JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas --
Joint Base San Antonio hosted two Open Houses on Oct 25 and Nov 1 in Universal City and Seguin, Texas. The Open Houses were held to inform and engage with community leaders and residents around JBSA-Randolph about related Air Installations Compatible Use Zones (AICUZ) Program issues.
The AICUZ Program was developed in 1973 by the Department of Defense as a means of encouraging communities and military airfields to work together and promote development compatible with air operations.
The ultimate goal of the AICUZ Program is to protect the health, safety, and welfare of those living and working on or near military installations while ensuring continued flight operations
At the recent Open House events, organizers released a new 2017 AICUZ study, the first major update since the last Randolph 2008 study (amended in 2015). Seguin, also in this study, was last released in 2000.
The 2017 AICUZ Study describes changes in flight operations around JBSA, provides updated noise contours and land use compatibility conditions, analyzes the impacts of aircraft noise and accident potential on local communities and the impact of incompatible development on the mission. The 2017 AICUZ Study also provides land use recommendations.
With the release of this new AICUZ Study, representatives from JBSA and the study team saw an opportunity to engage with and provide as much information as possible to the community.
At both events, minutely detailed topography charts, kaleidoscopic noise maps, and 3-D simulations of flight paths were on display, presented by pilots and subject matter experts from 12 Flying Training Wing and Air Force Civil Engineer Center.
Lt. Col. Paul Strom, 12th Flying Training Wing Community Initiatives, was one of several pilots present at both events. “The updated AICUZ study is the best vehicle that we have to reach out to the surrounding communities to encourage compatible development and ensure mission viability into the future” Lt. Col. Strom said.
Fred Pierson, AICUZ Program Manager for AFCEC, gave several interviews to local media outlets during the Open House events.
“Our priority with these Open Houses is to be good neighbors. We want to make the new 2017 AICUZ Study readily available and work as closely as possible with the folks around JBSA air fields”, Pierson said. Pierson described the outcome of the events as “constructive and very positive”.
“This gave us a chance to invite the public out to see what it is we do and to look for future methods of collaboration” Pierson said. “Even though we have a fence line that divides us, what we do can impact our neighbors and what they do can impact us. This is why we want to collaborate on land use with our neighbors”.