LANCASTER, Calif. — The traveling in-person monthly public meeting of the L.A. County Department of Public Works Aviation Division managers with commissioners appointed to advise the Board of Supervisors is scheduled for 7 p.m., Sept. 27 at Fox Field.
This will be the first such meeting at Fox since the county abandoned live virtual online sessions earlier this year. However, agendas for the August and September meetings mentioned a proposal to hold future Aviation Commission meetings in “a hybrid format.”
The Oct. 25 meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima. Beyond routine management statistical reports on operations and activities at each of the county’s five general aviation airports, commissioners and airports division executives will discuss policy and programs issues, many of which remain on the agenda for months and years.
The Whiteman Airport meeting location for October is likely to draw a large audience, as that airfield is under threat of closure by individuals and organizations claiming the airport is unsafe and a noise generator.
Meanwhile, in a similar dispute in which the Torrance City Council voted to “prohibit and restrict aeronautical activity around Zamperini Field” for the sole purpose of noise control, the city is being challenged for allegedly violating federal law.
In a publicized letter to the city council on Sept. 8, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and a host of national aviation advocacy groups, accused Torrance of violating Title 49 of the United States Code, which gives the Federal Aviation Administration “exclusive sovereignty over U.S. airspace.”
According to Lillian Geil, AOPA Communications Specialist, and city records, the Council voted to impose restrictions and limits on flight operations in July, after failure to negotiate a compromise between the aviation community and homeowner groups, especially homeowners on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
The AOPA letter concluded with the statement that, “Actions taken by the City of Torrance illustrate a growing airports congestion problem in Southern California.”