Grand Jury Investigates City Staff Misinformation on Airport

CalPilots

tracy airportTracy, Ca. Grand Jury: City actions cost public credibility – A report from the San Joaquin County Grand Jury, released Monday, concluded that the city staff gave the Tracy City Council wrong information that may have jeopardized federal grants for the Tracy Airport.

The Grand Jury investigation focused on allegations of a secret and illegal business arrangement between the city and Surland Cos. LLC regarding the length of runway 12/30 and a $50,000 payment to the city made by Surland on behalf of the former airport fuel provider, Turlock Air.

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Tracy Airport – High fuel prices a puzzlement at airport

CalPilots

tracy airportWith all of the public interest generated in the past couple of months about the proposed Ellis residential development’s connections with Tracy Municipal Airport, local pilots have mentioned one vexing question about the airport to me.

And that question does not concern any charges of alleged illegalities in Surland’s payment of $50,000 in airport fuel sales fees owed to the city by Turlock Air Center, which has the fuel contract at the local airport. There is nothing illegal about the payments, an investigation by the city has concluded.

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Re-lined runway means more aircraft for Tracy

GU4 tracy_airport_runway1Turbo jets and turbo propeller aircraft will now be more common at Tracy Municipal Airport, following a four-foot addition to its main runway on Oct. 2.
According to airport coordinator Bruce Ludeman, it wasn’t until a recent measurement that airport officials discovered the actual measurements for the east-west runway — officially Runway 12/30 — was 3,996 feet.  Ludeman said the goal was to ensure the runway was at least 4,000 feet, which would designate Tracy as a medium size airport under Caltrans and allow more pilots to land their planes at the airport at the southern end of Tracy Boulevard.

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Tracy Airport – Decision Wipes Out Ellis Developer Agreement

CalPilots

Sub-Divsion and Water Park Development northwest Tracy Airport is Denied – A judge invalidated a developer agreement Wednesday, Feb. 16, between The Surland Cos. and the city of Tracy that had paved the way for the planned Ellis subdivision and a water park southwest of tow Judge Lesley Holland, in a two-page minute order issued this week, sided with Tracy Region Alliance for a Quality Community, which in 2009 filed a suit alleging that the agreement was illegal and that there were serious deficiencies in the project’s environmental review.

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