Airport Master Plan 2012 - City of Waterville

5.0 Environmental Review
Just as airport development can be held up by financial or engineering constraints, the environmental
impacts associated with proposed airport improvement projects can also halt development. Therefore, the
potential environmental effects of the project alternatives are an important consideration. This chapter
provides a preliminary environmental review of the proposed project alternatives for the Waterville
Robert LaFleur Municipal Airport.
While not a formal environmental assessment (EA), which is a detailed, in-depth examination of the
expected environmental effects of a proposed action, this preliminary review provides a high level
analysis of the environmental elements described in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Advisory
Circular 150/5070-6B, FAA Order 5050.4B, Airport Environmental Handbook, and in consideration of
relevant State of Maine environmental regulations and procedures as they relate to the preferred
alternative. Furthermore, this chapter evaluates the proposed airport improvement projects with respect to
conditions that could exempt a project from a categorical exclusion from environmental assessment.
Unless otherwise identified as “Categorically Excluded” per FAA Order 5050.4B, Section 602, an EA in
accordance with the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) is required for the proposed
improvement projects on the Airport Layout Plan (ALP) that are anticipated to be implemented in the
short-term (5 year) planning period (Phase I)
Many projects at general aviation airports are categorically excluded from requiring environmental
assessment under NEPA. Categorical exclusion is defined as a category of actions which do not
individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been
found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a federal agency in implementation of NEPA and
for which, therefore, neither an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement is
required (40 C.F.R. 1508.4).
Although the FAA does not perform formal approval of all aspects of airport master plans, they do require
that sponsors seeking a grant for airport improvements have the proposed improvement shown on an
FAA-approved ALP. Unless the improvements consist solely of items that are categorically excluded, an
EA in accordance with NEPA and FAA Order 5050.4B must be completed.
The purpose of this chapter is to conduct a general assessment of the environmental effects of the
preferred alternatives described for all the projects in the 20-year planning period and to define the
potential extent of future environmental analyses that is needed to implement the airfield improvements
shown on the ultimate ALP. This review will also identify any possible mitigation measures or
modifications to the Draft ALP to avoid, minimize or mitigate any environmental impacts.
This chapter includes the following sections:
Section 5.1 – Noise Impacts
Section 5.2 – Land Use
Section 5.3 – Air Quality
Section 5.4 – Water Quality
Section 5.5 – U.S. Department of Transportation Act Section 4(f) Lands
Section 5.6 – Historic, Architectural, Archaeological, and Cultural Resources
Section 5.7 – Biotic Communities
Section 5.8 – Threatened or Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna
Section 5.9 – Wetlands
Section 5.10 – Floodplains
The City of Waterville Maine
Environmental Review – Page 5-1
Airport Solutions Group, LLC & The Louis Berger Group, Inc. December 2011