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