Airport Land Use Compatibility Planning

GDB is well versed in the requirements of California’s State Aeronautics Act that pertain to airport land use commissions (ALUCs) and airport land use compatibility plans (ALUCPs).  The firm assists ALUCs with the adoption, amendment and implementation of ALUCPs, which are planning documents designed to simultaneously provide for the orderly development of areas surrounding airports and protect public health, safety and welfare.

In connection with this practice area, the firm’s attorneys work with the Division of Aeronautics at the California Department of Transportation to ensure that ALUCPs are guided by information presented in the Division’s airport land use compatibility planning handbook.  (The firm co-authored the Division’s handbook with other aeronautical experts.)  GDB also is accustomed to consulting with interested stakeholders, such as local land use agencies (typically cities and counties), property owners and land use developers, and proprietors and operators of public and military airports.  Of final relevance, the firm assists with the preparation of CEQA-compliance documents for ALUCPs, which often require unique technical analysis due to the potential implications of a plan designed to impose limits on the density and intensity of development, absent action by a local land use agency to override the ALUCP.