Katy Sinclair Parental Units

Summer is two-thirds over, and we’ve been busy.

Pool (Kanemoto and Sunset about a billion times): Check
Movies (“Toy Story 3” and “Shrek Forever After”): Check
Fourth of July Fair (outrageously expensive): Check
Family vacation (underestimated drive times and cranky kids): Check
Backyard sprinkler, picnics, gardening: Check and check and check

To shake off the doldrums, I decided to take a little road trip to Denver.

Denver's Downtown Aquarium can provide some summer diversion for kids.

I know most people don’t view the Mile High City as road-trip material. It’s only a few miles down the road after all.

For me, it’s still an enigma. My poor sense of direction is mostly to blame for this. I’ve lived in this state for 10 years, but I still get lost in and around Denver. My best friend moved here in 2005, and I still make at least one wrong turn on the way to her house.

Summertime is as good as any to try to conquer new lands. On a recent Friday, Big Girl E, Baby Girl and I  headed out to do just that. Our original destination was the Children’s Museum but when we finally got there (after two missed turns) the lot was full.

We headed to the neighboring Downtown Aquarium instead.

To be honest, I’ve never been impressed with the aquarium. Ticket prices are high, and I despise paying to park. I didn’t want to waste the drive however, so I pulled into the parking lot and hoped for the best.

The atmosphere outside the museum was very fun: music blasted as a hidden machine blew  bubbles and kids squealed inside a free bouncy house.

As the girls chased bubbles, I paid $25.98 for tickets for one adult and one child. (Children under 3 years old are free.) For $5.50 more, I could’ve gotten a “value” ticket, which includes two turns on the Spongebob Squarepants themed “ride,” which housed in a trailer outside the museum. We didn’t go on it for two reasons: Baby Girl A is too short and I loathe Spongebob.

Inside the museum was much quieter and thankfully, cooler.

I was surprised at how enthusiatic   Big Girl E and Baby Girl A were while as we began to explore. Many of the exhibits are low to the ground, offering optimal viewing for children. There are more than 500 species of animals, which are spread out over nine habitats.

The two floor-to-ceiling tanks prompted the most wide-eyed wonder as some of the fish were as big as Big Girl E.  We had to move on once Baby Girl A came nose to nose with a shark.  She was not convinced that the glass would protect her.

We spent the most time at the interactive stingray touch tank. Big Girl E had to throw a few elbows to see anything, since we arrived after a large school group. For $2 visitors can feed them dead fish, something I never need to do again. E was enthralled by their balletic movement and even managed to touch one all the way down its back.

The Downtown Aquarium is pretty small; taking our time, we only spent about 90 minutes inside. After this most recent visit, I’m still not impressed with it. In 2005, the complex was redesigned to make the first-floor restaurant the focus. Five years later, I think it’s time for the site’s management to update the actual aquarium.

While I’m sure the animals are fine, some of the tanks were so murky that it was hard to see all of the animals. I’d also like to see more interactive exhibits and a stronger staff presence to answer visitors’ questions.

These minor tweaks would encourage me to make the drive. With enough practice, I probably wouldn’t even get lost.

Contact Katy Sinclair at katysinclair09@gamail.com

Carol O'Meara Gardening After Five

The worst time for a gardener to take a vacation is during the summer.  Not because you’ll miss the blossoms or there are too many chores to be done; those can wait a week or two and friends can text you photos of the flowers.

No, what happens when gardeners takes their eyes off their plot for a few days is that the scourge of Western civilization takes over your yard.  That scourge is field bindweed (Convovulus arvensis), the best-known and most hated weed to stalk our gardens.

These sweet-looking white blossoms want to strangle your garden.

Despite being a member of the morning glory family, there is nothing glorious about it.  It snakes through the garden.  It entwines itself through branches, drapes itself along trellises, and coils into every nook and cranny.  Nearby plants are smothered, reduced to objects of support for the cheerful-blossomed horror.

Pulling this plant results in a nightmare out of Greek myth – nodes along the roots spring up into a hydra-like mass of vines from the single plant pulled.  Battles with bindweed are epic and are a common thread between gardeners.

The amount of bindweed in my perennials is not so much a nuisance as it is a coup; this plant clearly has visions of holding dominion over this garden.  It lays egg-shaped capsules in the soil stuffed with eight seeds per capsule, something that has me believing those who claim this is really a creature, not a plant.

One friend suggested an approach to conquering bindweed: snip the bindweed back, leaving two or three sets of leaves, slide a coffee can with both ends removed over the weed to protect other plants around it from harm, then paint herbicide onto the bindweed.  For a gardener with a lot of time and not a lot of bindweed, this might work.

I’m opting for pulling repeatedly and frequently, until the plant’s energy in the roots is exhausted and can no longer regenerate.  Obviously the bindweed has the same thought, and by extending its roots 20 to 30 feet in many directions, is succeeding in exhausting me.

Stamina and dedication are required in pulling to control this plant because it must be done thoroughly, leaving no trace of bindweed growing along the 30-foot span.  Any plant left on this long root system feeds and replenishes the root, supporting the birth of new siblings to resume the hostile takeover.

This is where control gets entangled with neighbor relations, because a root this long means a gardener with intent to eradicate might end up two yards down, trenching through lawns, rose beds, and children’s play boxes.  Unless you want to be hauled off for the safety of the neighborhood, stick to your own yard and practice pulling or hoeing up the plants every 10 to 14 days.  This will keep the infestation to a livable level, and your garden relatively bindweed free.

Read Carol O’Meara’s blog at gardeningafterfive.wordpress.com.

Buzz, Rhodesian ridgeback-Rottweiler mix

Here’s the Buzz: Bring this affectionate, energetic lad into your home and he’ll have you humming with delight. He’s always up for a good walk around the block followed by a nap on the couch.Take him out for a visit and see if this is the boy for you!

Owner Joe Serafin at Basil Flats in Longmont. Clay Evans, Longmont Ledger

Former chief operating officer of Noodles & Company, Joe Serafin, has been in the food business since he was 18 and knows how to run a restaurant.

Serafin recently spoke with the Ledger about his new business, his inspiration and his community involvement.
1. What inspired you to open up a new restaurant, especially during the tough economic times?
The food inspired me. I’ve been grilling pizzas for a dozen years and people have constantly told me that this would be a phenomenal idea. I see some pros and cons for the economic times. Entry costs were lower than they were a few years ago. I have a lot of confidence in the local economy. We really felt we were putting our best food forward.

2. What makes Basil Flats unique from other Mediterranean restaurants?
It’s the flatbread recipes and the fact that we cook all our breads on an open-flame grill. What makes the food good is the preparation of the sauces daily, in house, and from carefully selected ingredients.

3. What do you think the restaurant will bring to the community?
We continue to be community involved. Our first two days, the net sales went to the organizations OUR Center, and Tiny Tim. We’re also creating jobs; we’ve hired 30 people, which is fantastic. We wish to continue to do this and Boulder County really needs a place like us.

4. Would you say your restaurant is environmentally friendly?

Absolutely. We selected a full set of environmentally friendly to-go products and if it’s not compostable, it’s recyclable. Our recycling bin gets picked up much more than our garbage. We have high efficiency equipment and we recycled or reused all the equipment that was in here. … We’re using mostly local products and in the summers, we’re going to buy from local farms.

5. Has anyone else been working with you to develop your menu?

David Berenson and Ken Jenner and their company is called Real Food Matters. Also myself and my business partner Aaron Kennedy. It’s been good to work with great people and great friends. Our love of food brought us together. We’re really happy to be here.

A woman walks  along the dunes at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The park is nestled next to the majestic Sangre de Cristo Mountains and makes for a fun, educational family trip.  Cliff Grassmick, Longmont Ledger

Sunset over the San Luis Valley from the Sand Dunes. Cliff Grassmick photo

I  have traveled quite a bit in my 35 years, starting with my first airplane ride at 10 weeks old. From the age of 5, I was an “unaccompanied minor” on countless cross-country flights. I went overseas for the first time at the age of 11.

Hubster’s travel resume is far more extensive. He’s crossed the globe twice and has been known to use his vacation time to travel to Nepal.

We continued to travel after Baby Girl E was born, even heading to Singapore and Mexico.

Now that we are a party of four, Disney World is as far as we go by plane. Baby Girl A’s carsick tendencies and my lack of patience keep our road trips short and close to home.

Fortunately, one of my most favorite places in the world is less than five hours away.

Nestled next to the majestic Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the Great Sand Dunes National Park is remote. Once off Interstate 25, wandering wildlife, low speed limits and steep mountain passes can make the drive a little tedious. (Those who enjoy taking a more scenic route should consider taking U.S. 285 south.)

For me, the trip is always worth it as soon as I see the cinnamon-colored dunes on the horizon.
I believe the dunes have healing powers.

Just observing the dunes is wondrous. They look different depending on the time of day. In the early morning, with the sky a pinkish hue, they look like an alien sculpture, all curves and smooth surfaces. As the day continues, they become an idiosyncrasy, a startling pile of sand propped up against imposing snow-capped peaks. At night, as the sky turns purple, they are a quiet reminder of the astonishing might of Mother Nature.

I don’t pretend to understand the science behind the dunes; how they came to be is a lesson best taught by the dunes’ rangers. What I do know is while they relax me, they do the opposite for my children, fueling hours of activity and curiosity.

Big Girl E and Baby Girl A hike, slide, sled, dance, build, inspect and walk while on the dunes. And if we are lucky enough to catch Medano Creek while it’s running (up until about late June), they splash, too.

Word of warning: Medano Creek’s water is frigid. It comes from the mountains’ snow melt and for the most part, doesn’t warm up. The first step in that water always takes my breath away. I have to grit my teeth to continue to walk across the creek. After a minute though, my feet go numb and I am fine.

Children get used to water quickly; it’s not uncommon to see them playing while clad only in their bathing suits. Remember the sunscreen; while the air is cooler, the UV index is high.

While there are many camping options available at the park, we always stay at the Great Sand Dunes Lodge, which is located just outside the official park entrance. (The nearest chain hotels are 45 minutes away in Alamosa.)

While I’m happy to use the lodge’s amenities, that’s not its principal attraction. The view of the dunes from the lodge’s rooms is the best in the valley.

As I write this column, the park is wrestling with a 5,000-acre wildfire that was sparked by lightning. I hope the blaze doesn’t keep visitors away; the park is a unique site that can only be truly appreciated in person.

Contact Katy Sinclair at KatySinclair09@gmail.com.

Longmont council member Sean McCoy on Thursday angrily accused Mayor Bryan Baum of voting against Levison in contravention of two council votes.

“It’s just unbecoming when, as a council, we voted twice to get her in. That is enough direction for (Baum) to act professionally,” McCoy said. “Having Sarah on would have been a feather in (the city’s) cap.”

Baum said Thursday that the council’s votes were to only place Levison’s name on the ballot and that Thursday’s vote was private. He accused McCoy of improperly viewing his private ballot.

“I would call that unethical,” he said.

Council member Gabe Santos said “my understanding is (the mayor) casts the ballots for the candidates he chooses.” He said the proctor turned over Baum’s ballot when McCoy asked to see it.

Levison’s candidacy stirred contention earlier this month when it came before the council twice for a vote. Some members said she would not represent the city, pointing to an opinion piece she wrote criticizing the council’s decisions on the city’s campaign finance rules.

Western Tradition Partnership, a Montana-based organization, filed suit filed in September 2009 alleging that elements of the act infringed upon their First Amendment rights. The Longmont Leadership Committee, the Longmont Area Realtor’s Association, former Mayor Julia Pirnack and local blogger Chris Rodriguez joined the two organizations as plaintiffs.

In December, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction, making certain parts of the city’s campaign act unenforceable. After a new majority was elected in November, the council directed city staff to settle the suit. In December, the city agreed to pay $68,500 in attorney’s fees to settle the suit.

The suit challenged rules about how the city regulates the complex area of “electioneering communication,” whether mailers must disclose a dollar amount spent and and the name of a registered agent, and whether the realtor’s association is a political committee, City Attorney Eugene Mei said last week.

The first issue turned, Mei said, on an article in the Longmont Times-Call by City Clerk Valeria Skitt that “was unfortunately not worded precisely.” He said some took the article to mean they would be prosecuted for misreporting expenditures and therefore an infringement of their free speech rights. He said changes to the rules based on the lawsuit already have been made.

In January the city’s Election Committee asked to review the act and make recommendations, which the council will consider Tuesday.

Among the committee’s recommendations, submitted in May, were changes to clarify the meaning of “electioneering communication,” change the dollar trigger for reporting independent expenditures from $100 to $250, and changing the threshold for reporting the name and address of individual contributors from $20 to $50 per election year.

“This change was recommended on a 4-3 vote by the Committee,” according to the committee’s recommendation report. “The majority of the Committee felt the reporting requirement was too low as $20 is a very modest amount and tends to be the minimum that contributors provide candidates. The minority opinion on this issue cited a significant reduction in transparency as the primary reason for opposing this suggestion.”

The committee also suggested that city clerk no longer be required publish the names of contributors in a newspaper.

The committee also voted 6-1 to recommend that it maintain its “quasi-judicial role” in refereeing complaints about contributions and expenditures but that the city clerk conduct initial investigations and make preliminary determinations on alleged violations. Committee members have expressed concerns that complaints sent to the municipal court might not be resolved in a timely manner.

However, some council members have raised concerns about the costs associated with the committee’s quasi-judicial role; the committee spent an estimated $200 a month on legal fees on the Western Tradition Partners suit. The council could vote Tuesday to turn the committee into an advisory board and sending complaints to court.

The debate over the campaign finance rules has at times been heated, splitting along political lines and including accusations that changes made by the previous council were responsible for the 2009 lawsuit. The previous council lowered triggers for reporting expenditures and contributions in 2009 in a move members described as an effort to increase transparency.

But City Clerk Valeria Skitt said last week that the lawsuit took issue with parts of the law that had been in place since 2000, not changes made in 2009. The 2009 update changed thresholds for reporting expenditures and contributions, placed a cap of $200 on individual contributions to candidates and $500 on contributions from groups and clarified and added language and definitions.

“The language we were forced to change by the court had existed since 2000,” Skitt said. She said some people have expressed concern that an election task force that made recommendations in 2009 and the prior council “were taking a bum rap” for the lawsuits.

Opponents of weakening the law say the reporting triggers and campaign limits help voters better understand candidates and who is supporting them. Those seeking changes to the law argue that it intrudes on free speech and that people who give small donations do not need to be scrutinized.

Former City Council member Karen Benker, who lost her seat to Katie Witt in November, said the council decided to make the changes in 2009 because they were concerned that campaigns were getting more expensive. She said citizen surveys indicated that strong majorities supported placing limits on the amount individuals, businesses, unions and other organizations can donate to candidates.

“The council settled on $200 for individuals and $500 for a company or union,” Benker said. “I wanted to lower it to $100 per individual.  … Before 2007 most city council elections, generally speaking, had been pretty low-cost campaigns. That’s the reason we brought that up.”

She says the three winners in last year’s council elections, Witt, Alex Sammoury and Gabe Santos, spent $13,000 to $16,000 each compared to $3,000 to $7,000 for the losers. She says candidates used to spend $3,000 to $6,000 on a typical race. Western Tradition Partnership gave more than $10,000 to the Longmont Leadership Committee, which then donated thousands of dollars to candidates.

Benker accused the current council of “gutting” the act and decreasing transparency for voters. She says claims that the law violates First Amendment rights are specious.

“People can give all the money they like independently. The law does not reduce that. It does not reduce free speech,” she said.

City Council member Alex Sammoury said he did not want to comment on the issue until the council decides what to do on Tuesday. Witt and Council member Sarah Levison were unavailable for comment and Santos did not return a call asking for comment. Rodriguez did not return an email seeking comment.

Email: clay@longmontledger.com

Duane Bartley said he was out of work, his wife lost her fledgling veterinarian business and things were so bleak they didn’t even bother sending Christmas cards.

Then the Watkins resident, who grew up in Salida, got a call from UQM Technologies, a Longmont company considered a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance, energy-efficient electric drive systems. The firm received $45 million in stimulus funds to build a new manufacturing facility to expand operations.

Bartley, who has an electrical engineering degree, got hired in April. The family plans to send out Christmas cards now, never mind that it’s almost May.

“Besides — it’s Colorado,” Bartley said. “It just snowed.”

That got a huge laugh from the crowd of more than 600, many in the green-energy field, who were gathered at what will bed UQM’s new headquarters and manufacturing plant.

Why RTD decided against new tax

On April 13, the RTD Board decided not to ask voters to consider a tax increase this year to complete the FasTracks program. We know it will be necessary in order to complete the program sooner rather than much later, but with so many people impacted by the economy, we all agreed that now is not the time.

Does that mean that FasTracks will be put on hold? Absolutely not! While we continue to seek additional funding, we live by the mantra “Build as much as we can, as fast as we can, until it is all done.” In fact, we will have 47 miles of new rail lines in construction or under contract by the end of this year — more than doubling the current amount of rail. The next two years are going to be our busiest to date with construction on five corridors and design underway for the remaining corridors.

A few of the projects you can see construction on now or in the near future include:

West Corridor; Denver Union Station; U.S. 36 bus improvements; Light Rail Maintenance Facility; East Corridor line to Denver International Airport (this fall).

RTD will continue making progress on every FasTracks project throughout the year, including evaluation of which projects are strong candidates to qualify for additional federal funds that may become available. These projects will also be “construction-ready,” so that if additional funds are secured, they are all set to move into construction as quickly as possible.

FasTracks is right at our fingertips, and we aren’t going to lose momentum now. Instead, we are continuously moving forward to bring this visionary transit system to the entire Denver metro region as soon as possible.
Lee Kemp Chairman, Board of Directors
Regional Transportation District

'SUN CATS.' Photo by Mark Ivins. Would you like to see your photos in the Sunday Ledger? Submit 5-6 images, both horizontal and vertical, of 1MB or higher resolution, to editor@longmontledger.com.

Pruett will make an excellent coroner

We are very fortunate this election year to have a veteran death investigator and a very nice man stepping up to the plate to run for County Coroner.

Dan Pruett spent a number of years working for Dr. John Meyer here in Boulder County when John was the Coroner. Now Dan is now the senior investigator with the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office. Dan lives in Longmont, and has all of the training, certification, and experience needed to manage this office.

He is a soft spoken, kind person who is excellent with families, his staff, and the public. I am endorsing Dan Pruett for County Coroner, having had the pleasure of working with him for a number of years when he was in Boulder County.

Dan is unaffiliated politically. He will have to petition onto the ballot in order to run in the general election. I know that people within both parties are actively looking for a “D” or an “R” to fill this seat.

However, this is the most non-partisan office I can think of and I’d much rather have a highly qualified, professional and unaffiliated Coroner on the job than someone who is politically connected but perhaps unqualified! I believe that Dan will work well with law enforcement in our county and provide skilled and caring services to families. Please join me in supporting Dan Pruett by helping with his petition when it starts next month and voting for him in the general election.
Sheriff Joe Pelle,  Boulder County

Congress ignored state health-care failures

For most of the past century, successful companies have employed test marketing. The concept is simple: test a product or a program in a small part of the U.S. before risking multi-millions on success or failure across the entire U.S.

Sadly, the U.S. Congress always turns a deaf ear to being guided by such simple but effective idea of looking around to see what has worked and what hasn’t. Before passing the health-care plan, Congress had the perfect test market to look to, since Massachusetts instituted a very similar universal health-care plan in 2006.

The results in Massachusetts? They now have the highest insurance premiums in the nation. (Boston Globe, Aug. 22, 2009). Three of the state’s four largest health insurers, even though they are non-profit, posted operating losses in 2006. (The Wall Street Journal April 9, 2010).

The Massachusetts experience spawned myriad other problems too lengthy to catalogue in this brief space. The state of Maine tried a similar plan in 2003 and premiums rose 74 percent. Tennessee has been a third fiasco worthy of reader investigation.

How such pesky facts can ruin a Kumbayah mood! Alarmingly, the U.S. government’s track record of running things is not enviable — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Postal Service, Amtrak, FreddieMac, FannieMae — all bankrupt. It appears the only “change we can believe in” is what Massachusetts, Maine and Tennessee have already tested for us, and that is that the light at the end of the healthcare tunnel is a train hurtling in our direction.

R. Eggers,  Niwot

Tea Party is John Birch Society reborn

“The United States is governed by an elite group seeking to enslave the common man.”

“Most financial problems are caused by a conspiracy of millionaire elitists who are trying to turn you into slaves of totalitarian dictatorship.”

“The energy crisis has been fabricated by the rich.”

“The government, only the government, can create inflation”

“One of the first goals of a dictatorship is to limit personal movement.”

You’re probably thinking that the above quotations are the rallying cries from a recent Tea Party gathering. Nope. Actually, these quotes, circa 1975, came from (now deceased) Alan Stang, a staunch supporter and member of the John Birch Society.

Evidently the current group of malcontents wanted to mask their rehashed thoughts while cleverly repackaging them as Tea Party concepts. One must admit that Tea Party does sound so much friendlier than (doom and gloom) “The John Birch Society.”
RC Lloyd,  Longmont

Neighbors of Longmont's Vance Brand Municipal Airport are concerned that more jets like this Learjet will use the airport if the runway is extended. File photo

Jane Shellenberger, of Hygiene, said she first learned of a possible extension when she read a profile of Mayor Bryan Baum in Longmont Magazine. Paraphrasing Baum, the article said the mayor has a “dream of expanding the … airport to accommodate companies with corporate jets.”

“This was a complete surprise to me,” said Shellenberger, who has lived on her property west of the airport for 10 years. She began to organize meetings and said many of her neighbors strongly oppose the idea, which she said had been rejected by area residents in the past.

She said she was particularly concerned with increased noise and potential disturbance to wildlife in the area if more jets begin to use the airport.

“Everybody here accepts that the airport is here. But we have a clear understanding that it’s a small, local airport where maybe once in a while a jet flies in,” she said. “If you open it to more corporate jets, we are concerned. I think anybody who lives in this community has a perfect right to defend our quality of life.”

Baum said last week that an extension is needed primarily to improve safety at the airport.
“By having an extended runway, you are actually looking out for the safety of not only the people around there but also pilots,” he said.

Baum also said a longer runway would provide economic benefits to the city and is simply a matter of “maximizing the city’s assets.” He said corporate jets for businesses such as Amgen, Seagate Technology and McClane Western sometimes land in Broomfield or Fort Collins because of limitations at Vance Brand. Because of the runway’s length, fully fueled planes cannot take off and “there are aircraft not flying out of Longmont due to not being efficient,” according to documents pertaining to the City of Longmont’s Master Plan.

If corporate executives choose not to touch down in Longmont, Baum said, the city will miss economic opportunities. For example, he said, the CEO of Chik-fil-A was able to spend only 20 minutes in Longmont when a new franchise opened in November because he had to drive 45 minutes each way to Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Jefferson County.

“He’s the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar corporation, and he doesn’t get a fair shake in our community,” Baum said.

Baum also said the Federal Aviation Administration would likely pick up 95 percent of the tab for construction.

But at least one City Council member said nobody has yet demonstrated that extending the runway would provide any significant economic benefit.

“I think we would end up extending the runway for about three (companies) that already use the airport,” Councilman Sean McCoy said.

McCoy said he might support the idea if backers can demonstrate an economic benefit and there is citizen support.

“But … people didn’t want us to extend the runway when it’s come up before,” he said.
Baum agreed that public support would be crucial to moving forward, but said he thinks the economic argument might sway many area residents in the midst of the current downturn.

Whether to extend the runway is one of many questions that the city is considering placing on its upcoming Customer Satisfaction Survey. But members of the Airport Advisory Board voted April 8 to tell the council that it “feels the time for the question is premature and would be more effective at a later date,” according to draft meeting minutes.

Board member Sarah Lipscy said she did not want “wrong information out there,” which would “do more harm than good,” according to the minutes.

For their part, many neighbors are doubtful that the impacts would be worth whatever benefit a longer runway might bring and they say safety isn’t a problem. Some point to city documents that found just four documented cases since 1990 “in which a longer runway may have prevented an aircraft accident.”

“That doesn’t seem like much of a problem,” said Mindy Eckert, who lives on North 66th Street.

The Federal Aviation Administration has not specifically directed the city to extend the runway for safety reasons in the recent past, said Mike Fergus, a spokesman for the agency’s Northwest Mountain Region in Renton, Wash. He said that FAA representatives have held discussions with city officials but that they didn’t make a recommendation “one way or another.”

Airport manager Tim Barth said a runway extension is a long way off, if it happens at all. He said the city is waiting to see if it receives a federal grant to complete an airport master plan. If the city were to receive the grant tomorrow, he said, it would still be nine or 10 months before the master plan is created and officials sit down with the FAA to discuss even the option of an extension.

“This thing isn’t going to happen overnight,” Barth said. But neighbors say they want to be proactive in opposing an extension and seem most concerned about the noise if more jets begin using the airport. The FAA performs extensive noise tests on hundreds of models that fly in the United States, making generalizations difficult. However, according to figures taken from FAA records, the median decibel level upon takeoff of all models of two common small jets, Learjet and Gulfstream, at 76 decibels, is somewhat higher than those of two common small propeller plane manufacturers, Piper and Cessna, at 69 decibels.

“If (jets) are coming out of there are really pounding it to gain altitude, it would definitely affect us noise-wise. And with the smaller planes there is almost no night-time traffic, so I’m concerned about that,” said Richard Turner, who said he lives “right at the end” of the existing runway on St. Vrain Road.

But Turner said his son is a pilot who also works for the FAA and is “not anti-plane.”

“I just don’t know the impact of what they are talking about doing yet,” he said. “I’d like to learn more.”

And that, Baum said, is all the city is asking for: an opportunity to make a case to the community. He said the city would listen to citizen concerns before moving ahead.

“We need to be a good neighbor, and this is going to be carefully vetted,” he said.
Email: clay@longmontledger.com