Opinion ID: 421228
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Constitutionality of the Ordinances

Text: 5 The city concedes that under City of Burbank v. Lockheed Air Terminal, 411 U.S. 624, 93 S.Ct. 1854, 36 L.Ed.2d 547 (1973), the city's ordinances would be preempted by federal regulations if they were enacted pursuant to the city's police power. In Burbank, the Supreme Court invalidated ordinances which placed a curfew on jet flights on the basis that pervasive federal regulation gave the Federal Aviation Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency exclusive responsibility for noise control at airports. Id. at 638-40, 93 S.Ct. at 1862-63. Both ordinances passed by the City of Clearwater are clearly noise control ordinances. The curfew ordinance is directly controlled by Burbank and the air traffic ordinance states that it was designed to control noise. Burbank allowed for one possible exception to this rule in situations where a city is the proprietor of the airport. The Supreme Court stated in a footnote: We do not consider here what limits, if any, apply to a municipality as a proprietor. Id. at 635-36 n. 14, 93 S.Ct. at 1860-1861 n. 14. The Supreme Court did not decide what power a city has as proprietor because the City of Burbank had imposed the curfew pursuant to its police power, not as the proprietor. Id. The City of Burbank was neither the owner nor the operator of the airport. Lockheed Air Terminal v. City of Burbank, 457 F.2d 667, 668 (9th Cir.1972), aff'd, 411 U.S. 624, 93 S.Ct. 1854, 36 L.Ed.2d 547 (1973). 6 The district court in the instant case concluded that the city is not a proprietor of the airport, and the city argues that summary judgment was inappropriate on this issue. Although it is not entirely clear whether the City of Clearwater should be called the proprietor, the district court was correct in concluding that the city did not have the proprietary power to impose the restrictions. The only basis other than proprietary power for enactment of the ordinances was the police power, and as exercises of the police power Burbank requires that the ordinances be found unconstitutional as violations of the supremacy clause. 7 The City of Clearwater states that it is subject to potential liability for excessive noise, and therefore it should be able to enact ordinances under a proprietor exception. Some courts have indicated that the determining factor in whether regulations are within a proprietor exception is potential liability. San Diego Unified Port District v. Gianturco, 651 F.2d 1306, 1316-17 (9th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1000, 102 S.Ct. 1631, 71 L.Ed.2d 866 (1982); British Airways Board v. Port Authority of New York, 558 F.2d 75, 83 (2d Cir.1977). These courts relied on Griggs v. Allegheny County, 369 U.S. 84, 82 S.Ct. 531, 7 L.Ed.2d 585 (1962), where the Supreme Court held the county liable in an inverse condemnation action in which the county was the owner and operator of the airport. The city argues that its status as owner and the entity with the power to acquire air easements subjects it to potential liability. 8 However, before deciding whether a city's potential liability justifies the exercise of its proprietary power to regulate (rather than its police power), we must determine whether the city in fact possessed a proprietary power to regulate. In this case the city contracted away its right to impose the desired restrictions. Therefore, we need not decide whether the proprietor exception is applicable and whether the city faces potential liability for excessive noise. 1 9 An examination of the Burbank footnote shows that the Supreme Court did not intend to give extraordinary powers to municipal airport proprietors. In explaining the derivation of the possible proprietor exception, the Supreme Court quoted from a letter from the Secretary of Transportation to the Senate Commerce Committee which was considering noise abatement amendments to the Federal Aviation Act. The quoted portion read: 10 [T]he proposed legislation will not affect the rights of a State or local public agency, as the proprietor of an airport, from issuing regulations or establishing requirements as to the permissible level of noise which can be created by aircraft using the airport. Airport owners acting as proprietors can presently deny the use of their airports to aircraft on the basis of noise considerations so long as such exclusion is nondiscriminatory. 11 411 U.S. at 635-36 n. 14, 93 S.Ct. at 1860-1861 n. 14, quoting S.Rep. No. 1353, 90th Cong., 2d Sess. (1968) U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1968, pp. 2688, 2694 (Court's emphasis). 12 Black's Law Dictionary defines a proprietor as: One who has the legal right or exclusive title to anything. In many instances it is synonymous with owner. Black's Law Dictionary, 1098 (rev. 5th ed. 1979). The footnote suggested that a city as owner or proprietor may be able to exercise its proprietary powers in situations where an exercise of the police power would be preempted. The Supreme Court emphasized the distinction between proprietary and police powers by saying in the footnote: [W]e are concerned here not with an ordinance imposed by the City of Burbank as 'proprietor' of the airport, but with the exercise of police power. 411 U.S. at 635-36 n. 14, 93 S.Ct. at 1860-1861 n. 14. The Court did not suggest that if the city is a proprietor, it can impose restrictions outside of its proprietary power. The only case we have found in which airport noise restrictions were upheld under the proprietor exception dealt with a city that was both owner and operator of the airport and had not contracted away the right to impose noise restrictions. Santa Monica Airport Ass'n v. City of Santa Monica, 659 F.2d 100 (9th Cir.1981). 13 A review of the lease documents shows the district court was correct in concluding that the city had contracted away the right to impose the noise restrictions. The city executed a 30-year lease in 1970 and approved a sublease which had no curfews or air traffic restrictions. The lease was amended in 1974 to permit the desired restrictions, but the sublessor was not a party to the amendment and therefore it is not binding on Pirolo. The fact that the amendment was made before Pirolo bought the stock of the sublessor is irrelevant because the purchase was not an implicit agreement by Pirolo to accept restrictions that the sublessor was not bound to follow. Although the lease has provisions for its revocation if the airport is operated in a manner inconsistent with the public interest, it also provided for arbitration in case of dispute on this matter and the city did not invoke these provisions. 14 The city apparently misinterpreted Burbank to give it power to ignore contract obligations if it faced potential liability for excessive noise. The only basis for the ordinances is the police power, and they are clearly preempted by federal law.