Marines, council talk noise, accident zone plan

Marine Corps Air Station Yuma has changed a lot since 1977, the last time the base updated the Air Installations Compatible Use Zones plan, which identifies noise and potential accident zones.

The base and surrounding communities have grown significantly in those 47 years. In 1977, the MCAS Yuma population was 3,460; the population of Yuma was 29,007; and Yuma County had 60,827 people.

In 2019, the population of MCAS Yuma is 11,029, with a rotational population of 10,801. Yuma has a population of 104,000, and Yuma County has 225,000 people.

Even the aircraft flying out of the shared airport, both civilian and commercial, have changed substantially.

Very telling also is the number of operations in the Noise Exposure Zones and Accident Potential Zones. In 1977, the base had 53,574 operations in those zones; it now has 130,925.

That’s why the AICUZ update is needed, Col. David Suggs, commanding officer of MCAS Yuma, told members of the City Council during a Tuesday work session.

The updated study is looking at how the air station can be compatible with city development. The plan is required by the Department of Defense to ensure transparency for developers, homebuyers and businesses. They need to make sure that whoever moves into the area knows that it’s close and/or under military airspace.

“And we fly a lot,” Suggs said.

The base also wants to ensure that as it grows, it’s compatible with the city’s development and land uses. The AICUZ can be used as a planning document to develop land use plans.

“I don’t want an individual to buy land and think they can open a school and then find out they can’t,” Suggs said.

He pointed out that he and his staff are “extremely supportive” of community development and growth.

FAIRGROUNDS CHALLENGE

The AICUZ program recommends land uses that will be compatible with noise levels and accident potential zones associated with military airfield operations.

“Believe it or not, we crash an aircraft about every year,” Suggs said.

He explained that sometimes an aircraft is forced to make an emergency landing and sometimes “stuff” falls off an aircraft. For example, Suggs said, a fire extinguisher that was not secured properly fell out of an aircraft and landed onto a farm field somewhere below.

“That scares the hell out of me,” Suggs said.

The Yuma County Fairgrounds, which is located adjacent to the base and right under the fly zone, continues to be a challenge for MCAS. Suggs said he has asked the fairgrounds committee that it needs to

show progress in its plans to move somewhere else.

For now, though, he would be satisfied if the rides were moved to the other side of the fairgrounds so they aren’t directly underneath the flight path. This would not eliminate the threat, it simply would reduce the threat, Suggs said.

He went to the fair auction house because he heard complaints that attendees couldn’t hear the auctioneer due to the sounds of the flying aircraft. The aircraft flew so close that it scared him. And he flies those aircraft, he said.

Moving the rides for now would buy the fairgrounds committee some time. But

as the community grows, the fair will grow, and eventually the fairgrounds will have to move to a completely new site, Suggs added.

ECONOMIC BENEFITS

In 1977, the economic impact of MCAS Yuma was $32 million. It’s now $653 million. The base experienced “huge growth” between 2012 and 2019, with the addition of eight hangars.

Officials expect the base to continue growing as it tries to entice even more units. And the more people who come to the base, the more they spend in the city, Suggs said.

The Yuma base has three times more operations than Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix and a lot more than the Miramar air station in California because Yuma doesn’t have the same restrictions.

That’s the reason the base has 10,000 Marines and their family members working here, he said. In addition, another 13,000 personnel come for yearround training “because it’s easy to train here.”

The AICUZ update also considers possible future changes, including the basing of F-35C and transient F-35C operations.

In conclusion, Suggs said, MCAS Yuma is requesting the public’s help “to continue to protect the public and our military mission by limiting future incompatible development.” To achieve that, the base is holding an AICUZ open house from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday at the Pivot Point Conference Center, 310 N. Madison Ave.

For more information, call the MCAS Yuma community planning and liaison officer at 928-269-2047.