Jan. 26—The Federal Aviation Administration has dismissed a complaint against Longmont that alleged the city imposed unfair fees and restricted the landing area for the Mile-Hi Skydiving Center, a company based at Longmont's Vance Brand Municipal Airport, city officials announced Monday afternoon.
"This decision affirms that the city acted reasonably in designating the current drop zone and devising the fee structure currently in place," Longmont officials stated in a news release.
Mile-Hi owner Frank Casares could not be reached for comment late Monday afternoon.
Mile-Hi Skydiving had complained to the FAA in March 2019 that Longmont had violated conditions of federal grants to the airport.
Longmont officials said Monday that Mile-Hi's allegations involved two primary issues:
— That Longmont violated Federal Grant Assurance 22, "Economic Discrimination," through its establishment in 2017 of a parachute drop zone (PDZ) location and fee structure that was smaller and more expensive for Mile-Hi to use than the area that Mile-Hi utilized in previous years, and that Longmont's requirement that Mile-Hi report off-site landings similarly violated Grant Assurance 22; and
— That Longmont violated Grant Assurance 23, "Exclusive Rights," by unreasonably restricting skydiving through an arbitrary and unreasonable fee, arbitrary restriction of available landing area and by monitoring Mile-Hi's usage of airport property to determine compliance.
Longmont officials said Monday that in its Jan. 22 notice to Mile-Hi and the city, the FAA found no violation by Longmont of either of those two grant assurances.
"The City's goal has always been to implement effective rules for the safety of all airport users," Longmont City Manager Harold Dominguez said in a statement. "It's gratifying that the FAA has agreed with our management approach."
Longmont reported that on the first issue, Kevin C. Willis, director of the FAA's Office of Airport Compliance, "agrees with Longmont that it is the airport's responsibility to consider what is a reasonable fee that the jumpers and/or their organizations can pay for using airport property... the record shows there was a series of valid reasons for Longmont to adjust the PDZ permit rate."
On the second issue, Mile-Hi Skydiving argued that the drop zone was too small, but city officials reported the FAA decision found "Mile-Hi has failed to present relevant facts and an argument necessary to persuade the director that 338,000 square feet is too small for a PDZ, how such a PDZ would be unsafe, or how setting the size of the PDZ at 338,000 square feet would in any way limit the access to a user or potential user" of the airport.
City officials said the decision also found Longmont's regulation requiring reporting of off-site landings is reasonable and not unjustly discriminatory in its design or application to Mile-Hi. In addition to dismissing the complaint in its entirety, the decision notes that the PDZ location and size present no inherent unsafe conditions at the airport, as Mile-Hi had alleged.
"The city is committed to having a safe and economically robust airport that is a good neighbor to all Longmont residents, and we invite all airport users to join in this commitment," Dominguez said.
The FAA determination follows a May 2019 dismissal of similar claims raised by Mile-Hi in Boulder District Court, with Judge Boulder District Judge Thomas Mulvahill agreeing with the city that the court lacked jurisdiction in the case, because Mile-Hi had alleged conditions of grants to the airport from the FAA had been violated, making it a federal matter.
City officials stated in the release that Mile-Hi has 30 days to file an administrative appeal under FAA rules.
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