel rooms and other facilities? What are parking requirements? How many parking spaces should be supplied, and at what are optimal pricing policies?
7. How will future global business and just-in-time manufacturing trends affect airports and airfront development?
8. What roles are APMs and advanced cargo systems playing and how can they be improved?
9. Does reconfiguring airports around PRT networks (advanced APMs with small vehicles and off-line stations) offer potential benefits to merit FAA investigation and demonstration funding?
10. What infrastructure requirements are there – e.g. district heating/cooling, fiber optics and other communications, power, water and sewerage recycling, hazmat disposal, material recycling, etc.?
11. What densities (FARs) are appropriate for airfronts? What mode splits to transit are possible and desirable? What impact does this have on parking requirements?
12. Should a new category of zoning be created to reflect airfront conditions? What provisions and requirements should be included?
13. What kind of institutional framework should guide airfront development? What blend of public and private section?
14. What level of enterprise is appropriate for airport operators? Can development provide a new stream of income to supplement landing fees, parking and retail?
15. Should airfront development be planned for short- or long-term objectives? What time horizon is appropriate?
16. What principles of green architecture should be encouraged in airports and airfronts?
17. What principles of sustainable communities (i.e. Smart Growth) should be encouraged?
18. Are principles of liveable, walkable communities relevant? How and why?
19. Can BID (Business Improvement District) principles of self-taxation and local governance be applied to airfronts?
20. How can increases in airfront land values be tapped to help pay for planning and infrastructure investments? What lessons are there in the London Docklands and Copenhagen Orestad projects?
21. What examples of successful airfronts are available? Are there good case studies available? What are best practices? Mentioned at the Workshop: Alliance (Ft. Worth), Cleveland, Global TransPark (NC), Rickenbacker (Columbus), Seoul (Inchon, Korea) and Tampa.
22. What model state legislative initiatives are there to encourage sound airfront development?
23. What markets should airfront retail be geared toward – traveler needs, regional products to visitors to the region, or world products to local residents?