1976, April, Pg. 499. Airport Zoning.

• Author: by J. Scott Hamilton

5 Colo.Law. 499

Colorado Lawyer

1976.

1976, April, Pg. 499.

Airport Zoning

499Vol. 5, No. 4, Pg. 499Airport Zoningby J. Scott HamiltonThe airport poses two major problems to municipal and regional planners seeking to minimize conflicts between the various diverse land uses demanded by residents of a metropolitan area.

The first problem is to minimize the hazard to aircraft utilizing the airport by maintaining adequate safe approach and departure route, clear of obstructions (such as radio towers or tall buildings).(fn1)

The second problem is to minimize the hazard to persons and property on the ground in the vicinity of the airport resulting from the deleterious effects of aircraft noise, as well as from potential crash danger.(fn2) This problem is especially troublesome to residents living near airports serving jet traffic, and most particularly in the evening and at night.(fn3)

In attempting to deal squarely with these problems, local and regional governmental entities have exercised the zoning power in

500several ways, with (as we shall see) varying degrees of success.To deal with the first problem of protecting and preserving clear approach courses to aircraft arriving and departing the airport, height zoning has been widely used.(fn4)

To minimize public exposure to the dual hazards of noise and crash, the use zoning technique is employed in a unique fashion; the traditional "highest and best use" rule, whereby housing is preferred over business, which is in turn preferred over industry, which is preferred over agriculture, and so forth, is inverted. The lower uses, being less "noise-sensitive,"(fn5) are typically given preference over the higher uses in airportvicinity zoning, particularly in areas which lie beneath regularly used approach and departure paths.(fn6)

CONGRESS AND THE EXECUTIVE

The implementation of such local level land use controls in the vicinity of public airports is actively encouraged by the federal government,(fn7) which brings pressure to bear upon local authorities through the "power of the purse" over the allocation and distribution of federal funds available for local use under the Airports and Airways Development Act of 1970.(fn8)

Airport zoning in the United States dates back at least to 1928,(fn9) and in 1944 the National Institute of Municipal Law Officers (NIMLO), in cooperation with the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA, predecessor to the present Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)) and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, recommended to the states a Model Zoning Enabling Act.(fn10) This Act was enacted by 26 states.(fn11)

Today, NIMLO, FAA, and representatives of the aviation industry are drafting amendments to the 1944 Act designed to deal more adequately with the airport noise problem which has increased so radically since the advent of commercial jet...