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Mather Airport Master Plan
The Mather Airport Master Plan is subject to both the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and will therefore be required to include and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) respectively. An MOU with FAA regarding the roles of the agencies is required before work can proceed on the RFQ for the EIR and EIS. Work with the FAA on the MOU is ongoing with no date of expected completion set as of yet.
On June 19, 2007, the Sacramento County Department of Environmental Review and Assessment (DERA) received an approval from the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors to enter into an agreement with Camp Dresser & McKee Inc. (CDM) for the preparation of the Mather Airport Master Plan Environmental Assessment and California Environmental Quality Act technical studies. An internal kickoff meeting was held between Sacramento County staff and CDM to initiate information gathering for the preparation of these studies on July 19, 2007.
The Mather Airport Master Plan was originally forwarded to DERA for preparation of environmental documentation when the Draft Master Plan was approved in February 2004. Due to delays with the Federal Aviation Administration in determining the level of environmental documentation and in the choice of consultant to prepare the documentation, the project was not able to be initiated until 2007.
Dates of future public hearings will be announced on this webpage. Further information on the preparation of the environmental documentation being prepared for the Mather Airport Master Plan can be found through DERA at their website http://www.dera.saccounty.net or at:
Department of Environmental Review and Assessment
827 7th Street , Sacramento California 95814
phone (916) 874-7914 fax (916) 874-8343
Mather Airport Comprehensive Land Use Plan
Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUPs), or Airport Land Use Plans as they are also called, are required for nearly all California public use airports per California Public Utilities Code Section 21675. CLUPs have two primary purposes:
To “provide for the orderly growth of each public airport and the area surrounding the airport within the jurisdiction of the (Airport Land Use) commission…”
To “safeguard the general welfare of the inhabitants within the vicinity of the airport and the public in general.”
In counties or regions that have established Airport Land Use Commissions (ALUCs), the entity having the responsibility for CLUP preparation is usually the county or regional planning agency within which the ALUC operates. In the case of Sacramento County, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), the agency within which the ALUC with jurisdiction regarding land uses around public use airports in Sacramento County operates, is responsible for developing and updating CLUPs.
SACOG’s update of the CLUP for Sacramento Mather Airport is in its formative stages and is expected to be formally initiated in early 2005. Sacramento County Airport System staff will work closely with SACOG staff throughout the CLUP update process.
Continuous Descent Approach
One of the most promising noise mitigation measures identified for Sacramento Mather Airport is the Continuous Descent Approach (CDA) procedure currently under development by United Parcel Service (UPS) with the assistance of entities such as Boeing, MIT, NASA, and the FAA.
The CDA procedure combines the benefits of a continuous descent with an optimized aircraft configuration (extended flaps and landing gear with engines operating at idle thrust) to produce the lowest noise producing approach for affected communities. The use of CDA is anticipated to reduce noise on a single event and cumulative basis.
Initial tests in Louisville, KY in 2003 indicated that areas that benefited the most from the procedure were found between 7 and 15 nautical miles away from the airport. In the case of Sacramento Mather Airport, Folsom, El Dorado Hills and areas further east fall within this range and are expected to benefit from the implementation of a CDA procedure into the airport.
Recognizing the potentially significant benefits CDA could provide to communities near Mather, UPS requested that Mather be designated by the FAA as the low density test site for the CDA in order to secure research funding. In a more significant indication of their commitment to respond to community concerns and to be a good corporate neighbor, UPS actually chose to fund initial testing of the CDA procedure at Mather itself in order to begin immediate testing of the procedure on location. UPS’ actions in this area are commendable, as similar examples are uncommon among corporate entities.
The initial tests of the Mather CDA revealed both potential benefits and challenges associated with implementing the new procedure. Additional testing and refinement of the CDA procedure at Louisville has enabled UPS to improve the procedure and to be ready to continue testing and development of the Mather CDA procedure once necessary airport improvement projects currently underway are completed. Testing of the CDA procedure at Mather is anticipated to resume in late 2004 or early 2005.
Testing will impact arrival into Mather between the hours of 10 PM and 7 AM, when air traffic control permits the procedure to be used. Once fully developed and available, the CDA will be available for use on 24-hour basis so long as air traffic control is able to allow it.
For more information on the status of the Mather CDA procedure, please contact the Sacramento County Airport System Noise Office at 916-874-0704 or click here.
As with most airports, community concern about aircraft noise at Mather Airport has fluctuated as the nature of the aircraft operations have changed over time. The following is a brief summary of the major efforts to address the community's concerns regarding aircraft noise at Mather Airport .
Mather Airport Noise Program History
In an effort to develop a better understanding of community concerns regarding aircraft noise and to develop potential solutions to the problem, the County created the Mather Airport Aircraft Overflight Noise Committee in August of 2002. The participants represented a broad range of communities as well as aircraft operators and air traffic control staff. A professional facilitator led the meetings and helped the group arrive at 33 recommendations for SCAS's consideration. Thirty of the recommendations were accepted and are in the process of being implemented. The following link provides an up to date status of the implementation of these recommendations.
Status of Overflight Committee Recommendations
