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<br />The activity levels associated with a new general aviation airport will vary <br />depending oa the development that occurs at Anoka County-Blaine Airport. If the <br />recommended pazallel runway is constructed at Anoka County-Blaine by the end of <br />the planning period, approximately 43 based aircraft, representing 29,000 annual <br />operations, could be attracted to a new airport from Anoka County-Blaine alone. <br />It is quite possible that with capacity constraints being experienced at both Crystal <br />and Flying Cloud, the initial activity levels for a new airport in Search Area "A" could <br />be substaatiaUy higher. For planning purposes, 100 based aircraft representing <br />approximately 68,000 operations will be allocated to a new general aviation airport. <br />If a parallel runway is not constructed at Anoka County-Blaine, the level of <br />activity that a new airport would attract is considerably higher, because Anoka <br />County-Blaine is currently operating at 87 percent of capacity. The FAA has <br />indicated that planning should begin for capacity enhancement at 60 percent and <br />capaary enhancements should be in place at 80 percent. Without a pazallel runway <br />at Anoka County-Blaine, more than 190 based aircraft representing more than <br />128,000 operations could be left unnerved. Anew general aviation airport would <br />likely attract a lazge portion of this demand. Almost all operational growth in the <br />northwestern portion of the metropolitan azea would be attracted to a new facility <br />beyond the planning period, because Anoka County-Blaine and Crystal will be <br />approaching or will have surpassed 80 percent of airside capacity. <br />Given the time required to identify, plan, secure, obtain approval and funding <br />for, and actually rnnstruct a new general aviation airport (approximately 10 to 15 <br />years), steps to resolve the feasibility of this recommendation should be pursued <br />immediately. Development in Search Area "A" is increasing, and delaying the steps <br />to identify an airport development site in this area exponentially increases the <br />difficulty of finding an acceptable site. With each year that passes, opportunities <br />related to certain airport development areas aze lost. <br />V-8 <br />