...But There's Little They Can Do About It

The FAA has determined a planned luxury hotel in downtown Phoenix may be too tall for traffic landing and departing from nearby Sky Harbor International Airport -- but the agency lacks the authority to do anything about it.

USA Today reports the FAA states the proposed 450-foot tall hotel and condominium project may pose a hazard to air traffic over Phoenix -- an assertion that city officials were quick to rebut, citing a recent analysis of all downtown buildings.

In some areas, proposed height limits were lowered so as not to conflict with the airspace surrounding PHX; in other areas, the limits were raised. The proposed hotel -- to be built by Robert Sarver, the majority owner of the city's NBA franchise Phoenix Suns -- meets the guidelines laid out in the new rules, said Assistant Aviation Director Carl Newman.

City officials believe the hotel project will ultimately go forward -- something that also irks those in neighboring Tempe.

In 2001, Tempe's proposed new stadium for the Arizona Cardinals football team was canned over similar FAA safety hazard concerns. And just last month, Tempe officials battled their Phoenix counterparts over the height of a proposed Tempe condominium complex -- again, because of safety concerns relative to the airport.

"If that's not a double standard, I don't know what is," City Councilman Hut Hutson told the Arizona Republic.

The FAA's findings are just the most recent of issues surrounding the $200 million downtown Phoenix project.

A dozen community groups and historic preservation organizations filed a complaint in January to halt the project, citing conflicting design concerns -- namely, that the design proposal also calls for an 11-story condo and office building to be built on top of the 1920s-era Sun Mercantile Building, in addition to the 39-story tower.

Both sides are still in negotiations with the city over that matter -- but as the FAA has no authority to stop the project over its concerns, pilots flying around Sky Harbor might one day have another landmark to navigate around.

FMI: www.phoenix-phx.com, www.faa.gov