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Court Rules Town of East Haven is Preempted from Regulating Construction of Runway Safety Areas

On October 24, 2008, a federal district court in Connecticut ruled that the Town of East Haven is preempted from regulating the construction of runway safety areas at the Tweed-New Haven Airport.  The court in Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority v. Town of East Haven, found that under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, the FAA occupies the field of aviation safety, and that, as a result, the Town of East Haven could not regulate the construction of runway safety areas on airport property.  This decision follows a long line of cases on the extent of local government land use regulation of airports.