OCTOBER 2020
CITY OF SCOTTSDALE AND FAA ONCE AGAIN EXTEND DATES FOR PETITION RESPONSES;
THEY CONTINUE MEDIATION TALKS
As stated in the SCANA September email update, the petition the City of Scottsdale filed against the FAA in the U.S. Court of Appeals, still has not seen any court room action other than to see extensions granted as to when briefings will begin. The fourth extension, granted on September 1st, has now set the briefing schedule to begin on January 11, 2021. The new date will be about 10 months after Scottsdale filed it's legal petition against the FAA regarding the illegal eastbound flight paths the FAA implemented out of Sky Harbor Airport at the end of 2014. The FAA apparently wants more time to work on potential responses within the mediation process. It can be hoped that with the extra time that the FAA will present potential solutions and not use the time to just delay the process or to attempt to convince the City that it is just too complex of a problem for any changes to be considered. The question that has to be asked is whether the FAA is merely dragging out the process to avoid the court room.
The FAA has been down the "negotiation" road with others before and it has seldom offered meaningful solutions regarding like issues. Certainly the City, and SCANA, are hoping that with the petition filed, the FAA has enough incentive to move forward with something in good faith. That remains to be seen. SCANA is encouraging the City to not let the FAA muddy the water by dragging the City into a technical morass when the FAA will undoubtedly claim it will be too complex to make any changes to mitigate the flight paths. The FAA's technical issues with changing flight patterns are the FAA's issues, not the City's. The City hopefully will maintain a high level position of "just make the changes, don't make excuses". As an example, when the FAA lost the legal battle with Phoenix over the westbound flight paths, the FAA was instructed by the Court to vacate the new flight paths and work with Phoenix to arrive at new flight paths. It couldn't argue about how hard it would be and how safety would be compromised and all of it's common excuses. When forced to just go and get it done, it did. Nine flight paths moved within seven months, safely and efficiently. The FAA has vast amounts of resources to figure out all the technicalities and to make these types of complex changes. Of course, the City will need to agree with any flight path changes and other potential impacts that could be created with any modifications. SCANA hopes that the mediation talks will arrive at a point where those considerations are necessary.
The new deadline of January 11th is less than three months away. If that deadline is reached without any movement by the FAA, it would seem it would be time to force the issue into the Court. A year without any results would be very disappointing, but all avenues are being considered by the City and that is appropriate.
With the September 1st extension, here is the current schedule for Court activities if mediation fails:
Petitioner's Brief: January 11, 2021
Respondent's Brief: February 10, 2021
Petitioner's Reply Brief: March 3, 2021
Deferred Appendix: March 10, 2021
Final Briefs: March 24, 2021
Once the above briefing process is complete, the Court will schedule oral arguments. It is not known how or when those might be scheduled. If mediation were to result in acceptable outcomes, pending Court action could be canceled.
As new developments in the case become known, SCANA will send out updates and post them on the SCANA website at airplanenoise.org.
CLICK HERE to read the original City petition. 3/9/2020
CLICK HERE to read the City's Statement of Issues. 4/2/2020
CLICK HERE to read the Court's 1st extension document 4/21/2020
CLICK HERE to read the Courts 2nd extension document 5/8/2020
CLICK HERE to read the Courts 3rd extension document 7/14/2020
CLICK HERE to read the Courts 4th extension document 9/1/2020
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SCANA CONTACTS SCOTTSDALE'S MAYORAL CANDIDATES TO DETERMINE THEIR POSITION ON THE CITY'S LAWSUIT AGAINST THE FAA
On October 19th, SCANA emailed the Dave Ortega and Lisa Borowsky campaigns to ask, if elected, whether they would continue to support the City of Scottsdale's flight path law suit against the FAA. Mr. Ortega responded personally the same day and after looking at the issue responded, "Yes, I support all legal measures necessary to protect Scottsdale neighborhoods and our quality of life". As of the date of this update, SCANA had not heard back from the Borowsky campaign.
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FAA LAUNCHES NOISE AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT WEBPAGE
The FAA announced the completion of an initiative to provide regional noise and community involvement information for public access. Arizona is in the Western-Pacific Region and to access the FAA webpage please CLICK HERE.
The page contains a link to file a noise complaint, as does the SCANA website that is a simpler form, HERE. The FAA page also contains a link to a webpage with information that is just for Phoenix area residents. That webpage is not new has been available for several years. SCANA continues to encourage residents to submit complaints to the FAA.
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CHECK OUR WEBSITE OFTEN: AIRPLANENOISE.ORG
You can email us at scanaphx@gmail.com
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.
