SMO Extends Minimum Standards Comment Period

A letter from Stelios Makrides
SMO Airport Director

On June 5, 2018, staff presented the proposed Airport Minimum Standards for commercial aeronautical service providers to the Santa Monica Airport Commission for its review. The proposal before them was the result of extensive community and stakeholder outreach resulting in thorough vetting of comments received and notable revisions to the originally drafted document. The Airport Commission’s review and recommendation are steps in the process prior to bringing the proposed standards to the Santa Monica City Council for adoption.

Planes parked at the side of the SMO runway prior to the runway shortening.

Based on the comments received from stakeholders on the revised draft of the proposed Minimum Standards, the Airport Commission recommended that staff extend the comment period and return the item to them at their July 23, 2018 meeting.

In order to meet the timeline for returning to the Commission in July, staff has extended the comment period until June 21, 2018.

The Minimum Standards, if adopted, would establish entry benchmarks that the City would use to determine whether and under what conditions an aeronautical service provider could conduct a commercial operation at Santa Monica Airport. The Minimum Standards would, as an addendum to the City’s Leasing Policy, build on the existing commercial operations permit and leasing processes to:

provide concise and reasonable threshold entry requirements for persons or entities wishing to provide commercial aeronautical services to the public at the Airport;
prevent irresponsible, unsafe or inadequate services; and,
prevent unfair competition.

The Minimum Standards would only apply to aeronautical-related businesses and will not apply to non-aviation tenants of the airport or to aviation tenants that use hangars and aircraft parking spaces for personal use.

The adoption and enforcement of the Minimum Standards are intended to ensure that each operator is reasonably fit, and able to perform the services it seeks to provide at the Airport.

If you would like to comment on the Minimum Standards, please do so by emailing[email protected]. To ensure all comments are addressed properly and in a timely manner, please address your comments specifically to the proposed Minimum Standards. Comments unrelated to the Minimum Standards will not be addressed through this process.

To view the documents related to this matter can be view here:

To assist us in reaching as many interested parties as possible, we ask that stakeholder organizations forward this notice to their membership.

We want to thank you in advance for your collaboration and assistance in this endeavor.

Sincerely,

Stelios Makrides
Airport Director