FAA Decrees City Must Ease Restrictions
AOPA tells Aero-News
the organization has won a victory against the City of Pompano
Beach. As a result of ongoing efforts by the organization, the FAA
has decreed the city must stop the 10-year old policies AOPA states
restrict general aviation use -- specifically training-type
operations -- at Pompano Airpark (PMP).
Acting on a formal complaint filed by AOPA and its local
members, the FAA has determined that city regulations prohibiting
touch and goes, stop and goes, intersection takeoffs, and other
restrictions, have violated federal obligations to make the airport
available to the public on reasonable terms without unjust
discrimination. The FAA issued the 53-page "Directors
Determination" faulting Pompano Beach on December 15.
"This should send a clear message to airport sponsors
everywhere. Treat every user fairly, and don't try to stop legal
operations with illegal regulations," said Bill Dunn, AOPA vice
president of airports (file photo, right).
According to AOPA, the
city had tried to limit -- perhaps even shut down -- flight
training operations with the regulations. And they were attempting
to circumvent federal regulations to control noise, even though the
city had never validated a real noise problem.
Since 1995, the city had prohibited stop and goes at the
airport, restricted when touch and goes could be performed, and
added other restrictions to limit flight training. AOPA had warned
the city that its regulations would run afoul of federal law.
Even the city's outside counsel -- Kaplan, Kirsch &
Rockwell, a law firm that often represents city governments in
airport disputes -- had suggested to the city that if they pursued
the new restrictions, the action could expose the city to "certain"
legal risks.
In 2003, the city council added even more restrictions, and in
essence, challenged the FAA to do something about it -- which they
did, by filing a formal "Part 16" complaint in January 2004.
With that, the FAA moved against the city, basing its decision
upon the obligations imposed upon the city by the Surplus Property
Act.
The federal government deeded what became Pompano Airpark to the
city as war surplus following World War II. Part of the deal was
that the city must use the land as an airport without undue
restrictions or unjust discrimination, or the federal government
could take back the land.
The city has pushed the limits of that agreement pretty far.
Through the years, it has taken 444 acres of what was supposed to
be airport land exclusively, and converted it to other uses,
including a golf course and waste treatment plant.
In 1992, the city and FAA reached an agreement on how the
airport should be compensated for that, and what airport land
revenues could be used for non-aviation purposes.
But now, the FAA has determined that the city is "in
noncompliance" with most of its agreements with the federal
government. The agency ordered Pompano Beach to stop enforcing its
restrictions on stop and goes, touch and goes, and other normal
aircraft operations. It also ordered the city to submit a
corrective action plan.
If the city fails to comply, the FAA warned that it might
declare the city in default. That could cost the city millions of
dollars that it now draws from the airport and deposits in the
general fund.
And if the FAA finds the city in default, the federal government
could also take back all of the land it gave to the city in
1947.