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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08 1989 Aviation News The Battle for SebastianTHIAdI Southeastern United States and the Caribbean Basin 1-4 TTLIIA FOR 500 is Southeastern United States and the Caribbean Basin 500 lil: Sl:li��S'1'I��\T By Steve Davis Until this past June not many people in the aviation industry hacl heard the name, Sebastian Municipal Airport. Well, now alot of them have and this is why. Over the past two and a half years a conflict has been { brewing between Sebastian Air- port and the surrounding commu- nities of Sebastian, Florida. What was thought to be a local k., v . political issue became, a battle J ,Y with national implications that got the full attention of the Fed- eral Aviation Administration (FAA) and other concerned avia- tion organizations. In June the situation came to a climax, but the story may not be over yet.. Continued on page 3 Aviation News / August 1989 3 Sebastian Continued from page 1 THE HISTORY OF THE SEBASTIAN AIRPORT CONFLICT The Sebastian Airport controver- sey began back in -the fall of 1986 when the communities surrounding the airport becamediscontentwith an increase in air traffic and its re- lated noise. In the spring of 1987 some of the residents from areas around Sebastian Airport formed a political action group called the Citizens Airport Watch (CAW). In March of 1988 the CAW sponsored a referendum to amend the cities' charter regarding the airport. The charter amendment passed by a mar- gin of three to one. John Evans,.who has been the le- gal representative for the CAW for the past two years, commented on the purpose of the 1988 referendum. "The proposed amendment was to place restrictions on the growth of Sebastian Airport." said Evans, "If the city wanted to expand'airport facilities it would have to go to the voters for approval." According to Evans, the CAW thought the charter amendment would go a long way towards bring- ing an end to the friction between Sebastian Airport and the surround- ing residents, but it didn't. After the amendment passed, the city contracted the consulting firm of Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan to formulate an airport master plan. Even though public opinion was negative concerning the airport master plan,- the Sebastian city council approved the plan 3-2. "The restrictions they wanted to place on the air- port were rediculus. The noise limit would have closed the airport to practically every- thing except, ultralights." There are really two reasons why discord continued," said Evans, "First, there was a tremendous in- crease in air traffic due to a flight school in Vero Beach using Sebas- tian Airport for training purposes. Second, in spite of the fact that a majority of the city's residents wanted a moratorium on expansion of Sebastian Airport, the city coun- cil adopted an "Airport Master Plan" that intended to expand the airport in a way that was undesire able to the community." Completely dissatisfied with the outcome of their attempt to control Sebastian Airport, the CAW peti- tioned for a new charter amendment calling for greater restrictions. The new charter amendment called for a 65 dBA single event noise limit and a fee of $5 per each cycle of one takeoff and landing for aircraft using the airport. The amendment also prohibited the city from accepting any grant money from the state or federal government and stated that the airport's existing runways could not stengthened. In March.vf this year the new charter amendment passed. To the FBO owners at Sebastian Airport the proposed restrictions meant economic death and the even- tual closing of the airport. "The re- strictions they wanted to place on the airport were rediculus," said Steve Johnson, co-owner of Sebastian Aero Services, an FBO at Sebastian Airport, "The noise limit would have closed the airport to practical- ly everything except ultralights. Weknew that if the city went ahead with the restrictions the businesses at the airport couldn't survive." SEBASTIAN AIRPORT AND THE SURPLUS PROPERTY OF 1944 The origin of Sebastian Airport and how it was transferred to the City of Sebastian became the focal point of the conflict. During World War II the United States built many military complex- es, including air bases, all over the country. These military bases be- came obsolete as the war neared its end.. In order to dispose of these properties, the Congress passed the Surplus Property Act of.1944 which turned these bases over to local mu- nicipalities. Regarding air bases, the government stipulated, in the deed, that. the municipality accept- ing the property would agree to op- erate, maintain and develop it as an airport. Also, in the deed was a clause stating that these airports must remain operational or the property's control would revert to the federal government. Sebastian Airport was turned over to the City of Sebastian in 1959 under the terms of the Surplus Property Act of 1944. Today there are 53 such airports in Florida and a total of 650 nation- wide. If the new charter amendment Continued on page 13 Aviation News / August 1989 13 Sebastian Continued from page 3 had the effect of closing the airport, the city could be seen as violating the terms of the airport's deed. The city then would_be at risk of having the airport's control -revert to the federal government. On the other hand, if the city succeeded in legal- ly overturning. the deed, it could set a legal precedent that would effect the future of the other surplus air- ports nationwide. This became the most critical factor in the _Sebastian Airport situation. THE CITY OF SEBASTIAN VS. THE FAA The Sebastian Airport conflict got the full attention of the FAA be- cause of its possible impact on the nation's aviation interests. The FAA's lawyers saw definite prob- lems with the restrictions on Sebas- tian Airport. According to the FAA the deed stated that the -airport . be kept open on terms considered "rea- sonable" and "nondiscriminatory. The FAA also held the position that the 65dBA noise limit must be based on a legitimate noise study and the $5 operational fee must be shown to be directly related to defraying the cost of operating the airport. The FAA warned the City of Sebastian that they felt the proposed airport restrictions were arbitrary, and if the city implimented those restric- tions the FAA might take action. The City of Sebastian pressed on towards adoption of the airport, or- dinance. They also hired Eliot Cut- ler, from the Washington, D.C., law firm of Cutler & Stanfield, to handle any legal matters relating to the airport contoversy. Cutler had previously drafted the language of the airport charter amendments. The battle over Sebastian Airport came to a climax in June when the Sebastian City Council prepared to adopt the airport ordinance. "We didn't want to close the airport. That wasn't our goal. We just were a small communi- ty with an airport problem_ and we wanted it resolved." Bob Eisengrein, the senior attor- ney for airport access in the office of the chief council of the FAA in Washington, D.C., restated that if the Sebastian City Council adopted the ordinance, implementing the re- strictions on the airport, the .FAA would initiate the revertment proce- dure.. He warned ownership of the airport would then be returned to the U.S. Government. The FAA knew that the courts had upheld the rights of the U.S. Government in a test of a similar deed. The FAA believed that the City of Sebastian was overstepping its authority by trying to regulate noise problems at Sebatian Airport. Ac- cording to Eisengrein an area, such as airport noise abatement policy, reg- ulated by the Federal Government, by authority of Congress, then feder- ally preempts the regulation of local governments. Eisengrein also felt strongly that the City of Sebastian acted arbitrarily, in setting the 65dBA single event noise limit and the $5 operation fee. "65dBA as a single event is an extremely quiet noise in the overall aviation busi- ness."-asaid Eisengrein. "The FAA has established,_ and Congress re- quired, a single measurement of noise that would be used nationwide arid" that system of measurementis called an Ldn or Day/Night_noise study. It is an average decibel noise level taken over a 24 hour time period. It is possible to have an Ldn noise limit of 65dBA;-but that's an average of a 24 hour time period in which a sin- gle event noise encountered might be as high as 130dBA." Once it bcame clear the FAA would not budge from their threat to sue for title of the airport and seeing that they also had a strong legal po- sition, Eliot Cutler advised the City -of Sebastian to table the airport or- dinance and that the city enter into negotiations with the FAA in order to reach a compomise solution to the Sebastian Airport problem. The ba- sis for Cutler's advise to the city was that although a court battle with the FAA could be won the -costs would financially drain the city.. THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN SEBASTIAN AND THE FAA Eliot Cutler and Bob Eisengrein formulated a proposal that the City of Sebastian defer adoption of the airport ordinance and agree to a study that would seek to find solu- tions to the airport conflict. that were acceptable to all parties in- volved. On June 12 the Sebatian City Council agreed to "the study which could cost up to $200,000 and take a year to complete. The study will be funded by grant money from the FAA. Here are key excerpts from the agreement between the City of Se- bastian and the FAA regarding the study.. "The goal of the study will be to generate recommendations on the fu- ture role of the airport and how the airport should be modified or itn- Continued on page 16 16 August 1989 / Aviation News. T1113 111VFTL1".7d FOR SIZABASTIAN Continued from page 13 proved in order to fulfull that role in a manner compatible with a) the City's overall community planning objectives, b) federal statutory objec- tives and responsibilities to ade- quately meet the needs of civil avi- ation, and c) the terms. of the surplus property conveyance by which the City acquired the airport. An essen- tial premise of the study will be that the airport's role and use must be consistent with the overall goals and needs of the City of Sebastian in a proper balance with such appro- priate federal objectives. Rather than fitting the City' of Sebastian to the Sebastian Municipal Airport or vice versa, the study will attempt to identify ways to fit the two to- gether. The scope of work will include an. operations sLrvey and forecast, a noise study and analysis, an envi- ronmental analysis, an economic analysis and forecast, and an engi- neering and design analysis. If the Counsil were to unilateral- ly take any action to terminate the study or to enact such implementing ordinances prior to completion of the study and in the absence of a court order, requiring such action, or were to seek issuance of such a court order ,all grant progress payments will be returned to the FAA and the grant voided. The FAA also reserves the right to terminate the study if in the opinion of the FAA, adequate progress is not being made or federal objectives are not being sufficiently considered. In the latter event, progress payments would be author- ized to the date of termination. During the study period, the City of Sebastian will not remove any airport lighting, will remedy any unsafe conditions at the airport; and will operate the airport in accor- dance with the conveyance agree- ment, and generally will not take any action that will alter the char- acter of the .airport." The CAW was satisfied with the agreement, although they felt vi- lifed by those defending the air- port. "We didn't want to close the airport. That wasn't our goal," said John Evans, of the CAW. "We just were a. small community with an airport problem and we wanted it resolved." Bob Eisengrein commented that the FAA was pleased with the agreement to have the study. "It is our _hope .and belief that the local community, once they have the facts, will resolve the, conflict be- tween the anti -airport group and the pro -airport group," said Eisen- grein. "Obviously the FAA supports the aviation system and the growth of aviation consistent, of course, with the needs of the general pub- lic." "Common ground" is what both sides in the Sebastian conflict are striving for with the adoption of the airport study. The CAW will wait and see if the study can pro- vide some remedies for their com- plaints, and if not , there's still the possibility of a lawsuit. Those in fa- vor of keeping Sebatian Airport open will wait to see if the study ex- onerates their belief that noise problems were more a false percep- tion than a reality. Although there seems to be harmony in Sebastian now concerning the airport, the real test will come when the noise study is .finished. ' GROWTH AND MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS LEAD TO THE SEBASTIAN CONFLICT Since the days of World War II Florida has experienced unpreci- dented growth. Today the growth of urban areas surrounding airports has created problems like those Seba- tian is experiencing -- residents com- plaining of intolerable noise and safty hazards. This situation occurs when people are living too close to an airport and is invariably due _to poor zoning. "There's a failure in public agen- cies to zone land around an airport in a way that would be compatible with the operation of -aircraft, -said Ed Foster, director of the airport at Melbourne. - Proper management of the land around airports is integral in avoid- ing conflicts between airports and their surrounding communities, "It is clear that throughout the state of Florida proper land use was not made looking at future needs," said Jack Johnson, Director of Aviation for the Florida Department of Transportation. "Compatible land use zoning should have been done years ago. There must be more long- range planning for what is going to be built." Let's hope that better planning in the future will prevent situations like the Sebastian conflict.