Residents urge FAA pre‑screening, zoning near airports as data and power projects multiply

At the Hood County Development Commission meeting, multiple residents urged the county to require FAA obstacle‑evaluation prescreening (Form 7460‑1, 14 CFR Part 77) and to set tighter local zoning or review standards near public and private airports.

A citizen who prepared an airport‑mapping packet described how distances tied to runway length trigger FAA notification obligations and said a prescreen would identify projects that should be subject to heightened review. He recommended the county require a 7460‑1 prescreen as part of concept‑plan submittals and said he would share his mapping and the relevant form with county staff.

Engineer Mark Bailey and other commenters raised specific operational and visual impacts from data centers — including glare, lighting, heat and exhaust plumes — and warned that large power‑generation and battery sites could create hazards in final‑approach or instrument‑approach areas. “What I’m seeing is a lack of preparedness in order to make sure that these are facilitated properly,” Bailey said during public comment.

Mike Cusank, who briefed the commission later in the meeting, called Part 77 a federal minimum and urged local government zoning to go further: “Part 77 is the minimum. You guys are the maximum,” he told commissioners, adding that pre‑screens can flag potential heat‑plume, reflection and spurious electronic‑emission concerns before construction proceeds. Cusank recommended the county require 7460‑1 pre‑screening and suggested mapping fixed radii or nautical‑mile buffers around airport centers for review purposes.

Commissioners acknowledged the FAA’s limited proactive role outside the largest “core 30” airports and discussed adding FAA prescreening to the county’s new concept‑plan checklist. The meeting also scheduled a technical review under NFPA 855 and a follow‑up session with the fire marshal to better understand fire and emergency‑response needs tied to battery storage systems.

The meeting record shows citizens provided technical documents and urged staff to circulate them to commissioners; commissioners agreed to consider prescreening and stronger local review as part of the broader moratorium and regulatory update work.