At 22:04 17 June 2008, danlj wrote:
snip
I am now on the airport commission, a good position from which to
request that we formally designate the 100 ft X 3000 ft grass area
paralleling the paved runway along its south side as a parallel runway
for recreation and training, with proper markings.
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If you look into the CFRs about parallel runways you will find that they
must be separated by 750ft, IIRC. This means you cannot "formally
designate" a second runway with markings, etc. at your site.

There are lots of airports where gliders operate from the grass alongside
the paved runway, but none of these are designated as separate runways.
You can continue to operate as you and the others do with a local
understanding of the procedures.

This means you have technically one runway and one approach path with the
pilot having the choice of where to touch down. If I understand parallel
runways correctly, they allow constant simultaneous approaches without
regard for the traffic on either side, and the traffic is governed by a
tower. At an airport with no tower and landing areas closer than 750(?)ft
along side, the traffic will have to sequence as for a single runway. Your
situation with the local commission might well be worsened if you pursue
trying to get a formal designation and as a result the commission looks
carefully into the regulations.