Date: 24 Feb 1997

Committee member Paul Lesti presented information on the environmental cleanup of Moffett Field from the Restoration Advisory Board on which he serves. It seems that the toxics at Moffett present few obstacles to most sorts of reuse and development. For example, you could build on top of the toxic plume; you just couldn't pump water up from the ground. If used for residential, as opposed to commercial, construction it could be a psychological issue. Who wants to live on top of a superfund site? However there are many such sites in the valley from early semiconductor companies, and many of us live on top of them now without being aware of it. City wells carefully avoid the dangerous areas. Sunnyvale Councilman Jack Walker noted the necessity to plan for the unusual occurence, not just the typical case. For example, heavy rains might raise the water table so development on the area below sea level might not be wise.

The committee deferred discussing land use compatibility, realizing that it is the central issue of Moffett Field reuse. There wasn't enough time to address it properly. It will be discussed briefly during the next two meetings, and then finished in the March 24th meeting.

Daniel Iacofano proposed limiting the presentations by community groups to bona fide proposals for short-term reuse under the Comprehensive Use Plan, i.e. federal uses only, mainly airport uses, only industry groups. Several of us objected, and the citizens in the audience were even more vociferous, that the community should not be excluded from "community group" presentations. The committee decided to add a meeting to the >schedule and have both industry and community groups present at both meetings on a first-come first-serve basis.

Date: 10 Feb 1997

NASA presented more information about their financial situation at Moffett Federal Airfield, and updated the committee on efforts to attract more federal tenants. Possibilities include both agencies with aircraft like the Coast Guard and agencies without aircraft like the California Conservation Corps. It's a continuing problem that non-aviation revenue from the Institutional Shared Pool cannot be mixed with aviation revenue from the Airfield Shared Pool, due to NASA regulations. This prevents expanding non-aviation uses to eliminate the defecit.

Several people on the committee questioned existing laws and regulations that seem to make it possible for NASA to allow joint commercial use under some scenarios without special legislation, and without the CRAF program under which they tried to bring in air cargo. NASA admitted that they did try using those regulations - making a "cost avoidance" argument - but were not successful, and therefore they turned to CRAF.

Katherine Strehl, Lockheed public relations, presented information on the company's desire to ship commercial satellites out of Moffett. They are too large to conveniently move by road. A barge would require environmentally damaging bay dredging. Committee members Orval Fairbairn and Bernard Rosen noted that the weight of fuel delivered to Moffett by barges without dredging is greater than the weight of the satellites that would supposedly require dredging. They questioned whether perhaps the Lockheed calculation was based on a deeper draft ocean going barge, which would not be needed for the trip to Oakland or San Francisco, instead of a shallow draft bay barge. There was no answer at the meeting.

From: sloan@batnet.com (Earle and Vanya Sloan)
Subject: Moffett CAC (meeting tomorrow night)
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 16:45:56 -0800

The following is a short summary of what has transpired at the Moffett CAC meetings thus far...

The Moffett CAC crawled along at a snail's pace until Dianne McKenna was elected chair by the group. She immediately put the scope of the committee's work on the agenda. On January 13 the committee's scope was discussed. Some members said they felt the scope should be expanded beyond federal users (mandated by the city councils) to include future planning for uses acceptable to the community. Sunnyvale City Council member Jack Walker and former Mountain View City Council member Dena Bonnell indicated that the scope should be kept narrow, strictly to help NASA remain at Moffett. Sunnyvale member Walter Bays (Alliance for a New Moffett Field) said they should look at both federal and non-federal users to prepare for the possible scenario of NASA's leaving. Mountain View member Paul Lesti stressed the importance of considering alternatives that comply with community sentiment. He pointed out that there is a wide array of activities that could be looked at. After lengthy debate, the committee decided to take a two step approach: 1) look for federal users, and when that is exhausted, 2) look for compatible non-federal users.

Alternate Sally Lieber reports that at a subcommittee meeting on January 16th, the proposal to have subcommittees was rejected. Members do not wish to attend additional meetings. Lieber fears that the Moffett CAC will serve to rubber stamp air cargo, since thus far little attempt has been made to fulfill anything that resembles a citizens' advisory process. She recalls that at a recent meeting there was protracted discussion as to whether the Committee should take into account what is acceptable to the public, and some members expressed the view that the process should not take this into account, since the public lacked the education necessary to make an informed decision on these issues. Moreover, despite the community's nearly 70% mandate ("NO ON J") against commercial aviation, at a recent meeting Sunnyvale member Fred Fowler advocated looking at air cargo as an option. His suggestion met with support from some of the group. Also of concern to many of us is the disproportionately high number of general aviation advocates on the CAC.

A workplan setting forth an agenda through 4/28 has been created with the facilitator's help. On tomorrow's agenda (1/27) is "Review of Base Closure/Realignment and Property Disposal Process." Meetings are tentatively scheduled to be held at the Sunnyvale Public Library on 2/10, 2/24, 4/14, and 4/28 in the Sunnyvale Library Program Room. You can call the MV City Clerk (415/903-6301) to find out where future meetings are being held. Please plan on attending upcoming CAC meetings to give your input into the future of Moffett.

Vanya Sloan
Alliance For A New Moffett Field