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The Craig/Moffat County Airport Advisory Board met Tuesday to open communication between city and county planners about land-use ordinances.

The meeting began with a presentation from Chris Pomeroy, a representative from the Colorado Department of Transportation aeronautics division, describing Federal Aviation Administration Regulation Part 77, which lays out land usage for areas around airport runways.

Pomeroy explained the need for an ordinance that will put the airport within the guidelines of Part 77 by setting standards for new building projects on the land surrounding the airport.

He said that the airport will not be penalized -- by disallowing the airport to have planes land -- for violating Part 77, as long as officials are trying to comply.

He said that different types of buildings -- such as residential, industrial and commercial facilities -- have different requirements.

City officials said Tuesday that they would like to have the option of building on Thompson Hill, south of the airport.

However, a map at the meeting showed that in a specific area around the airport, high-density residential property would violate Part 77.

The map, which displayed one business's land-use suggestions for the airport, caused contention between city and county planners.

Ben Crippen, county planner and a member of the advisory board, said he was open to the land-use ordinances that the city and county should be following under Part 77.

Craig City Planner Dave Costa asked Pomeroy about the size of buildings that could be built near the airport.

Pomeroy said that the map he made available for the meeting was only one example of what could be done to keep city and county buildings within Part 77.

He said that for a perfect resolution of the problem, city and county officials would have to sit down together to figure out what land uses would be best for everyone.

"You can come up with a compromise. As long as it protects the airport and the people on the ground, (the FAA) is OK with it," Pomeroy said.

Currently, the FAA provides 95 percent of funding for Craig/Moffat County Airport projects, Pomeroy said.

Pomeroy said land-use changes have to be made in the future.

"The sooner, the better," he said.

Pomeroy said that it made sense for the city and county to work together to comply with the ordinance.

"With a lot of airports vying for the same money, it makes more sense (for funding) to go somewhere where the airport is following the ordinances," he said.

The airport is not in danger of losing any funding as long as city and county officials continue to work to comply with FAA-approved land ordinances.

Costa said that before the city could make any decisions about enforcing land-use ordinances, he would have to get more clarification.