Say City Should Not Be Allowed To Claim Misunderstanding As Defense Of Its Position To Close The Airport

The NBAA, AOPA, and several other groups and individuals including Harrison Ford have filed a reply to an appeal by the city of Santa Monica requesting that it be allowed to supplement the record in its pursuit of closing the airport.

The city essentially has said that it did not understand that accepting a grant modification in 2003 would mean that it would be required to keep the airport open through 2023. However, Malibu attorney Richard K. Simon wrote in a letter to the FAA on behalf of the groups indicating that the city was aware of the consequences of accepting the grant modification, because it raised the issue in a letter dated October 20, 2014.

Simon says that not only should the new evidence not be allowed to become part of the docket, but it is irrelevant because "the "City's contemporaneous - or even earlier - understanding of the significance of its actions in 2003 are beside the point."

Simon points out that the City has "a long record of alleged misunderstandings of its Grant Assurance and contractual obligations which has necessitated repeated administrative and court proceedings."

Simon also asserts that the City's proposed interpretation of the language in the 2003 grant modification is not reasonable, and that the FAA's interpretation of the 2003 grant modification was proper exercise of the agency's Part 16 authority and did not require notice-and-comment rulemaking.

The full 16-page document is available at the link below.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.nbaa.org/ops/airports/smo/smo-part16-complaint-201601.pdf