Official Letter Tells Town They Have No Authority Over Airport

A 14 page letter from the FAA's Assistant Chief Counsel of the Airports and Environmental Law Division Office of the Chief Counsel tells the town of Grant-Valkaria, FL to, in so many words, stop trying to regulate noise and commerce at Valkaria airport.

Brevard County owns the airport, which hasn't stopped the town council from attempting to restrict operations there. In the letter, Assistant Chief Counsel Daphne Fuller writes "The FAA appreciates the opportunity to provide you with our views concerning the ordinance. By letter dated January 13, 2009, we advised Brevard County, as Airport owner and operator, that the Town would be prohibited from enforcing any ordinance restricting operations at the Airport, and that the Town had no authority to regulate air traffic. In your first two letters, you enclosed the current town ordinance and the draft amendment to the ordinance. In your third letter, you enclosed the amended ordinance as approved by the Town Council after its first reading on June 1, 2009.

This opinion will address this June 1 ordinance. We understand from your letter that the ordinance will be considered for adoption at the next scheduled public hearing on the zoning amendment. Based upon the information available, including your letters and attachments, the ordinance
as approved by the Town Council on June 1 impermissibly regulates aviation noise and safety. As a result, it is preempted under Federal law and the Town lacks the power to enforce the ordinance."

The town of Grant-Valkaria has been trying to prevent flight instruction at the airport, and has passed multiple ordinances in an attempt to curtail several airport activities. Each time, they have been told by the FAA that their ordinances conflict with federal law and are unenforceable. Of this latest effort "(t)he ordinance would prohibit the County, the lawful owner and operator of the Airport, from leasing aeronautical space to any flight school and/or any flight instructor desiring to provide commercial flight training or instruction at the Airport", Fuller writes. "A direct effect of enforcement of the ordinance would be to restrict the type and level of flight operations (i.e., pilot training, flight instruction, etc.) that could be conducted at the Airport. It is clear from the record that through its ordinance as approved, the Town is attempting to regulate aircraft noise, safety, and flight operations - activities that are preempted by federal law."

Valkaria Airport

"Based upon the information available, including your letters and attachments, the ordinance as approved by the Town Council on June 1 impermissibly regulates aviation noise and safety. As a result, it is preempted under Federal law," the letter concludes. "The Town therefore lacks the power to enforce the ordinance. This is not a final appealable order of the Administrator within the meaning of 49 U.S.c. § 46110."

The town has yet to respond to this latest reply from the FAA.

FMI: www.faa.gov