Aviation Group Sues Town

The Friends of the East Hampton Airport coalition, an aviation advocacy organization that has become active as East Hampton Town officials are working to enact new airport use restrictions to reduce aircraft noise by next summer, has filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration alleging that the town has failed to maintain safety and security at the airport, and a federal lawsuit challenging the recent expiration of agreements with the F.A.A. about how the airport is run.

The expiration of those agreements, called grant assurances, allows the town more leeway for imposing local airport rules, though the F.A.A. maintains general authority over the airport.

According to a press release from the aviation coalition, which includes a national aviation trade organization, the “town has failed to close critical safety and security holes at the airport.”

Among the issues cited are runway and airport ramp maintenance, replacement of an aging lighting system along a taxiway, removal of “hazardous obstructions,” including trees, and the construction of a fence around the airport to protect against trespassers and deer. The complaint asks the F.A.A. to direct the town to resolve the issues.

Airport maintenance projects, including those cited in the complaint, have been ongoing even as consultants for the town board have been collecting and analyzing data to underpin decisions about how to address airport noise, overseen by Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, the board’s airport liaison. According to the board, while noise reduction is a goal, so also is keeping the airport open and in good repair.

As of this week, repairs to former runway 4-22, now a taxiway, have been completed, as has the installation of new taxiway lighting. The town issued bonds of $360,000 and $353,600, respectively, for those projects.

Engineers have been hired to develop plans for removal of trees in the airport clear zone, for deer and security fencing, and for the installation of an automated weather observing system, for which $263,000 has been bonded; the system is due to be installed before summer.

The aviation group plaintiffs, who include the Helicopter Association International, Heliflite Shares, Liberty Helicopters, Shoreline Aviation, and the Analar Corp, are seeking a court judgment that the F.A.A. lacks the authority to waive grant assurance commitments, which are normally in effect for 20 years from the date federal airport money is accepted. They have asked the court to reinstate one of the grant assurance agreements until September 2021.

Those in question expired early, as of Jan. 1, pursuant to a 2005 settlement agreement in a lawsuit by the Committee to Stop Airport Expansion, an East Hampton citizens group, against the F.A.A. over its acceptance of an airport layout plan — a planning document required before federal grants will be issued — submitted by the town for its airport.

The layout plan was invalidated (a new one has since been developed and submitted), and the F.A.A. agreed to a Dec. 31, 2014, expiration of grant assurances that required the town to make the airport available for public use “without unjust discrimination to all types, kinds, and classes of aeronautical activities,” among others.

The lawsuit recently filed also questions the F.A.A.’s stance that the town is not required to comply with federal airport regulations under the Airport Noise and Capacity Act unless it wishes to remain eligible for further federal airport grants.

In the face of widespread complaints about noise from helicopters and other aircraft using the airport, and pleas from residents of East Hampton and neighboring towns to do something to control the noise, the town board has held off on accepting new F.A.A. grants, and putting new 20-year grant assurances in place, in order to determine what restrictions could legally be adopted.

The aviation group claims in its press release there is a “town strategy to de-fund [the] airport,” by refusing further federal grants. In the aviation organization’s view, the “arbitrary and discriminatory aircraft restrictions” that are being considered would “drastically reduce airport traffic during peak months, slashing the airport’s revenue and further depriving the airport of desperately needed safety and security improvements.”

“Waiving the F.A.A. grants and imposing restrictions not only would place the flying community at risk, but it would hurt homeowners, who would inevitably see their taxes increase as the town struggles to support an underfunded and unsafe airport,” according to the coalition.

Ms. Burke-Gonzalez declined to comment this week on the coalition’s action. The town board was to hear a presentation yesterday on the third phase of the airport noise study and to consult with its aviation attorneys.