Search Warrant Issued For Construction Company VP

A search warrant has been obtained by the San Diego city attorney's office for Sunroad Enterprises vice president Tom Story.

As reported by ANN on Thursday, Sunroad Enterprises is embroiled in a legal dispute with the AOPA, the FAA and the City of San Diego over an office tower being built less than a mile northwest of Montgomery Field (MYF). The FAA says the 180-foot-tall building is a hazard to small planes because it exceeds height limits by 20 feet.

The AOPA and the City of San Diego have joined together in a lawsuit to force the company to tear down the top two floors of the structure.

The sealed warrant, issued Wednesday and not yet served, will allow investigators for the Public Integrity Unit of City Attorney Michael Aguirre's office to search the office of Tom Story of Sunroad Enterprises, reports The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Story said the company's lawyers offered late Thursday to provide the city attorney's office with any documents requested in exchange for a promise not to execute the search warrant. Aguirre agreed to hold the warrant to give time for discussion on what documents are being sought, Story said.

Sunroad Enterprises has countersued for $40 million, complaining the city issued them permits for a 180-foot-tall building. The company was ordered by the city to halt construction in November until the dispute with the FAA could be resolved.

Story had applied for and received permission from the city to erect weatherproof roofing and a room on the roof to provide shelter to elevator components. When his office investigators discovered external walls were being erected, which was not spelled out in the weatherproofing agreement, Aguirre immediately sent a letter revoking weatherproofing permission on the top floors of the $45 million building.

"If it is not already clear, no work of any kind is to be conducted on the top 20 feet of the Centrum I structure," the letter said. The last part of the sentence was underlined for emphasis.

"Our position is that all work is per city authorization," Story said. "We have done nothing inconsistent with what the city has approved."

AOPA joined the lawsuit on behalf of pilots who fly the ILS Runway 28R IFR approach to land at Montgomery Field. Pilots must circle within 400 feet of the building, located less than a mile northwest of the airport. These types of landings account for about 10 percent of total landings at the airport.

"As far as the FAA is concerned it is a hazard," FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said. "The construction issues are a local matter and not something the FAA would get involved in."

The city attorney could not be reached for comment.

FMI: www.sandiego.gov/airports/montgomery/index.shtml, www.sunroad-centrum.com/