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-   -   SAN DIEGO | Boom Rundown, Vol. 2 (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=126473)

Derek Apr 4, 2007 12:01 AM

Mission Valley is definitly burning right now...turn to NBC channel 7

Urban Sky Apr 4, 2007 12:41 AM

^^ huh i dont see anything

Derek Apr 4, 2007 2:44 AM

oh...it was breaking news...sorry...but um...i guess a downed power line started a fire by the trolley tracks in Mission Valley...nothing major...

Urban Sky Apr 4, 2007 3:22 AM

anyone hear about the project by montgomery field that was halted by the crypt-keeper Donna Frye? something about it being too tall to be next to an airport. its only 20ft from being topped out at 12 floors. what a bunch of BS. dont you think the FAA would have done something about this BEFORE they started construction if something needed to be done?

Derek Apr 4, 2007 3:24 AM

^i thought it was going ahead anyways...everytime i look at it, something new has been put on the building:shrug:

Urban Sky Apr 4, 2007 3:26 AM

Office tower already too tall, agency says
By David Hasemyer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER


April 1, 2007

SAN DIEGO – Sunroad Enterprises has asked the FAA five times for permission to use a crane and a helicopter to place heavy equipment on top of the office tower the company is building near Montgomery Field.


HOWARD LIPIN / Union-Tribune
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniont...met-faa280.jpg
A plane took off from Montgomery Field, a short distance from a 12-story building under construction. The FAA says the building is a hazard to planes landing in bad weather.
Each time, the FAA said no.


“We're not going to allow additional increases in the height of a building that we already determined is a hazard to air navigation, even if those increases would be temporary,” Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

The FAA's denials have slowed but not stopped progress on the building, which the FAA says is a hazard to planes landing at Montgomery Field in bad weather. Sunroad has found other ways to install some of the equipment, which it says is essential to finishing the 12-story building.

The huge air-conditioning and heating units, as well as the elevator components, are being dismantled and hauled to the roof on a small construction elevator. The units are then reassembled.

“Disassembling those components is an expensive and time-consuming chore, but that appears to be the only option available to us,” said Tom Story, Sunroad's vice president of development.

Story said the company will hold the city liable for the expense, which he estimates will run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

The Sunroad project has triggered increasingly heated exchanges between City Attorney Michael Aguirre and city officials over Aguirre's attempts to force the developer to comply with FAA safety standards.

The latest outburst came last week after Superior Court Judge George “Woody” Clarke unsealed a search warrant connected to the project. Aguirre was using the warrant to seek evidence that Sunroad got special treatment from city officials, because Story was once deputy director of the planning department and chief of staff to former Mayor Dick Murphy.

Police Chief William Lansdowne refused to serve the warrant, but Sunroad has been voluntarily giving Aguirre some of the documents he was seeking. Aguirre then accused Lansdowne of deliberately hampering the investigation, and the chief said Aguirre was engaging in character assassination.

In August, the FAA declared the company's 180-foot-tall building a hazard because it exceeds the agency's 160-foot height limit. Planes that fly into the airport when the weather brings low clouds or high winds must circle within 400 feet of the building. Those approaches account for about 15 percent of the landings each year.

Aguirre has filed a lawsuit to force Sunroad to take down the top two floors, claiming the building is a public nuisance. Sunroad has countersued for $40 million, saying it abided by construction permits issued by the city's Department of Development Services.

Those permits were issued before the FAA was made aware of the building and declared it a hazard. City building officials have said they had no indication before the FAA's declaration that a tall building near the airport would be dangerous.

In October, the city ordered Sunroad to stop work on the top 20 feet of the building until the FAA's safety concerns could be addressed. The order was modified in December to allow Sunroad to weatherproof the project by adding a roof and building a room for the elevator equipment.

That work has been done, and Sunroad is now erecting the side walls on those top floors.

Marcela Escobar-Eck, the director of development services, has approved that work, even though the modified stop-work order didn't mention exterior walls. But when Aguirre learned that walls were being added, he ordered Sunroad to stop all work on the top.

Sunroad has ignored that order, contending that the city attorney has no authority in the matter.

The FAA has no jurisdiction over land-use decisions outside the airport proper, but the agency can control what Sunroad does in the sky above the building.

Sunroad first asked to erect a crane on top of the building Jan. 30. Two more rejections for cranes came within weeks of the applications.

A fourth request for a crane was filed Monday and was denied Thursday.

On Feb. 8, the FAA cited the city's stop-work order when it denied Sunroad's request to use a helicopter to lift the equipment to the top of the building.

“We respect local government decisions, and the applicant was unable to show that the work they proposed to do would not have violated the stop-work order,” Gregor said.

Story maintains that by continuing the work, the company is not disregarding the safety of pilots or of the people who may occupy the building.

“We are proceeding on the basis that there is no safety issue here,” he said.

The hazard designation no longer matters, Story said, because the FAA has warned pilots about the building and told them to fly around it.

Derek Apr 4, 2007 3:31 AM

i think the FAA is a little too strict on such rules...i have never ever seen a plane fly anywhere near that site in the past...

Urban Sky Apr 4, 2007 3:34 AM

not to mention that they ALREADY APPROVED IT! Now they are asking them to Deconstruct the top two floors....what the hell is that?!!!?

Derek Apr 4, 2007 3:38 AM

^it seems some members on the city council are way too attached to this thing, too...


(in a negative way)

Urban Sky Apr 4, 2007 3:43 AM

its a pride thing. they want to be right. thats why aguirre ran down there with his little clipboard when he heard they were still working. and Donna Frye was out there today in front of the place with a microphone yapping about i dont know what. i saw it on the news. im so happy she didnt wain the mayoral election. EEK

eburress Apr 4, 2007 3:44 AM

I just hate Donna Frye...and I hate her ass face!*

We'd all better pray that that bitch doesn't become mayor. Look at Dallas with their resident psychotic ho-bag mayor Laura Miller.

I also hate the FAA. It sounds like in the name of safety, they are making for some pretty unsafe conditions. Leave the freaking building alone.



*bonus points for the person who IDs this movie line.

Derek Apr 4, 2007 3:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eburress (Post 2741611)
I just hate Donna Frye...and I hate her ass face!*

We'd all better pray that that bitch doesn't become mayor. Look at Dallas with their resident psychotic ho-bag mayor Laura Miller.

I also hate the FAA. It sounds like in the name of safety, they are making for some pretty unsafe conditions. Leave the freaking building alone.



*bonus points for the person who IDs this movie line.

i couldnt have said it better! ass face really set the tone:tup:

movie : Waiting for Guffman?

eburress Apr 4, 2007 3:48 AM

BINGO! Fine work! :)

Derek Apr 4, 2007 3:50 AM

:jester: havent seen that movie in a looooong time

Urban Sky Apr 4, 2007 3:52 AM

Donna Frye
http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2...s/15468307.jpg
Alternate Image

SD_Phil Apr 4, 2007 3:54 AM

I voted for that bitch and would do so again. So much hate? Where did that come from? It's a minor problem and we can all agree it's being handled badly (mostly by the FAA). I was really suprrised at some of these posts.

Derek Apr 4, 2007 3:55 AM

Urban Sky, wow

SD Phil, people express thier opinions, and i respect yours as well, i just dont think Donna Frye would make a good mayor, but thats just me...dont worry:)

Urban Sky Apr 4, 2007 3:56 AM

did you read they article? the city is being kind of ridiculous

eburress Apr 4, 2007 3:56 AM

Back to the FAA, does anybody know what actual power they have to influence things? I.E., do they have any real authority over that building in Kearny Mesa or what happens in downtown?

For example, if Pei/Cobb were to propose a 700 ft tall "signature" tower downtown that the CCDC approved, could the developers proceed with the building's construction without an FAA approval? Could the FAA stop them? Would the government send in the National Guard to force the developers to stop construction?

Derek Apr 4, 2007 3:57 AM

speaking of Gap and hippies...Donna Frye was totally a hippy!


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