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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07 27 1989 Attorneys Seek Suit DismissalThursday, July 27, 1989, Vero Beach, Fla., Press -Journal 5A ebastiman Ver Area • Grant a Micco-Little Hollywood • Barefoot Bay • Sebastian • Fellsmere • Roseland • Vero Lake Estates Airport Issue Spurs Debate Attorneys Seek Suit. Dismissal By PATRICIA DiLALLA Sebastian Bureau Chief Sebastian attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against City Council in connection with the city's airport issue. Fixed -base operators and users of the airport, feeling left out of the preparation of a scope of services relating to the city/Federal Avi- ation Administration agreement for a planning study, are now backing the lawsuit, according to a spokesman. At Wednesday's City Council meeting, Councilman Frank Ober - beck said plaintiff Burt Snell plans to seek an injunction prohibiting the city from further using the air- port enterprise for airport legal fees. The injunction also would force the city to replace what has already been spent from the city's general fund. The city's request to dismiss Snell's lawsuit, filed Monday in 19th Circuit Court, questions, among other things, whether Snell has legal standing to bring the lawsuit. "(Snell) doesn't show he has suf- fered harm different than that of the general public," City Attorney Charles Nash said. Snell is suing the individual council members to force them to adopt airport charter amendments approved by referendum vote in March. Instead of passing the ordi- nances, City Council approved a standstill agreement with the FAA, which opposes aircraft noise limitation provisions. Snell's intent in the suit is to ma- neuver the FAA into trying to take the airport away from the city and turn it over to another operating agency. Steve Johnson, a fixed -base oper- ator at the Sebastian Municipal Airport and spokesman for other fixed -base operators and airport users, told council they were no longer willing to take a wait -and - see attitude concerning an airport planning study. The issue surrounding the air- port, Johnson said, is not one solely between the city and the FAA. "It's a triangular -shaped prob- lem," Johnson said. "The FAA does not represent, in all cases, the in- terests of the operators and pilots and users of the airport." City staff never consulted with the pilots and users of the airport for their input on the scope of ser- vices, Johnson said. On the other hand, he said, John Evans, attorney for the Citizens Airport Watch, was allowed to influence the shape the planning study would take. Johnson said Eliot Cutler, origi- nally the CAW's lawyer before being hired by the city, was still acting in the interests of the CAW. "(Cutler) is working for the same people, he just has a bigger pot to draw his fees from," Johnson said. "Our watching and waiting is over. The city made a decision de- signed to exclude us from specifics and decided to go with what the CAW wants. We think that is very unfair." Outside of the meeting, Johnson said his group is willing to support Snell's lawsuit "financially and otherwise — anything that is nec- essary." Johnson said he questioned City Manager Robb McClary's asser- tions that the CAW did not exert any influence on the matter be- cause of McClary's "association with John Evans and the Kashi Ranch." Johnson always has claimed the Kashi Church, of which Evans is a member, has been behind the CAW efforts to close the airport. McClary, who vehemently denied any close association with the Kashi Church Foundation in Roseland, said that Evans asked to see the scope of services being pre- pared. He said he did not give Evans a copy and would not autho- rize Cutler to do so either. "To my knowledge," McClary said, "the CAW did not influence Cutler."