FBO Accuses City Of A Double Standard

The city's regulations for hangars at Arizona's Glendale Airport clearly state: "No storage of equipment not necessary for the maintenance/assembly of the hangared aircraft...No storage of construction equipment or materials...There must be room for the aircraft in the hangar at all times, even when the aircraft is temporarily not located in the hangar."

But Valley Aviation Services, which owns a large number of hangars at Glendale, says the city turns a blind eye to its own regulations, and is bringing a lawsuit to stop it.

According to an investigative report on ABC15 Television in Phoenix, Valley's hangars sit largely empty. The suit claims that the city's hangars, on the north side of the airport, are filled with everything from personal recreational vehicles to buses and forklifts. The station even found an office, complete with a spiral staircase in one of the hangars.

"We filed the lawsuit after 17 years of putting up with this discriminatory unfair treatment," said owner George Van Houten.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said because the Glendale Airport has received nearly $20 million in federal airport improvement funds over the last 25 years, they have to follow federal regulations. "Airports that accept federal grants cannot discriminate economically against any tenant," Gregor said. "They are required to treat tenants equally."

For its part, the City of Glendale responded only in a written statement. "In 1999, Valley Aviation made the same allegations to the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA found that Glendale's leasing standards were reasonable, that there were no regulatory infractions and that there was no unjust discrimination. The FAA took no punitive action and marked the matter closed. We'll defend this action in court as we did before the FAA."

Van Houten says these are new issues, and that he plans to file a new complaint with the FAA.

FMI: http://www.glendaleaz.com/airport/