Posts Tagged ‘Santa Monica Airport’

A group of Santa Monica residents has taken the first step toward launching a ballot initiative that would give city residents a say in the future use of Santa Monica Municipal Airport property, and AOPA has pledged to support the effort.

On March 27, the group filed paperwork needed to begin the initiative process. The group is proposing an amendment to the city charter that would require voter approval before the city can redevelop airport land. Surveys have consistently shown that the majority of Santa Monica residents want to keep the airport open.

Santa Monica City Council Approves Plan To Take Over Portion Of Airport « CBS Los Angeles

Meeting Update Tuesday March 25, 2014 – Despite the headline, I believe the actual motion was “to study” a variety of these possible approaches.

The City Counsel, Marsha Moutrie, cautioned the maker of the motion, Kevin McKeown, to adjust the motion in this regard. (We can only surmise that were it not so adjusted, it might lead to a Part 16 action based on a “decision” by the City Council.)

There were 101 registered speakers of which, by the time the evening wore on, there was fall off with perhaps 80-85 actually speaking at two minutes apiece.

The Santa Monica City Council and Airport Commission are continuing their aggressive effort to force the closure of the Santa Monica Airport (SMO).

While none of this is new, their efforts have been vastly accelerated over the last few months as they look toward the expiration of the 1984 Settlement Agreement between the city and the FAA as their best opportunity to force this issue. Some think that when this agreement expires, the city can close the airport. That’s been a subject of recent litigation between the city and the FAA. So far, the city lost every court case, but they haven’t lost the war. Now the City is focused on a “starvation” strategy – strangle the airport to the point that it can no longer function as an airport.

As you may know, Santa Monica Airport (SMO) is under siege by a very small segment of the local population that has succeeded, over time, in getting sway over the City Council.

We need to change that. SMO is a frequent stop for many of you. It is a vital part of our National Airspace System. If SMO goes, so will other airports  ~ SMO is not a single airport; it is, effectively, a signal airport.

AOPA and the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) have joined forces to file an amicus, or friend of the court, brief in support of an FAA motion to dismiss a federal lawsuit over the future of Santa Monica Municipal Airport. While the city of Santa Monica and the FAA have presented the technical arguments over the terms of an agreement signed decades ago, AOPA and NBAA intend to present the court with the bigger picture of what is at stake if the city is allowed to breach its agreement leaving the future of the Santa Monica airport to the city’s whim.

In the battle to close Santa Monica Airport, the federal government on Friday requested that the city’s lawsuit to gain control of the historic facility be dismissed.

Santa Monica officials sued in October, challenging the constitutionality of a 1948 agreement that transferred ownership of the property and its 5,000-foot runway from the federal government back to the city after World War II on the condition it remain an airport.

FAA Tells Santa Monica It Must Operate Airport Through At Least 2023 – City Had Hoped To Repurpose 227 Acres Of Airport Property To Other Uses

The city of Santa Monica, CA has been told in no uncertain terms by the FAA that they cannot close the airport and open up its 227 acres for redevelopment until at least 2023, and likely not ever, according to a communication sent by the agency to city government.