Venice Council to Receive Airport Master Plan Update, Including Digital Tower Benefits Report
Why It MattersVenice's push toward a digital tower reflects pressure on busy nontowered general aviation airports to formalize air traffic services, with federal funding and review deadlines shaping how fast they can proceed.
Ricondo & Associates Inc. will present an update on the Venice Municipal Airport master plan to the Venice City Council on Tuesday. The presentation includes a report on comments from the Oct. 28 public workshop, which drew about 105 attendees by the consultant's count. Of those, 43 submitted comments. The top issues were noise (25) and pollution and environmental impacts (23), followed by corporate aircraft and jet traffic (16), tower opposition (12), fees and finances (12) and the Lake Venice Golf Club. Most comments on the tower opposed it, though a based pilot supported it to ease pattern traffic.
Ricondo will also present a report on the benefits of a digital tower at the airport. In a February review of 15 high-activity, nontowered airports in Florida, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) ranked Venice Municipal Airport fifth and concluded it is a strong candidate for the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) contract tower program. Pilots currently coordinate operations through common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) communications, self-announcement, self-sequencing, see-and-avoid practices and individual judgment. Implementation steps would include confirming funding eligibility and FAA approvals, establishing airspace, siting the facility and incorporating it into the Airport Layout Plan, and completing the applicable environmental, airspace and construction safety reviews. The airport would also need to assign responsibilities for system ownership, maintenance, failure response, and updates to published airport information and emergency procedures.
The city's grant deadline for submitting and gaining approval of the master plan has been extended for the fourth time, with no further extensions after May 31, 2027. The FAA and FDOT have notified the city that consultant services rendered after that date will not be reimbursed. About four months would remain for FAA and FDOT review after the plan is submitted at the end of January. According to a Nov. 6 memo from Airport Director Nicholas Dumas, no Council action on the update is requested.
