On weekdays, Fairfax-Bolinas Road in West Marin is closed from Azalea Hill to Ridgecrest. On weekends, the road will be open, but traffic will be routed through a single-lane with controlled two-way access at milepost 5.73. See project webpage for details. For the project on Bolinas Road at milepost 1.0, in addition to weekday work, there will be weekend work from the 9AM to 6PM on October 5, 6, 12, and 13. See project webpage for details. Thank you for your patience while these projects progress.

Airport Newsletter March 2021

Posted on March 2, 2021


FAA proposed amendment for GPS Approach 13

Pilots, please review the GPS proposed amendments in the link above to view and comment on the proposed increase in minimum descent altitude for the approach to runway 13 to 1,300 feet into Gnoss Field (currently 1000 feet). Comments will be accepted until 3/23/2021.
Link: http://bit.ly/ProposedAmendment

If you have any questions or concerns about the approach, please feel free to contact Patrick Scanlon or Dan Jensen to clarify the proposed changes.
Patrick Scanlon – patrick@scanlonaviation.com
Dan Jensen – djensen@marincounty.org

If you would like to make comments to the FAA, please view the link above and click the ‘Email FAA’ button next to the appropriate item.

Evan Colenbrander Eagle Scout Project

Congratulations to Evan Colenbrander for completing his Eagle Scout Project by building an informational sign for Gnoss Field. This sign was designed, built and installed by Evan this past year. The completed sign can be viewed in the north parking lot lawn area near the perimeter fence.

New Director of DPW announced: Rosemarie Gaglione

On Tuesday, March 2, the Marin County Board of Supervisors confirmed Rosemarie Gaglione as the new Director of Public Works. Rosemarie joins the County after most recently serving as the Public Works Director for the City of Oxnard. In Oxnard, she managed a staff of 498 fulltime equivalent positions and an annual budget of $323 million in addition to a $1 billion, five-year capital improvement program. Prior to joining Oxnard, she spent nearly 11 years with the City of Goleta, including four years as Public Works Director and City Engineer. Prior to joining Oxnard, Rosemarie spent nearly 11 years with the City of Goleta, including four years as Public Works Director and City Engineer. She also worked for San Luis Obispo County in the transportation division. She graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a BS in Environmental Engineering. We feel very fortunate to have someone with Rosemarie’s skills and knowledge to lead DPW. Her first day with the County will be March 21.

General Airport Issues and Requests:

Noise Abatement Procedures

Noise sensitive residents occupy homes to the south and southeast of the airport. Please follow the Noise Abatement Procedures. Please, no straight in approaches to runway 31 and no straight out departures from runway 13 over the homes. I want to say a big “THANK YOU” to our pilots in the pattern. We have recently seen an increase of larger aircraft coming to Gnoss Field and many times these aircraft are requesting a landing on 13 or takeoff on 31 going against the pattern traffic. Everyone has been great working with the aircraft letting them in and out. It truly helps with the noise for our neighbors to the south!

Unauthorized Contractors and Mechanics

A permit must be obtained from the Airport Manager prior to any mechanical work or aircraft detailing services are performed at Gnoss Field. Any aircraft/hanger owner who hires unauthorized contractors to work on Gnoss Field will be held responsible for allowing unauthorized work to be performed at the airport. If tenants are found to violate Marin County Code (see below for specifics), fines will be accessed to the aircraft/hanger owner and the owner may lose the use of storage permit and the ability to base their aircraft at Gnoss
Field.

  • Marin County Code 12.04.050 – Business activities:
    No person shall use the airport in any manner whatsoever for any commercial, profit, gainful, or
    revenue producing purpose, including, without limitation, flight instruction or mechanical work,
    without written approval of Marin County. No person shall distribute, post or display any commercial or noncommercial signs, circulars, handbills or advertisements on the airport without the consent of the airport manager. No person shall solicit funds for any purpose on the airport.
  • Marin County Code 12.04.210 – Violations:
    Any person who violates any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon
    conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed six months or a fine not to exceed the sum of five hundred dollars, or by both such imprisonment and fine.

Aircraft Storage Permits and Insurance

Please update your information with current aircraft and contact information on your space at Gnoss Field. Per the County Aircraft Storage Permit for habitually situated aircraft:
“All Permittees agree to disclose all aircraft he/she has caused to locate on the Airport and shall be financially responsible for these aircraft or for any other access onto the property granted by this permit. Any owner shall furnish the County, in advance of arrival of the aircraft, evidence of financial responsibility in the minimum requirements of: $1,000,000 combined single limit coverage with exception of per/passenger sub-limit of $100,000.”

Please use the following link to update your hangar and aircraft information: http://bit.ly/AircraftStorageForm

July 2021 CPI Increase

On your July 2021 statements, the CPI will be adjusted to the new monthly rate. Also, please check your monthly statements from the Department of Finance. When the new CPI increase took effect in July 2020, many of you have your monthly statements on autopay and there are outstanding fees due on several accounts. Please check your account balances and pay the unpaid amounts in full. County Staff will be following up on unpaid balances.

Trash and Recycle Bins

Please only put allowed items in the Trash and Recycle dumpsters. Items that are not allowed are still being discarded in the dumpsters and the airport is getting charged extra for these items. Staff will be closely monitoring the video cameras and contacting offenders to recover these extra fees in the future.

Also, please DO NOT leave ANY items outside the dumpster enclosures. The only acceptable fluids in the recycle shed is used aircraft motor oil. Please do not leave propane tanks, electronics, paints, thinners, or any type of solvents. These are not recyclable and hazmat service providers are very expensive to discard these items. This is an ongoing problem and staff may have to place locks on the dumpsters and recycle shed if this persists. Thank you for your help and corporation!

COVID-19

As the COVID-19 public health crisis continues to evolve and new Public Health Orders are issued both at the State and local levels. Please be prepared and follow all social distancing orders when entering the airport pilot lounge and other business spaces. Face Coverings are still mandatory to enter the County building.
More information is available at: http://bit.ly/MarinCOVID

FAA Hangar Use Policy and Sponsor Responsibilities

The primary purpose of Gnoss Field hangars must be for Aircraft Storage. If no aircraft is in your hangar, the hangar must be empty. Staff will be following up with individual hangar owners that have no aircraft associated to their hangar. As an Airport Sponsor who accepts Federal airport grants, the County is bound by the conditions and assurances in the associated grant agreements. These obligations include grant assurances related to use of hangars and other designated aeronautical facilities on the airport for exclusively aeronautical purposes.
Please follow the link below for more information. http://bit.ly/HangerUseFAA

Vehicle/Trailer Parking on the AOA

All vehicles must be parked inside your hangar for overnight flights. There is no long-term parking on the airport AOA. Vehicles that are parked on the AOA for extended periods of time (overnight) will receive notice that vehicles parked overnight should be inside your hangar or the long-term parking areas outside the AOA. Upon a second notice of parking violations, your vehicles may be towed at the vehicle owners’ expense.

Thank you and fly safe!

For further questions or comments, please contact:
Dan Jensen, Airport Manager, at (415) 897-1754 or djensen@marincounty.org

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