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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06 09 1989 Airport ordinance outlines penaltiesSebastian Sun Week of June 9,1989 Pg. 6-A OP By George Ricker On March 14, the voters of Sebastian approved an amendment to the city charter, requiring the Sebastian City Council to adopt a noise restriction and to impose landing fees at Sebastian Municipal Airport. . The City Council heard Wednesday night the first reading of the ordinance that will implement those provi- sions of the charter amendment. The council is scheduled to hold a public hearing Monday night and to either adopt or reject the ordinance. Ordinance 0-89-12 is a 23-page document in its current draft form. The ordinance was drafted by the Washington, D.C., law firm of Cutler & Stanfield, which had drafted the language of the charter. amendment for Citizen's Airport Watch and was hired by the City Council on April 20 to draft the ordinance Wat would bring the city into compli- ance with the charter amendment. This is what the ordinance says. The first section of the ordinance establishes definitions for terminology used'in the body of the ordinance. Section two amends the city code of ordinances by adding a section establishing the position of airport offi- cer. "One or more airport officers may be appointed by the city manager on a full- or part-time basis, and each shall be considered an agent of the city when acting within the scope of his prescribed duties," the ordinance states. The airport officer(s) will act under the supervision of the airport director and shall be responsible for monitoring compliance with the ordinance and administering its re- quirements. In addition, the airport officer(s) will perform such duties at the airport as may be assigned by the airport director. Any duties assigned to the airport officer(s) also may be performed by the airport director or, at the airport direc- tor's discretion, be .delegated to the airport manager, according to the ordinance. The third section of the ordinance establishes a proce- dure for registering all aircraft operated at the Sebastian Municipal Airport. It requires the airport director to de- velop and distribute, within 30 days of the adoption of the ordinance, an aircraft registration form. "Such aircraft registration form shall request informa- tion regarding the names, street addresses and other rea- sonable identification, a determined by the airport direc- tor, of each owner and operator of the aircraft," according to the ordinance. On the 30th day following the promulgation of the aircraft registration form, it will be unlawful for any aircraft to be operated at the airport without its owner or operator first having submitted a complete aircraft regis- tration form or having established that such a form is already on file with the airport director. Violators of this section of the ordinance will be subject to a fine of $250 for each violation. Anyone who pays three such fines over a two-year period, or is adjudicated as having violated this section of the ordinance, shall be barred for a period not to exceed two years from operating or causing to be operated any aircraft at the airport. A noise limit of 65 dBA is established for aircraft operating at the airport by the fourth section of the ordi- nance. It requires the use of the airport be restricted to aircraft that produce maximum noise levels of no more than 65 dB A, as estimated by the use of procedures established by appendix C of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)Regulation Part 36. The ordinance establishes a "Noise Rule Compliance List," which is to be compiled, maintained and made available to airport users by the airport director. The list will consist of those aircraft listed in appendices one or two of FAA Advisory Circular 36-3E. Aircraft owners and operators may petition the airport director to have their aircraft included on the compliance list by following the prescribed procedures and furnishing data, certified by an approved noise study firm, which, indicates that the aircraft in question can be operated within the noise limits established by the ordinance. Violators of this section of the ordinance will be fined $1,000. Any owner or operator who pays three such fines, or who is adjudicated guilty of violating the ordinance, will be barred from operating or causing to be operated any aircraft at the airport for a period of three years. Section five of the ordinance establishes a user fee of $5 for each aircraft operation at the airport. An operation is described, in the ordinance, as "...one cycle of activity by a specific aircraft at the airport, from landing to and including takeoff, irrespective of the time over which such cycle occurs." The ordinance requires each aircraft owner, or an agent designated by the aircraft owner, to pay the aggregate fees due from that aircraft owner at the end of each calendar month. Any aircraft owner who is found delinquent in the payment of such fees may be subject to legal action by the city. The cost of such legal action will be paid by the airport enterprise fund, and any monies collected will be deposited in that fund. Section six of the ordinance establishes that any aircraft owned and operated by the United States of America, or any state government, is exempt from the provisions of the ordinance. Also exempt are any aircraftbeing used for law enforce- ment, fire suppression, search and rescue or other bona fide emergency operations, Upon the oral or written request of the U.S. Department of State,. any aircraft owned and operated by a fo��ign government also will beexdnptfro theproyisionsofthe ordinance. In section seven of the ordinance, a\procedure for the' collection of fines imposed by the ordinance is estab-; lished. The section states, "All fines received or collected by the city under this section shall be deposited in or other- wise credited to the general funds of the city." Sections four, five and seven of the ordinance - those establishing the noise limit, user fee and fine procedure - will take effect on the 31 st day following its final adoption. All other parts of the ordinance are effective immediately upon final passage.