Carroll Airport Comm'n v. Danner
| Decision Date | 10 May 2019 |
| Docket Number | No. 17-1458,17-1458 |
| Parties | The CARROLL AIRPORT COMMISSION, Appellee, v. Loren W. DANNER and Pan Danner, Appellants. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Steven D. Hamilton of Hamilton Law Firm, P.C., Storm Lake, for appellants.
Gina C. Badding of Neu, Minnich, Comito, Halbur, Neu & Badding, P.C., Carroll, for appellee.
In this appeal, we must determine the legal effect of a "no hazard" letter issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to a farmer who built a twelve-story grain leg (bucket elevator) near an airport. The structure intrudes sixty feet into airspace restricted for aviation. Construction was well underway when a member of the local airport commission cried foul. The airport commission informed the farmer he needed a variance and refused to grant one, without waiting for input from federal officials. Shortly thereafter, the FAA investigated and granted a no-hazard determination, approving the structure on the condition the farmer paint it and place blinking red lights on top, which he did. The FAA also adjusted the flight path. This did not satisfy the local commissioners, who two years later filed this action in equity to force the farmer to remove or modify the structure. The farmer raised an affirmative defense that the federal no-hazard determination preempted the local regulations.
The district court, sitting in equity, rejected the preemption defense and issued an injunction requiring the farmer to remove or alter the grain leg at his expense and imposed a daily penalty after a nine-month grace period to abate the nuisance. The farmer appealed, and we transferred the case to the court of appeals, which affirmed the rejection of his preemption defense. We granted the farmer's application for further review.
On our de novo review, we determine that the Federal Aviation Act allows for local zoning regulation, and the no-hazard letter did not preempt the local airport zoning regulations as a matter of law. We affirm the district court's finding the structure constitutes a threat to aviation requiring abatement. But we conclude that the $ 200 daily penalty should be vacated, and the nine-month period to modify or remove the structure shall begin anew when procedendo issues. We affirm the district court judgment as modified.
Loren and Pan Danner, husband and wife, live on a farm they own in Carroll County, Iowa. Loren has been farming this land since 1968. Loren formerly raised livestock but has exclusively grown row crops on the land since 2000. The Danner farm sits under the flight path to the Arthur N. Neu Municipal Airport, a facility managed by the Carroll Airport Commission (the Commission). Local zoning ordinances mandate a protected zone around the airport that extends 10,000 feet horizontally from the end of Runways 13 and 31 into an arc 150 feet above the airport. The Danners' farm sits within this zone.
In 2009, after a particularly good harvest, Loren realized he needed to find a way to more efficiently dry and store harvested grain. He considered multiple options, but ultimately decided to construct a grain leg (also known as a bucket elevator) with attached storage bins. Loren and two farm neighbors built five grain-storage bins of varying sizes on the Danners' farmland. The five bins stand in a semicircle around the grain leg. The grain leg is a 127-foot-tall structure with separate metal tubes sloping down from its top to each storage bin.
The grain leg stands within 10,000 feet horizontally from the end of Runway 31. The top of the structure is 1413.43 feet above mean sea level. The protected airspace above the airport is 1354 feet above mean sea level. The structure reaches a height of 127 feet off the ground. The parties agree the grain leg intrudes within the airport's protected airspace by approximately sixty feet.
In January 2013, before beginning construction of the grain leg, Loren went to Carl Wilburn, the county zoning administrator, to obtain a building permit. Wilburn issued the building permit and granted the Danners an agricultural exemption from the county zoning ordinances. The agricultural exemption, however, did not exempt the Danners from the airport zoning ordinances. The building permit application states, "All farm buildings or structures are subject to the Airport Zoning Ordinances which regulate[ ] height and emissions in and around the airport air space as depicted on the attached diagram[.]" The diagram attached to the permit showed the airport's protected airspace. Despite this warning on the building permit application, neither the Danners nor Wilburn realized that the agricultural exemption did not exempt the grain leg from the airport zoning regulations. For that reason, the Commission was never notified of the Danners' application for a building permit, and the Danners failed to request a variance from the airport zoning ordinance. Construction of the grain leg began in April and was completed in August.
Meanwhile, in June, Commissioner Greg Siemann noticed the grain leg construction and became concerned. The next day, he contacted Wilburn and Greg Schreck, the city zoning commissioner. Wilburn informed Siemann that he had issued a building permit to the Danners with an agricultural exemption and acknowledged he was unaware of the local airport zoning restrictions.
The Commission notified the Danners that the grain leg required a variance from the airport zoning regulations and informed the Danners it would not consent to the violation of the regulations or grant a variance. The Commission asked the FAA to perform an aeronautical study of the grain leg and its impact on aviation safety.
The Commission did not seek judicial review of the no-hazard determination as permitted under federal law. See 14 C.F.R. §§ 77.37, .39, .41 (2013). The Danners complied with the FAA's instructions, adding lights and painting the grain leg. The FAA issued a "Notice to Airmen" (NOTAM) that raised the minimum descent levels for the airport by 100 feet, requiring pilots to approach the airport at a higher altitude.
Two years later, in July 2015, the Commission filed this action on the district court's equity docket alleging the grain leg violated certain building ordinances, city and county zoning ordinances, and airport commission regulations, and constituted a nuisance and hazard to air traffic. The Commission sought equitable relief—an injunction requiring the Danners to modify or remove the grain leg. The Danners filed an answer and jury demand. The Danners raised an affirmative defense of federal preemption. The district court struck the jury demand because the case was filed in equity. The case proceeded to a bench trial.
At trial, the following witnesses testified for the Commission: C. Peter Crawford, the engineer for the airport; John McLaughlin, a meteorologist, pilot, and flight instructor; Donald Mensen, fixed base operator of the airport; Kevin Wittrock, a commissioner and a pilot; and Siemann, an attorney, pilot, and commissioner. Loren Danner testified on his own behalf. No pilot or aviation expert testified for the Danners.
Crawford testified about the engineering survey of the grain leg in relation to Runway 31 of the airport. The survey showed that the grain leg was 7718 feet from the end of Runway 31 and within the airport's protected zone.
The other witnesses gave opinion testimony that the grain leg constituted a hazard to aviation. The pilots testified about their experiences flying over the grain leg when landing at the airport and expressed their concerns for student pilots or pilots distracted while landing. The Commission also presented testimony that the grain leg would jeopardize the airport's ability to secure federal grant money. The record indicates, however, that the airport received two federal grants, one for $ 284,466 and another for $ 263,200, after the Danners installed the grain leg.
Loren testified that it cost approximately $ 274,928 to construct the grain leg, $ 32,942 to install a concrete drive-over pad, and $ 8000 for an electrical contractor. Loren testified that if the height of the grain leg was reduced, he could no longer rely on gravity to move the grain from the distributor to the storage bins. Instead, he would need to install conveyors. Loren estimated that the cost to tear down the grain leg and rebuild it with conveyors to each of the storage bins in compliance with the zoning regulations would be approximately $ 450,000. These cost figures went unchallenged.
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