CITY SUED OVER JET NOISE LIMITS ILLEGAL, GROUP SAYS.

Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer

VAN NUYS - Five San Fernando Valley aviation businesses and three national aviation associations have sued the city of Los Angeles for imposing a ``nonaddition rule'' that would limit a noisier Stage 2 jet at Van Nuys Airport.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, the businesses and associations claim the nonaddition rule is unreasonable, arbitrary and discriminatory. They name the city, the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners and Los Angeles World Airports as defendants.

``It is unfortunate that we have to take this action,'' said Mark Sullivan, owner of Van Nuys Skytrails Aviation, a plaintiff in the case. ``Litigation should be a last resort, but when the City Council did not want to hear our side of the story, we had no alternative.

``Our efforts to engage the city in constructive discussions were rebuffed on several occasions. Neither did they respond to the Federal Aviation Administration's request to come up with an alternative solution to the nonaddition rule.''

Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino and the Stop the Noise Coalition, was outraged over the complaint.

``Their real motive is to scare and bluff the city to keep them from phasing out the noisy Stage 2 jets,'' he said. ``All they're doing is pouring money down a legal rat hole and trying to blow smoke in the eyes of the City Council. They will absolutely fail in that lawsuit because this is a fair, reasonable rule.''

The nonaddition rule, which the city adopted in April as an effort to cut noise, prohibited adding any more Stage 2 aircraft to the about 50 already hangared at Van Nuys after 1999. Any of those jets that move from the airport before 2005 could be replaced by another Stage 2, but the replacement jet must leave after 2010.

The Van Nuys plaintiffs are Clay Lacy Aviation, Elite Aviation Inc., Jetwest International, Skytrails Aviation and the Air Group Inc. The other plaintiffs are the National Business Aviation Association, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and the National Air Transportation Association.

Bret Lobner, senior counsel for the City Attorney's Office, challenges Sullivan's contention.

``I think that we've been very careful to go through the process for imposing the nonaddition rule that is defensible, legal and constitutional,'' he said.

``It has gone through a number of trial adoptions, has been the subject of innumerable studies and public comment, public hearing and federal review through the FAA.''

Federal law permits the proprietor of a public-use airport to impose noise and access restrictions provided that such restrictions are reasonable, nonarbitrary and nondiscriminatory, and that the restrictions are not unduly burdensome to interstate commerce, the plaintiffs argue.

The lawsuit contends that Los Angeles violated these principles in adopting the nonaddition rule.

``The city didn't make an ample showing that there really was a serious enough noise problem to impose these restrictions,'' said the plaintiffs' New York attorney, Andrew R. Plump. ``We're not saying the city doesn't have a right to impose reasonable noise restrictions.''