‘Incompatible’ land use continues in Colorado town
Development in Longmont proceeding without proper notice
Ground was broken on a 200-apartment complex less than half a mile from the end of Runway 29 at Vance Brand Airport in Longmont, Colorado, despite the developer never filing appropriate paperwork with the FAA.
The FAA requires that Form 7460-1, Notice of Proposed Construction or Alteration, be filed for any development inside the 20,000‑foot notification area for airports with runways longer than 3,200 feet (Longmont’s runway is nearly 4,800 feet). AOPA’s conversations with the FAA Obstruction Evaluation Group indicate that no such filings had been submitted for the Mountain Brook Flats development, and, therefore, no FAA aeronautical study had taken place. Constructing near an airport without an aeronautical study poses a significant risk to pilot and aviation safety.
In the case of the Mountain Brook Flats development, the organizations wrote a letter to the city of Longmont imploring the city to comply with its grant obligations and requiring that the developers file the required FAR Part 77 documentation in accordance with federal statutes. In the same letter, the groups called for avigation easements—granting aircraft the right to fly over private property, allowing for noise, vibration, and similar, while restricting the landowner from building tall structures or creating obstructions that interfere with flight paths near airports—from the developer and requiring disclosure to potential residents of the impacts of living so close to an airport. Currently, the installation of public improvements is underway on the development, although no building permit has been issued for vertical construction.
FAA Grant Assurance 21 requires sponsors to “the extent reasonable” to utilize “zoning laws, to restrict the use of land adjacent to or in the immediate vicinity of the airport to activities and purposes compatible with normal airport operations, including landing and takeoff of aircraft.” The development also falls well within the city’s own Airport Influence Zone, which exists to manage land use to prevent incompatible development and ensure long-term coexistence through zoning and disclosure requirements.
“Unfortunately, Longmont is not an isolated case regarding incompatible land use near airports,” said AOPA Northwest Mountain Regional Manager Brad Schuster. “No one wins when incompatible developments are built close to airports; we need look no further than a few miles south of Longmont—the Rock Creek development in Superior—over 2,800 residential units built immediately adjacent to Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield leading to several inevitable lawsuits from disgruntled homeowners. The development was encouraged by the town of Superior despite many warnings from both Jefferson County and airport officials against approving the development. Despite this very proximate example, Longmont officials appear to be heading down a similar path, to the detriment of the airport, the city, prospective future residents, and aviators who frequently use Vance Brand Airport.”
Housing development within a mile and on the extended centerline of a runway has significant safety implications. As shown in an exhibit that AOPA and CPA referenced in their letter from the California Airport Land Use Planning Handbook, the majority of aircraft arrival accidents happen right along the extended runway centerline—precisely where Mountain Brook Flats is being developed. Such a development would likely threaten people on the ground as well as potentially decrease survivability of the people on board, and increase pressure on the airport from nearby community members frustrated by the predictable first- and second-order effects of living close to an airport.
