Residents, council map fast-track survey and tree work to meet Oct. 31 airport deadline

Council and local landowners spent the longest portion of the Sept. 10 meeting on a dispute over easements and trees near Veterans Memorial Airport.

The council’s Chair said the city will move aggressively to get the easements corrected and the flight path cleared, and urged residents to let surveyors and crews onto the land. “I gotta have the trees trimmed by October 31 or it all goes away,” the Chair said. Residents representing the Hansen family repeated that correcting the misdrawn easement is their top priority so they can regain full use of a building site and have the airport grant remain valid.

Stakeholders told the council the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) must be involved to vacate or amend the old easement; council staff said DOT is administering the grant. Residents asked the city to allow a survey and to top trees rather than clear-cut, and emphasized limited access (standing water and crops) that could affect how crews reach the work area.

Council members agreed on several near-term steps: fast-track a survey to shoot elevations from the runway to identify tree tops intruding the flight path, contact Arbor Masters to determine whether they will top or remove trees before the deadline, and have the city attorney begin easement-correction work. The council also agreed to draft a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Hansen family so the arrangements persist if personnel change.

The parties left the meeting with concrete next steps and a request that the city keep the residents informed of survey and contractor scheduling. If the required trimming and survey work meet FAA/DOT criteria, council members said they would support amending and vacating the incorrect easement so the building site is no longer encumbered.