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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05 12 1989 FAA, City Meeting Mostly 'Legal, Technical' MatterFriday, May 12, 1989, Vero Beach, Fla., Press -Journal 7A FAA, City Meeting Mostly `Legal, Technical' Matter By PATMCIA DILALLA Sebastian Bureau Chief The Federal Aviation Adminis- tration changed its mind about meeting with Sebastian city offi- cials after it discovered the city had hired a special airport attorney, a senior FAA attorney said Thursday. At the time the • FAA asked to meet with city officials, said FAA attorney Bob Eisengrein, it did not know the city had hired Eliot Cut- ler's law firm to prepare the ordi- nances implementing the charter amendments and represent' it in the event of litigation. "It would be a waste of time for a city manager and FAA non -lawyers to be involved," Eisengrein said, "until we can go over the details of what Cutler's firm has come up with. It is mostly a legal, technical matter." Eisengrein said the two sets of lawyers will focus on the wording of regulations that Cutler's firm draws up to implement the charter amendment. "We want to see the regulations to see if we can live with them," Eisengrein said. One issue that will be discussed is noise limitation, he said. The charter amendment restricts the use of the airport to certain air- craft that produce maximum noise levels of 65 decibels, as measured according to procedures specified in an FAA advisory circular. But, according to Eisengrein, "The 65 decibel level in the advi- sory circular is meaningless." The advisory circular mea- surement. is done from a fixed point 3%z miles from the end of the runway, Eisengrein said. A com- munity, however, may prefer the decibel level to be measured from other locations, he said. The circular itself states that the FAA's computer noise model can "provide predictions of noise levels at other locations which may be of greater interest to a particular community." If the FAA does not agree with the wording that Cutler comes up with in the proposed ordinances, then the FAA will attempt to dis- suade the City Council from adopt- ing them, Eisengrein said. If the council approves the ordi- nances anyway, "we are left with no alternative but to exercise every legal limit available to the federal government because of the nation- al precedent this type of issue involves," he said. As of Thursday, no definite date had been set for the meeting, he said.