'NIMBY's From Hell' -- Citizens For Quiet Skies Says Judge Misapplied The Law In Its Finding For Mile-Hi Skydiving

A small and somewhat bizarre grassroots group which lost its court battle against a skydiving company in Colorado has filed an appeal of the ruling, saying the judge misapplied the law in the case.

Citizens for Quiet Skies had filed its initial suit against Mile-Hi Skydiving in 2015. District Judge Judith LaBuda ruled in that case that federal law took precedence over local aviation noise regulations. Judge LaBuda awarded Frank Casares, the owner of Mile-Hi Skydiving, more than $120,000 in damages and attorney's fees.

But Kimberly Gibbs, a resident of Gunbarrel, CO, says that the judge's ruling was "utterly ridiculous," and told the Left Hand Valley Courier that LaBuda had misapplied the law "on several areas."

Gibbs is holding to her so-far unsupported assertion that the City of Longmont, which owns the airport from which Mile-Hi Skydiving operates, has the authority to control the airport's operations "as long as it doesn't invade the province of U.S. airspace" which is controlled by the FAA. She says that the city is "coming on board" with her assertion that there is a serious noise problem, and they are working with their local Congressional representatives to negotiate some of the regulations with the FAA.

Despite aggressive and nasty rhetoric, Gibbs said that her group is "not a bunch of angry citizens" but rather a group that is "frustrated by the lack of attention to this really pretty simple problem to solve."

She called the award to the company "punitive and vindictive," adding that the stress of pursuing the lawsuit has caused her to go into considerable debt and nearly caused a divorce between she and her husband.

Gibbs says her only goal is to maintain the quality of life in her neighborhood. She said she is asking that the Twin Otters used by Mile-Hi Skydiving be taken out of service. "They are just too loud," she said.

On its website, the group says that it is "advocating for reasonable aircraft regulations to reduce noise where we live."

Gibbs represents a very small band of anti-aviation NIMBYs who believe that their opinions and concerns outweigh a number of far larger groups and interests.

More info, we fear, to follow.

FMI: FMI: http://www.milehiskydiving.com/, http://citizensforquietskies.org, https://www.facebook.com/#!/Citizens-Against-Citizens-for-Quiet-Skies-400414700081888/?fref=ts