Situation Becomes Even More Bizzare

The Grant-Valkaria, Florida Planning and Zoning Board rejected the ordinance 5-1, but the full council passed it, unanimously, on first reading anyway. These are the lastest twists and turns in this increasingly strange story about an apparent attempt to ban flight instruction at Valkaria Airport.

Florida Today reports that the Planning and Zoning Board vote came after two hours of heated debate and discussion, after which Planning and Zoning Board Chairman Don Whitehouse said "we'd like to see this thing re-written". Town attorney Karl Bohne, who was not present for that portion of the meeting because of a scheduling conflict, had made a last-minute change to the ordinance Monday to clarify that they weren't trying to stop flight training lessons at the airport which Federal Aviation Administration rules would not allow. What the town said it wanted to do was prohibit flight training schools from opening an office and being based at Valkaria Airport. The ordinance would also ban private flight lessons from being based at the airport, but would have grandfathered in pilots who are already working there.

But following the strong rejection by the zoning board, the full town council went ahead and unanimously approved the measure, and an ANN reader who attended the meeting forwarded the revised language to us. 

It states: "No commercial flight training/instruction or commercial flight training/instructions schools shall be based in the GML (Goverment Managed Land) zoning district." Previous language could have been interpreted to include a ban on all flight instruction.

Again, this measure was passed on first reading Monday night, and the town council plans a second vote before August. What is still unclear is whether this revised language will pass muster with the FAA, and whether the town even has the jurisdiction to regulate activites at an airport it doesn't own. It's a pretty fair bet that no matter which way this goes, that second vote will not be the last word.

ANN E-I-C Note: Folks, this is a watershed event... it can not be allowed to continue unchallenged... it is simply a case of one narrow-minded, selfish, group trying to exert their will over another... about as anti-American a concept as I know. The Grant-Valkaria insanity needs to be fought aggressively, publicly and with an eye towards not only defeating the madness but making the idiocy of Grant-Valkaria's rule-making an example for all others to avoid. The aviation community needs to band together and show these narrow-minded, elitist, fools the error of their ways... -- Jim Campbell, ANN Editor-In-Chief

FMI: http://www.airnav.com/airport/X59