Judge Rules That County Must Follow FAA Regulations For Separation, Through-The-Fence Access

A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed three of four lawsuits filed against Bonner County, ID by SilverWing at Sandpoint ... a hangar home development at Sandpoint Airport (KSZT) in Sandpoint, Idaho ... over through-the-fence access to the airport as well as the proximity of a new taxiway to a proposed extended runway.

CAPress.com reports that the development was proposed in 2006, and the developer has spent about $6.1 million to put infrastructure in place to support the community, including the construction of a west-side taxiway. A spec home was also built.

But in 2008, the FAA threw a monkey wrench into the works, saying that the county had not gotten the agency's approval for through-the-fence access before allowing the development to proceed.

Then in 2009, the FAA said that the private taxiway was too close to a planned change what would move the runway 60 feet to the west. The move is part of an airport plan to expand the runway to accommodate larger aircraft.

All of that put a real damper on marketing of the development, according to the developer, who sued in 2012. SilverWing claimed that it was misled by the county about the planned runway relocation as well as the access agreement with the FAA. The suit also claimed that the county denied the developer equal protection under the law, and violated its civil rights through "inverse condemnation."

The county, however said the federal suits should be dismissed as a matter of law, and that the state claims should be thrown out because it was required to comply with federal regulations, which preempts state law. Judge Edward Lodge agreed on all but one issue. He said that the developer had relied on the county's assurance that there were no plans to change the runway in a way that would economically damage the company, and the developer spent "a great deal of money" based on that assurance.

Otherwise, Lodge said the county had to comply with FAA regulations regarding the separation of runways and taxiways and through-the-fence access. He also dismissed the two civil rights claims.

FMI: www.id.uscourts.gov, http://bonnercounty.us, www.silverwingatsandpoint.com/units_floorplans.html