To: Parties Interested in Stage 2 GA jet
restrictions
From: Gerald A. Silver
Pres. Homeowners of Encino
(HOME)
National Helicopter Noise
Coalition (NHNC)
Stop the Noise! Coalition
(STN)
Subject: UPDATE - NAPLES, FL. BAN ON STAGE 2 JETS, UNDER
75,000 LBS.
On August 8, 2001 the U.S. District Court, in Ft. Myers, FL
dismissed a
lawsuit brought by the National Business AviationAssociation
and the General
Aviation Manufacturers Association against the City of Naples
[FL] Airport
Authority. The lawsuit sought to enjoin enforcement of a ban
on the
operation of Stage 2 jet aircraft, under 75,000 lbs. at the
Naples Municipal
Airport. The Naples ban was a 24 hour a day restriction aimed
at all Stage 2
jet owners and operators.
In this key case, being watched closely by other airports
seeking to ban
noisy Stage 2 GA jets, the judge ruled that the ban was
constitutional.
This ruling opens the door to other communities that seek to
use the Part
161 Study as a means of reducing noisy Stage 2 jets at other
airports. While
the court's ruling supports the consitutionality of Stage 2
jet bans, it
does not foreclose the Federal Aviation Administration from
hammering
airports, and threatening to withhold AIP and PFC funds.
The FAA claims that the Stage 2 ban would violate federal
grant assurances
and other
federal regulations. This heavy handed, pro-aviation bias by
the FAA should
not, however, stop other airports from banning Stage 2 jets,
using the Part
161 Study. It should be noted that the FAA ordered a phaseout
of all Stage 2
jets, OVER 75,000 lbs., by the year 2000. This is now
complete, but DID NOT
apply to Stage 2 jets UNDER 75,000 lbs. Thus those airports
such as in Van
Nuys, CA; Naples, FL; Centennial, CO and Flying Cloud, MN,
still endure
extremely noisy jets, UNDER 75,000 lbs.
One of the best ways to gain an understanding of the pressure
tactics used
by the FAA to hammer Naples is to review the news stories
that appeared in
the local press, the Naples Daily News. You can read many
excellent articles
by their writer, Larry Hannan. Their web site is:
http://www.naplesnews.com/site_search.html
To give you a flavor for this excellent news coverage,
reproduced below are
several excerpts from various Naples Daily News articles, and
letters to the
editor:
********************************************************
March 25, 2001 (Naples Daily News)
How lucky? Not very
Editor, Naples Daily News:
How lucky are we in Naples to have a quiet municipal airport
grow into a
noisy jetport in downtown Naples? How lucky are we to have a
noisy jetport
in downtown Naples that encompasses 13 percent of our town?
How lucky
are we to have a small minority of pilots, private jet owners
and airport
management that can influence the FAA to stop the ban on
Stage 2 noisy
jets?
I don't think we're so lucky! We have tried to compromise
with this minority
and they have no regard for the voters of Naples.
We, the people of Naples, who do not like airport noise and
air pollution
must stop these people who want to grow the jetport in
Naples, increase the
jet fuel sales, and build more hangars. We must start a
campaign to get rid of
the jetport. Naples is unique. How many small towns in the
United States
have a jetport in the center of their city? Too bad if no
other small cities
have
banned the Stage 2 jets. They don't have our problems. Think
about it!
- Jim McGurk/Naples
**********************************************
Jet ban issue will continue into late 2001
Monday, April 2, 2001 (Naples Daily News)
By LARRY HANNAN, ljhannan@naplesnews.com
Being first doesn't always mean being fast.
That's what Naples Municipal Airport is learning with its
Stage 2 jet ban. The
airport is the first in the country to ban Stage 2 jets under
75,000 pounds.
The airport instituted the ban at the beginning of 2001 but
later had to defer
enforcement of it when the Federal Aviation Administration
raised objections
to the ban. The earliest the airport will be able to enforce
the ban now is late
this year.
Airport Authority Chairman Eric West said the delays should
not be surprising
to anyone who knows how the federal government works.
"Any time you do something that hasn't been done before,
it make federal
regulators nervous," West said. "That is the
situation we're facing now. We
have to expect delays and be prepared for questions and
objections to issues
we think have already been answered."
West has previously spoken of an "echo effect," in
which the FAA asks
questions, gets answers and then asks the same questions in a
different way.
People have to view the correspondence with the FAA as a
continual thing
and not expect the Airport Authority's responses to the FAA's
letters to be
the final word because the FAA will more than likely write
back with more
questions and comments, West said.
It is also possible that the FAA will ask the exact same
questions as before
even though the authority answered those questions in
previous
correspondence, West said.
Stage 2 jets were made primarily between 1975 and 1983 and
are noisier
than jets made after that time.
The FAA claims that the airport is being discriminatory by
banning Stage 2
jets and will lose its ability to get grants if it goes
forward. The federal
agency
also claims the airport didn't follow the proper procedures
in the $3500,000
noise study the Naples Airport Authority commissioned that
recommended
banning Stage 2 jets.
The airport is now moving forward with plans to add some
supplemental
information to the noise study. That information is expected
to correct the
procedural failures that the FAA claims occurred in the
original noise study.
Airport Authority members recently approved a $102,500
scope-of-services
agreement with airport consultants that will go back and deal
with issues the
FAA claims weren't looked at in the airport's original noise
study.
Those issues include examining non-restrictive measures to
reduce noise at the
airport and an examination of the use of noise buffers in the
area.
The scope-of-services agreement is expected to correct all
the problems with
the noise study. FAA officials have promised to look at the
agreement and let
the airport know if the work meets the requirements for
banning Stage 2 jets
under federal law before the Airport Authority approves it.
It is expected to take about two months to complete the work
under the
agreement. The airport must then go through a 45-day comment
period and a
180-day notification period before the ban can be enforced.
The airport's plan is to deal with all issues involving the
noise study and get
that out of the way before tackling the issue of grant
compliance, said Airport
Authority Executive Director Ted Soliday.
"We want to move forward with the supplemental
information (on the noise
study) and get an acknowledgment from the FAA before we deal
with the
other issues," Soliday said.
The FAA has told Naples Airport that even if it fixes the
noise study, the
federal agency might still rule that the ban cannot be
enforced because it
discriminates against a certain type of aircraft.
If the FAA decides the ban is discriminatory and the airport
goes ahead with
the ban anyway, the agency could revoke federal grants the
airport has
received and prohibit the county from getting any new grants.
The Airport Authority has directed the administration to work
with the FAA
in reaching an agreement on the grant-compliance issue.
"So far, every time we bring up the issue of grant
compliance with the FAA
they tell us that they don't think we can do it because the
ban is
discriminatory," Soliday said. "But then they say
it's just their opinion
and not
a final answer."
Naples Airport attorney Frank Kowalski said in situations
like this grant
compliance is usually negotiated with the FAA.
"In most cases involving grant compliance, airports and
the FAA are able to
negotiate some kind of agreement," Kowalski said.
"Hopefully, we can do
that here."
Soliday said he believes the airport has followed the rules
set forth by
Congress in banning Stage 2 jets.
"We believe we have followed the laws that have been set
up for a situation
like this," Soliday said. "We don't think the FAA
has a right to block us."
If the FAA is unwilling to give ground on this issue, the
airport will seek
assistance from Congress, Soliday said.
In a worst case scenario, the airport could go forward
without receiving any
grants. But airport officials say that will not happen.
"I don't think that's a valid option," West said.
Soliday said it could be done, but the airport would have to
cut out a lot of
operations it now provides and would also have to cancel
plans to upgrade
the airport in the future.
"It would make my job very difficult and I don't think
the current Airport
Authority board has any interest in doing that," Soliday
said.
************************************************
Naples Airport Authority gets ready for FAA meeting about
Stage 2 jet ban
Monday, July 30, 2001 (Naples Daily News)
By LARRY HANNAN, ljhannan@naplesnews.com
It is the calm before the summer storm at Naples Municipal
Airport.
An uneventful summer for airport officials could come
crashing to a halt during
the next few weeks when the Naples Airport Authority meets
with the
Federal Aviation Administration over the Stage 2 jet ban the
authority enacted
at the beginning of 2001. In addition, the authority is
scheduled to defend the
ban in federal court next month.
Naples Airport Authority Executive Director Ted Soliday went
to
Washington, D.C., Saturday and said he hopes to meet with FAA
officials
today or Tuesday.
Soliday is in the capital on other business but is trying to
schedule a time to
meet with the FAA while there.
The authority's ban on Stage 2 jets - noisy jets made
primarily between
1975 and 1983 - took effect in January. But the ban was later
deferred after
the FAA raised objections to the original $350,000 noise
study.
Federal officials have criticized the ban because the noise
study that
recommended it used a 60-decibel noise level. The FAA uses a
65-decibel
level and would have preferred the authority follow its lead.
The authority is free to use 60 decibels but has to provide
evidence and an
explanation of why it used the lower level. The authority
didn't do that, said
Lynne Pickard, manager of the FAA's community and
environmental needs
division.
The study also didn't include an examination of
nonrestrictive ways to reduce
airport noise, such as noise barriers, land purchases and
voluntary curfews,
FAA officials said.
The FAA doesn't have to approve the Stage 2 jet ban but it
does have to rule
that the Naples Airport Authority followed proper procedures
in instituting the
ban. The FAA has said the authority didn't follow proper
procedures.
In June, the authority completed a $102,500 scope of services
study that it
believes takes care of all the issues cited by the FAA. But
the federal agency
hasn't yet said whether it believes the scope of services
study addressed all of
its concerns.
Pickard promised the Naples Airport Authority at a meeting
earlier this year
that the FAA would take an unofficial look at the scope of
services agreement
once it is completed and let the authority know if the work
dealt with all
of the
objections the federal agency had with the original noise
study.
"We don't want to go forward and approve the study until
the FAA has given
its approval," Soliday said.
FAA spokeswoman Holly Baker said the FAA is reviewing the
study and
expects to respond to the authority in the next couple of
weeks.
Meanwhile, the authority will defend itself next month in a
lawsuit filed by a
national trade group that is challenging the jet ban. The
suit was filed against
the authority by the National Business Aviation Association
in federal district
court in Fort Myers.
The association, a Washington, D.C.,-based trade group that
represents
about 6,400 corporate members who fly in connection with
their primary
business, has sued the authority because of the Stage 2 ban
enacted at the
beginning of 2001.
The trade association, which contends the ban is
unconstitutional, is seeking a
permanent injunction that would prohibit Naples airport from
enforcing the
Stage 2 jet ban.
The case will be heard starting Monday, Aug. 20, before U.S.
District Judge
Gregory Presnell and is expected to take about a week.
At a hearing earlier this month, Presnell denied the trade
association's request
for a preliminary injunction and granted an authority motion
that excluded
letters from the FAA criticizing the Stage 2 jet ban.
The association had hoped to introduce the letters as
evidence that the ban is
unconstitutional.
"We're excited that they've ruled for us in all the
preliminary motions,"
Soliday
said. "It may not mean that much, but we're happy it's
gone our way so far."
Soliday said there is no chance of a settlement before the
trial.
Airport Authority Chairman Eric West said the authority won't
comment on
matters related to the lawsuit until after the trial.
"I really can't talk about it, which is a shame because
I have a lot to say,"
West said.
Soliday said the authority is confident it has followed the
law in
instituting the
ban and will be vindicated in court.
******************************************************
Editorial: Federal court ruling moves Naples nearer Stage II
ban
Friday, August 10, 2001 (Naples Daily News)
The Naples Daily News
Airport noise
Federal court ruling moves Naples nearer Stage II ban
Good news.
The Naples Airport Authority has cleared a hurdle en route to
banning the
oldest and loudest jets.
A federal court in Fort Myers has ruled that aviation
industry interests that
challenged efforts to ban so-called Stage II jets have failed
to prove that such
a move would be discriminatory.
For the layman, that means Naples Municipal Airport is not
picking only on
Stage IIs; it is picking on all planes that shatter the
community's peace and
quiet, and abuse its welcome.
There are lots of quiet, state-of-the-art jets available to
those who find
service
at Southwest Florida International Airport too slow or too
humble.
The community will have more to say about this seeming
anti-noise
development as more information becomes available.
The proposed ban still has to pass muster with the Federal
Aviation
Administration, which is pro-industry.
At the earliest, a ban is six months away, assuring at least
one more peak
winter season of maximum jet traffic for conventions and
golf.
Still, progress is progress, and this court ruling is a step
in the right
direction. It
vindicates public advocates who say go ahead and try
something bold rather
than cower at the prospect of irritating big business.
Further successful work to oust Stage IIs will make the
Naples airport's
motto come true: "The best little airport in the
country."
******************************************************************
Saturday, August 11, 2001
Naples Daily News (Naples Daily News)
Letters to the editor
The charade continues
Editor, Naples Daily News:
Re: an article by Larry Hannan that the financial reserves of
the Naples
Airport Authority are dangerously low.
All of this while the members shelled out $500,000 plus an
additional
$105,000 for a flawed study on the Stage II Jets which we all
know will
never receive FAA approval.
Rather we should have unilaterally instituted the ban and let
the chips fall
where they may.
We would have had 18 months of quiet and no more legal
problems than we
have now.
The FAA advised me they never sue anyone and the NBAA
(National
Business Aircraft Association) has already sued us.
Should they play games with grant assurance, we could sue
them or seek
legislative assistance.
- Tom Ryan/Naples and Minnesota