AOPA supporting Solberg Airport amid legal battle

The Solberg Aviation Co., the historic family-run owner and operator of the airport, sued the township, claiming that the ordinance is a continued attempt by the township to control and restrict the safety and future of the privately owned, public-use airport.

The outcome of this case has drastic implications for airports throughout New Jersey. Twenty-three of New Jersey’s 40 public-use airports are privately owned. Therefore, if Readington Township succeeds in using the state’s zoning regulations to inversely condemn privately owned airports, a precedent would be set that threatens the majority of public-use airports across the state.

“New Jersey’s air safety zoning regulations are intended to protect the airport by establishing zoning at the start of the airport’s boundary, moving outward and away from the airport. This zoning then serves to guide town planners with future compatible land uses. But this is not what Readington Township did with its ordinance,” said AOPA Eastern Regional Manager Sean Collins. “Instead, the town has intentionally zoned inward from the airport’s boundary, establishing an arbitrary 3,000-foot setback that would reduce the usable portion of the existing runway, while preventing the planned construction of a full-length parallel taxiway, among other operational restrictions.”

This marks the latest lawsuit in a decades-long slew of attempts by the township to restrict or outright take over the airport. In the 1990s, a master plan for the modernization and improvement of the land, including a runway extension, received conditional approval from both the New Jersey Department of Transportation and the FAA. The Readington Township Committee resisted the new master plan and has since attempted a variety of means to restrict and control the airport.

In 2002, the owners tried to compromise, attempting a sale of the airport to the state that would allow the family to continue to run the airport. The deal fell through, and the township elected to file a condemnation suit in 2006 to take control of the airport through eminent domain. The suit was dismissed in 2009 but later reactivated. The township attempted more eminent domain proceedings in a 2014 trial that was also unsuccessful.

AOPA has been actively engaged in the airport’s protection, including during the 2014 eminent domain proceedings, and continues to advocate and support the airport community through its current lawsuit with the township.

“New Jersey pilots can help by sending letters in support of the ‘Solberg Airport Master Plan Preferred Alternative’ and in opposition to Readington Township Ordinance #19-2025 to the Commissioner of Transportation, Francis K. O’Connor,” said Collins. “Comments to Commissioner O’Connor can be sent by emailing the NJDOT Director of Government and Community Relations Jesus Alcazar.”

The Solberg Aviation Co. compiled talking points and additional contact information in this document.