Montgomery Field – Illegal Building Height in Question

Sunday, December 17, 2006
City Sues To Lower Tower Near Airport
The Associated Press

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego city attorney has filed a lawsuit in Superior Court demanding that a 180-foot-tall tower be lowered by 20 feet so airplanes landing at Kearny Mesa Airport in bad weather won’t run into it. The Federal Aviation Administration has declared that the 12-story office tower could be a hazard to planes in stormy conditions. Bad weather landings account for 10 percent of the landings each year.

The developer, Sunroad Enterprises, has repeatedly said the building is not a hazard and refused to reduce its height.

The company said the top two floors can’t be removed without demolishing the entire $45 million building.

Editor’s Note: See additional articles on this issue further down on the web page. The point which this article does not address is that the builder tried to circumvent the aviation approval process. Additionally, the FAA stated the building IS a hazard to navigation, not ‘might be’.