JUNE 2019
WHAT'S NEXT?
April and May saw a flurry of activity with the FAA holding three public workshop meetings in Phoenix during April and it's reception of public comments on its website through most of May. Now that these activities are complete, everyone wants to know what is going to happen next. Here is what the FAA has said:
".....the FAA will review and analyze comments received at the April workshops and during the comment period, as well as those previously received. Based on the comments and other factors such as operational safety and efficiency, the FAA may initiate new airspace changes and complete an environmental review in accordance with applicable federal laws and FAA orders. The FAA recognizes the importance and value of public input and will consider comments received. However, the FAA is not committing to make changes as a result of this input. The decision to implement potential airspace or route changes during Step Two will be at the FAA's sole discretion."
The one thing the above FAA statement did not include was a timeline for those potential activities. However, when the FAA lost the law suit that the City of Phoenix and the Historic Districts initiated, the U.S. Court of Appeals created two schedules of activities that the FAA was ordered to follow. At the bottom of this message is Table 2 from that order. It would appear that under Phase 2- Design Activities, that the second item, FAA public meetings and engagement..., has been completed with the holding of the April workshop meetings. In that case, the items in Phase 3 would include the activities to develop new flight paths with operational procedures. This phase would seemingly only be started if the FAA actually decides to create new or modify existing flight paths. If that turns out to be the case, then that process is stated to take 12-18 months. It would be anticipated that the FAA would announce it's plans to begin that process and SCANA along with the City and legislators will certainly be questioning the FAA to learn what it's plans are. It is hoped that the FAA will voluntarily move forward to address the overflight burdens that it arbitrarily imposed upon Scottsdale and it's residents several years ago.
If the FAA decides to ignore the City of Scottsdale, legislators, SCANA and the public input it has received, then at some point in the coming months we would expect the FAA to announce a "no change" posture. If this happens, we can expect the start of the next round of actions to oppose this FAA stance. This would include renewed efforts by SCANA and others to then create legislative or legal remedies to force the FAA to make changes in the same manner as the City of Phoenix did in winning it's lawsuit against the FAA for its identical capricious actions. The City of Scottsdale has not taken litigation off the table, and has publicly stated the possibility of taking such action. In the meantime, we are waiting to hear from the FAA on what it is, or is not, going to do.
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FOUNTAIN HILLS WEIGHS IN ON FLIGHT PATH ISSUES
The City of Fountain Hills has become involved in the FAA flight path issue that the City of Scottsdale has been working on for several years. Fountain Hills Mayor Dickey sent a letter to the FAA regarding Scottsdale's proposals and the City will hire a consultant to lobby the FAA. Fountain Hills has stated it supports and endorses the preferred recommendation that the City of Scottsdale has proposed to the FAA. This preferred recommendation would route most northeast flight paths along the Salt River out to the east before making turns to the north that would be past Fountain Hills and the Fort McDowell area. However, Fountain Hills opposes Scottsdale's secondary alternative, which is based on the FAA's Concept One suggestion, that would route traffic not as far east and place it over the mountains in between the two cities but nearby to Fountain Hills. The Fountain Hills City Manager has stated that “Really, our position with the FAA would be to maintain the status quo,”. Of course, that position is not acceptable to Scottsdale residents who are now burdened with 100% of these flight paths. So while the two Cities are in agreement on the ultimate solution, there appears to be disagreement on secondary solutions.
SCANA supports the Scottsdale preferred solution, routing the traffic away from Fountain Hills and Fort McDowell, but has proposed to the FAA that all three, not two, of the departure routes be moved to this new routing. In this fashion neither Scottsdale nor Fountain Hills residents would suffer any exposure to the impacts of the NextGen departure paths and would provide a win win solution for everyone. Perhaps the two cities can join forces to pressure the FAA to adopt a common sense solution.
CLICK HERE to see an article on Fountain Hills comments.
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LOS ANGELES TO SUE FAA OVER
NEXTGEN FLIGHT PATHS
The City of Los Angeles has filed suit against the FAA on behalf of it's residents and adjoining communities over the NextGen flight path routes the FAA implemented at Los Angeles International Airport. The suit alleges the FAA failed to perform the required environmental review or seek public comment. The FAA is also being sued by the State of Maryland over NextGen issues there.
CLICK HERE to see an article on the LA lawsuit.
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PLEASE CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE EFFORTS TO RESTORE THE QUIET AND SAFE SKIES SCOTTSDALE ENJOYED BEFORE THEY WERE STOLEN BY THE FAA
WE DID NOT MOVE TO THE FAA, THE FAA MOVED TO US!
Thousands of homeowners in Scottsdale and across the Country purchased their homes before an airplane superhighway was "arbitrarily and capriciously" placed over their neighborhoods without their knowledge or input.
