Quote:
Originally Posted by eburress
You may be right but one thing to remember is the council did approve that too-tall Sunroad tower in Kearny Mesa which the FAA considered a hazard. A council approval doesn't mean much when the FAA is involved.
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I actually have a bit of personal knowledge about this incident...
To understand this whole mess, know the only thing related to off airport construction the FAA is legally entitled to do is demand a new projects give them notice before construction begins so the FAA can determine if the effect air navigation or not. If this new construction penetrates a TSS or TERPS surface the FAA can issue a Determination of Hazard to Air Navigation and then... nothing. There is no enforcement mechanism at the federal level to prevent you from building a skyscraper three feet from the end of the runway.
Now in the event that some dastardly municipality decides to permit a hazardous structure the FAA has two options. First, the FAA gives out billions each year to improve airports nationwide. If a local government decides to take them, which they love to do since it's free money, the FAA require they pass laws stating that they won't permit buildings the FAA determines as hazards. The FAA could, in theory, sue for that money back if a city decides to ignore these agreement. In reality, that concept is on slightly shaky legal ground and so the FAA has never actually used that nuclear option.
The second choice, and the one the FAA always ends up using, is to require the airport to adjust its flight procedures until the FAA determines the hazard is mitigated. Usually this means requiring better visibility in bad weather conditions, so that it can be guaranteed that pilots will be able to see and avoid the obstacle. This is bad for the pilots, since now they can't perform certain maneuvers in rain or fog and the like.
What Sunroad did was bribe a city employee to issue a building permit after the FAA issued a Determination of Hazard to Air Navigation, in violation of the laws San Diego passed after agreeing to take federal money for their airports. They did this because they knew the FAA wasn't going to go full armageddon for a 20 foot height violation, and they assumed no one would notice or care if the FAA changed Montgomery Field's flight procedures. They almost got away with it too, no one noticed anything until the tower was already under construction and the FAA posted notice that they were adjusting the weather minimums in a few months.
Well unknown to Sunroad San Diego has one of the largest and most active communities of small aircraft pilots in the nation, who were absolutely furious at being taken advantage of. They threatened to sue the city for their loss of use and enjoyment of the airport, and they city's legal council advised that it would be
extremely liable considering the building was illegally issued a permit. The mayor issued a stop work order, Sunroad tried to claim everything was fine because the city had issued it a permit, but eventually Sunroad was forced to tear down the roof of their building. They tried suing claiming the city had mislead them and that the city didn't need to force them to comply with FAA rules, but when all that happened became clear that didn't fly very well in the courtroom.
So as you can see even in that situation all the enforcement ultimately went through city hall, with the FAA's only role being to put up with Sunroad's begging pleas to reconsider their ruling after the city ordered them lop off the top two stories of their brand new building. In any case the FAA will almost certainly issue a Determination of Non-Hazard to Air Navigation to the Seaport Village Tower since there are already similar sized buildings closer to the aiport. They already utilized that second option decades ago, so there's no need to change anything on this project's account.