Lockheed Air Terminal, Inc. v. City of Burbank
| Decision Date | 24 September 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 70-1075.,70-1075. |
| Citation | 318 F. Supp. 914 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Central District of California |
| Parties | LOCKHEED AIR TERMINAL, INC., a corporation, and Pacific Southwest Air Lines, a corporation, Plaintiffs, v. The CITY OF BURBANK, a municipal corporation, et al., Defendants. Air Transport Association of America, Intervening Plaintiff. |
Kirtland & Packard by Robert C. Packard, Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiffs.
O'Melveny & Myers by Warren Christopher, Los Angeles, Cal., for intervening plaintiff.
Samuel Gorlick, City Atty., and Richard L. Sieg, Jr., Asst. City Atty., Burbank, Cal., for all defendants except Samuel Gorlick.
Richard L. Sieg, Jr., Asst. City Atty., Burbank, Cal., for defendant Samuel Gorlick.
Nicholas C. Yost, Deputy Atty. Gen., State of California, and John S. Lane, Asst. U. S. Atty., for the Federal Aviation Administration, amicus curiae.
MEMORANDUM FOR USE IN PREPARATION OF PROPOSED FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND JUDGMENT.
The within action is for declaratory relief and injunction whereby the plaintiffs seek to invalidate an Ordinance of the City of Burbank which prohibits the take-off by jet aircraft from Hollywood-Burbank Airport (HBA) between the hours of 11:00 P.M. (2300) and 7:00 (0700), the next day.
The plaintiff Lockheed Air Terminal, Inc., is the owner and operator of HBA. Plaintiff Pacific Southwest Air Lines (PSA) is an intrastate carrier.
The intervening plaintiff, Air Transport Association of America (ATA), is an unincorporated trade association consisting of some 32 carriers commonly known as scheduled airlines. The members of the Association fly approximately 2400 planes, the great majority of which are jet aircraft.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has filed an Amicus Curiae brief in support of the position of the plaintiffs.
The City of Burbank and certain public officials are named defendants. The People of the State of California (California) filed an Amicus Curiae brief in support of the validity of the Burbank Ordinance (BuOr).
The provisions of Section 1331(a) and 1337 of Title 28, U.S.C., vest this Court with jurisdiction and venue.
The issues of law involved are:
(1) Has the Federal Government so preempted the fields of the use of air space and the regulation of air traffic as to invalidate and preclude enforcement of the BuOr?
(2) Is the Ordinance in conflict with Federal statutes or regulations and thereby rendered unenforceable by the Supremacy Clause?
(3) Would the enforcement of the Ordinance result in intolerable and unreasonable burden on interstate commerce?
(4) Does the Ordinance constitute an attempted regulation of the phase of the National commerce which, because of the need of National uniformity, demands that its regulation be prescribed by a single authority?
The admitted facts are set forth in the Pre-Trial Conference Order and are as follows:
1. Plaintiff Lockheed Air Terminal, Inc., (hereinafter "Lockheed"), is a corporation organized and existing under and pursuant to the laws of the State of Delaware and is doing business in the County of Los Angeles, State of California. Lockheed, at all times material herein, was and is the owner and operator of the Hollywood-Burbank Airport.
2. Plaintiff Pacific Southwest Airlines (hereinafter "PSA") is a corporation organized and existing under and pursuant to the laws of the State of California and is doing business in the County of Los Angeles, State of California.
3. Intervening plaintiff Air Transport Association of America (hereinafter "ATA") is an unincorporated trade association, the members of which include virtually all United States scheduled interstate air carriers. Among its 32 members are the following scheduled air carriers which use Hollywood-Burbank Airport: Air West, Inc.; United Air Lines, Inc.; Western Air Lines, Inc. Among its other members is Continental Air Lines, Inc., which obtained authority pursuant to Civil Aeronautics Board Order No. 70-5-52, issued May 12, 1970, "to engage in air transportation with respect to persons, property, and mail * * * between the terminal point Seattle-Tacoma, Wash., the intermediate points Portland, Oreg., and San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Calif. (to be served through the Metropolitan Oakland International Airport and the San Jose Municipal Airport), and the terminal point Los Angeles-Ontario-Long Beach-Hollywood-Burbank-Santa Ana-Orange County, Calif. (to be served through the Ontario International Airport, the Long Beach Municipal Airport, the Hollywood-Burbank Airport, and the Orange County Airport)."
4. The City of Burbank is a municipal corporation in the County of Los Angeles, State of California, having power to sue and be sued in its own name;
Dr. Jarvey Gilbert is the duly elected Mayor of the City of Burbank;
Robert R. McKenzie is the duly elected Vice Mayor of the City of Burbank;
George W. Haven, Robert A. Swanson and D. Verner Gibson are duly elected Councilmen for the City of Burbank;
Joseph N. Baker is the City Manager of the City of Burbank;
Samuel Gorlick is the City Attorney for the City of Burbank;
Rex R. Andrews is the Chief of Police of the City of Burbank.
5. The defendants, Gilbert, McKenzie, Haven, Swanson and Gibson, constitute the City Council for the City of Burbank and have the authority to enact and enforce ordinances for the regulation of specified matters within the City of Burbank. Defendant Gorlick and the attorneys within his office have the responsibility of prosecuting violations of ordinances and other misdemeanors within the City of Burbank. The defendant, Rex R. Andrews, as Chief of Police, is responsible for and oversees the enforcement of municipal ordinances including the ordinance here in question.
6. Hollywood-Burbank Airport was dedicated May 30, 1930 and has been in continuous use since that time by both private and commercial aircraft. The Airport provides services to regularly scheduled commercial aircraft as well as to privately owned corporate and general aviation aircraft. Hollywood-Burbank Airport occupies approximately 535 acres, approximately 128 of which are owned by the United States Government. The Airport lies mainly in the City of Burbank and partially in the City of Los Angeles.
7. The City of Burbank has a population of approximately 95,000.
8. On March 31, 1970 the City Council of the City of Burbank duly and regularly adopted Ordinance No. 2216, which added Section 20-32.1 to the Burbank Municipal Code providing as follows:
and said ordinance became effective on May 4, 1970. The stated purpose of the ordinance is "to prohibit pure jet takeoffs at the Hollywood-Burbank Airport between 11:00 P.M. and 7:00 A.M."
9. The defendant officials of the City of Burbank have publicly announced their intention to enforce the curfew ordinance.
10. As a result of the process of industrialization and urbanization, almost one out of every twenty people in the United States lives in the Los Angeles five-county area.
11. Hollywood-Burbank Airport is the most convenient airport for the entire San Fernando Valley, Hollywood, and the cities of Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, and Alhambra, an area containing a population of over 2.2 million persons.
12. Hollywood-Burbank Airport has two principal runways for the operation of aircraft. These runways are designated by their compass heading in tens of degrees.
(a) The "north-south" runway is situated on an axis of 330°-150°. This runway is designated Runway 33 when it is used by aircraft taking off to the northwest or landing from the southeast, and, Runway 15 when it is used by aircraft landing from the northwest or taking off to the southeast. Approximately 2,050 feet of the northernmost portion of this runway lie in the City of Los Angeles on land owned by the United States Government.
(b) The "east-west" runway is situated on an axis of 070°-250°. This runway is designated Runway 7 when it is used by aircraft landing from the west or taking off to the east, and, Runway 25 when it is used by aircraft landing from the east or taking off to the west. Approximately 2,250 feet of the western-most portion of this runway lie on land owned by the United States Government.
(c) Aircraft landing on Runways 7 and 15 and aircraft departing on Runways 25 and 33 do not overfly the City of Burbank.
13. The following types of pure jet commercial aircraft operate from the Hollywood-Burbank Airport: Boeing 727, Boeing 737, Douglas DC-9. The following types of pure jet business aircraft operate from the Airport: Jetstar, Gulfstream II, Sabreliner, Lear Jet, DeHavilland and Falcon.
14. Each scheduled interstate air carrier that uses Hollywood-Burbank Airport holds a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity issued by the Civil Aeronautics Board which provides as set forth in said Certificate.
15. PSA holds a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity issued by the California Public Utilities Commission which provides as set forth in said Certificate.
16. Each scheduled interstate air carrier that uses Hollywood-Burbank Airport holds an Air Carrier Operating Certificate issued by the Administrator of the FAA, which provides as set forth in said...
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