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The Regional System Reliever Airports Study was undertaken to further <br />the efforts of the development plan set forth in Section 3. It was also <br />designed to reassess some of the plan's development policy guidelines as they <br />relate to airport expansion. One of the most significant guidelines in the <br />Policy Plan restricts the expansion of an airport from a "minor" to an <br />"intermediate" airport. In conjunction with this, another restriction prohibits <br />the extension of any runway beyond 5,000 feet or the shortening of any <br />existing runway. These restrictions are important considerations in developing <br />facility recommendations for the region's reliever airport system. <br />(2) Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC\ <br />The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) was created in 1943 by the <br />Minnesota Legislature to provide for efficient development of air transportation <br />facilities in the Minneapolis -St. Paul metropolitan area. Its purpose is "to <br />promote air navigation and transportation, international, national and local, in <br />and through the State of Minnesota. In addition to promoting the efficient, <br />safe and economical handling of air commerce, MAC has the responsibility of <br />assuring residents of the metropolitan area of the minimum environmental <br />impact from air navigation and transportation. 1/ As a framework to guide its <br />activities and decisions, the Metropolitan Airports Commission has placed its <br />primary emphasis on the welfare and safety of the people it serves. <br />MAC's jurisdiction includes all or portions of 14 counties, including the <br />entire seven -county metropolitan area that falls under the jurisdiction of the <br />Metropolitan Council (Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and <br />Washington counties). The airports addressed in the Regional System Reliever <br />Airports Study are located within these seven counties. Currently, MAC owns <br />and operates six of the reliever system's seven airports. <br />MAC is responsible not only for the region's reliever airports, but also <br />for the day-to-day operation of MSP. Potential capacity constraints at MSP <br />are a major impetus for the reliever system study. Coinciding with the efforts <br />1/ Facts About the Metropolitan Airports Commission 1989. <br />-6- <br />