Florida City Ordinance Would End Flight Instruction At Valkaria | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-04.01.24

Airborne-Unlimited-04.16.24

Airborne-FlightTraining-04.17.24 Airborne-Unlimited-04.11.24

Airborne-Unlimited-04.12.24

Join Us At 0900ET, Friday, 4/10, for the LIVE Morning Brief.
Watch It LIVE at
www.airborne-live.net

Fri, May 29, 2009

Florida City Ordinance Would End Flight Instruction At Valkaria

Grant-Valkaria Town Council May Vote June 11

For the second time this year, the Grant-Valkaria Town Council is attempting to restrict aviation activities at Grant-Valkaria airport, including the end of all flight instruction. The move comes despite the fact that they apparently have no jurisdiction to make such a move.

The ordinance (2009-03) to be considered Monday states in the bill summary: " ... PROVIDING FOR LIMITATIONS ON ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED AT AIRPORTS LOCATED IN THE GML (Government Managed Land) ZONING DISTRICT; PROHIBITING FLIGHT TRAINING/INSTRUCTION SCHOOLS ..." The text of the bill prohibits specific flight instruction activities. For instance the bill states no flight training/instruction or flight training/instruction schools shall be allowed to be operated from or in the GML zoning district, and aircraft based at any airport located in the GML zoning district shall be used for flight training. The bill defines flight training/instruction to mean the giving or receiving of instruction in learning to pilot an aircraft or for recurrent training, and flight training/instruction school shall mean any person firm, corporation or other entity that provides flight training/instruction.

Without getting too far down in the procedural weeds, and we've probably already gone there, the Airport Master Plan approved in 2006 describes the field like this. "Valkaria Airport (FAA airport identifier X59) is a non-towered, un-lighted, public-use, basic utility general aviation airport principally serving Brevard County, Florida. It is an undeveloped war surplus airfield primarily used for recreational flying, and for landing practice by nearby pilot training schools. The airport is located in a natural and environmentally sensitive setting, and is largely surrounded by low density rural residential areas; to include the communities of Grant-Valkaria, Malabar, and Palm Bay. The airport is solely-owned and operated by Brevard County under terms of a 1958 quit claim deed from the US Government and is zoned Government Managed Lands (GML)."

The county, it would seem, is the owner and operator of the airport. Not the town.

Earlier this year, the town council attempted to pass a law with restrictions on the field. A February report in the TCPalm online edition said the town wanted to prohibit touch-and-goes and stop-and-goes, as well as airport lighting. That ordinance would have also granted the town the right to simply "temporarily close the airport and restrict or prohibit flight activities."

At the time, the FAA said the Grant-Valkaria town council had no right to enforce such an ordinance. "Although the town of Grant-Valkaria is within their right to pass local ordinances, they are not within their right to enforce the ordinances at the airport," FAA program manager Pedro Blanco wrote in a memo to airport manager Steve Borowski.

"The town of Grant-Valkaria has no authority to regulate air traffic."

FMI: www.grantvalkaria.org

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.15.24)

Aero Linx: International Flying Farmers IFF is a not-for-profit organization started in 1944 by farmers who were also private pilots. We have members all across the United States a>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: 'No Other Options' -- The Israeli Air Force's Danny Shapira

From 2017 (YouTube Version): Remembrances Of An Israeli Air Force Test Pilot Early in 2016, ANN contributor Maxine Scheer traveled to Israel, where she had the opportunity to sit d>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (04.15.24)

"We renegotiated what our debt restructuring is on a lot of our debts, mostly with the family. Those debts are going to be converted into equity..." Source: Excerpts from a short v>[...]

Airborne 04.16.24: RV Update, Affordable Flying Expo, Diamond Lil

Also: B-29 Superfortress Reunion, FAA Wants Controllers, Spirit Airlines Pulls Back, Gogo Galileo Van's Aircraft posted a short video recapping the goings-on around their reorganiz>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (04.16.24): Chart Supplement US

Chart Supplement US A flight information publication designed for use with appropriate IFR or VFR charts which contains data on all airports, seaplane bases, and heliports open to >[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC