Colorado noise disputes escalate
Continued complaints about aircraft operations at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport have led the town of Superior, Colorado, to retain legal counsel ahead of potential litigation.
Colorado residents living near Rocky Mountain airport have expressed opposition to operations in and out of the airport; most are frustrated with the frequency and volume of noise associated with takeoff and landing operations. Ironically, many of the same residents signed aviation easement agreements when purchasing property near the airport—written disclosure statements that confirmed aircraft cause noise, vibrations, and related effects during normal operations.
Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport has existed since the 1960s, and the town of Superior has known about the risks of developing housing near the airport for decades. In the 1980s and 1990s, as the town was being developed, the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners and Jefferson County airport staff raised concerns about incompatible land use and the resulting noise complaints that would follow should development continue. In a 1986 memo to the town of Superior, the Jefferson County Airport Authority warned against building residential units in close proximity to the airport. A 1995 letter from Rocky Mountain Municipal Airport, formerly known as Jeffco Airport, expressed concerns to the town of Superior, stating, “The proposed residential development is located very close to the Airport Critical Zone and within the Airport’s ‘Area of Influence.’” The memo goes on to caution, “As such, this area can expect to experience noise from the overflight of aircraft during all hours of the day and night.”
The warnings continued, with another memo in 1996 from the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners to the town of Superior again strongly advising against incompatible land use near the airport, describing the noise that residents and schools will face as “intolerable.”
Ultimately, the aforementioned warnings were not heeded, and now local residents including those who signed aviation easement agreements are experiencing the consequences the airport authority predicted decades ago.
Jefferson County and the airport administrators have made efforts to address community concerns in a variety of ways, including the formation of the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport Community Noise Roundtable—a voluntary association that brings together community members, airport users, and federal and state agencies to collaborate on a coordinated response to the noise impacts on the community.
Despite the efforts of the roundtable, some residents are pursuing legal avenues that led the town of Superior to retain counsel on December 7.
“Both the continuing and emerging legal challenges to the right of the airport to exist and the pilots and businesses that call it home could have been entirely avoided had the town chosen to heed the many concerns expressed over the years about risks of placing residential units in close proximity to RMMA,” said Brad Schuster, AOPA’s Northwest Mountain regional manager. “It is the local communities who suffer when political subdivisions make zoning and development decisions that ignore warnings and extensive guidance regarding compatible land use near airports and instead, prioritize anticipated property tax revenue from residential developments over the quiet enjoyment rights of their future community members.”
AOPA is engaging with state and regional parties to ensure readiness to address airport-related lawsuits, as any potential outcomes will likely establish legal precedent and could have positive or detrimental nationwide impacts to general aviation airports and their operations. As issues emerge, AOPA will remain focused and committed to ensuring all parties keep federal preemptions in mind when addressing concerns related to aircraft noise, emissions, and flight paths; and firmly supporting FAA policy that requires airport sponsors to protect airports from incompatible land use development.
