Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell is featured in this article about the Firm’s participation in the 2006 Colorado Colfax Marathon.

On January 18, 2006, the City of Los Angeles approved a settlement agreement with communities surrounding the Los Angeles International Airport. Under the agreement, Los Angeles will reconsider most of the expansion projects contained in the LAX Master Plan and will commit to fund significant mitigation in surrounding neighborhoods. In return, the other parties to the agreement will dismiss pending litigation over the Master Plan and release Los Angeles from future claims.

On December 15, 2005, the FAA issued a Director’s Determination concluding its investigation into flight training and other aircraft limits in effect at the Pompano Beach Airpark in Florida. The Director found that prohibitions on intersection take-offs and stop-and-go operations and time-of-day limitations on touch-and-go operations, “taxi-back” operations, and prolonged engine run-ups are unreasonable and unjustly discriminatory. While the Director stated that these limits have a negative impact on flight training, the basis for the Director’s conclusion was that the City had failed to establish that the restrictions were necessary to address safety, efficiency, or noise concerns. Pompano Beach immediately filed a motion requesting that the Director reconsider his decision. This case is likely to have far-reaching implications, since the restrictions in effect at the Airpark are similar to restrictions at airports throughout the country.

On September 30, 2005, the Department of Transportation Inspector General released a report calling on the FAA to strengthen its oversight of land purchased by airports for noise compatibility purposes. The Inspector General found that all eleven airports that were audited were in violation of an FAA requirement that airports sell land when it is no longer needed for noise compatibility purposes. The report is certain to generate increased FAA attention to and enforcement of airport grant obligations in purchase of land for noise purposes.

On August 21, 2006, the FAA issued its Record of Decision approving construction of a new airport in St. George, Utah. The approval came after a federal appellate court struck down an earlier FAA approval for failure to adequately consider cumulative noise impacts of the project on nearby National Parks. The decision may well establish the standard for measurement of noise impacts to sensitive lands like National Parks.

On July 5, 2005, the FAA issued a final rule establishing a Stage 4 noise standard.  After January 1, 2006, all applications for new aircraft designs must demonstrate compliance with Stage 4 noise levels.  Stage 4 represents a 10 decibel reduction from Stage 3; however, this is a cumulative reduction over the three different phases of flight testing (fly-over, lateral and approach).  Many aircraft manufactured today can meet Stage 4 with little or no adjustment.  The FAA’s imposition of Stage 4 is consistent with international efforts by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

On June 3, 2005, the D.C. Circuit upheld the Naples Airport Authority ban on stage 2 aircraft. The Appellate Court reversed the FAA decision that the ban was unreasonable. The D.C. Circuit found that the FAA did not have evidence to rebut the Naples Airport Authority’s conclusion that the ban on stage 2 aircraft was justified. The FAA had argued that the stage 2 ban was illegal and had withheld the Airport Authority’s grant funding on that basis.

In February 2005, firm client, the City of Burbank, agreed to a 10-year cease-fire in its sporadic 36-year old battle with the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. The peace treaty defers for at least 10 years the planning for a new terminal but allows the Airport Authority to purchase a nearby parking lot, to realign the Airport access road and to build routine projects for the next seven years. The agreement was the result of nearly a year of negotiations. Both sides concluded that nighttime noise relief and routine airport projects would be better accomplished if the City and the Authority cooperated rather than fought in the courts. The Authority committed to cooperate with the City in working toward nighttime noise relief. A summary of the complex and comprehensive deal is available to download.

On September 15, 2004, our client, Westchester County, New York, which has had a terminal capacity limit at the airport for 20 years, renewed the limitation after extensive negotiations with the carriers and the FAA. The County was able to renew the restrictions without complying with Part 161 after the FAA agreed that the restrictions are grandfathered and that recodification of the restrictions would not be more restrictive than those previously in effect.  Copies of the press release and the adoption of the new local law are available.