The FAA and the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) recently signed an historic joint initiative on land use planning around the nation’s airports.
On March 28, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey signed the agreement on behalf of FAA, while NASAO Chairman Richard Turner of Vermont signed for the 50 states. Late last year, Blakey and Turner signed an agreement recognizing that airports can be adversely affected by incompatible development and that they must be protected as essential public assets. That paved the way for this year’s agreement.
The organizations will work to identify strategies to facilitate land use planning around airports, identify options to improve land use compatibility and appropriate implementation mechanisms and, perhaps most important of all, develop national guidelines for making prudent decisions on compatible land use and encroachment protection of aviation interests.