SAN JOSE -- The City Council on Tuesday delayed until next week a highly anticipated vote on an $82 million proposed facility for corporate jets at the city's airport after worried residents raised concerns about whether or not the recommended operators would abide by the airport's curfew.
A last-minute memo issued Monday by Aviation Director Bill Sherry revealed that Signature Flight Support and its primary tenant Blue City Holdings, a company that manages aircraft for Google executives, would not agree to a specific curfew compliance provision.
But Sherry said both companies have agreed to sign a general provision that requires them to adhere to all federal, state and local laws, ordinances, rules and regulations -- which he said applies to the city's curfew.
Sherry said the city is legally covered and both companies would follow Mineta San Jose International Airport's established 11:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. curfew.
But the memo has generated enough confusion that City Councilman Sam Liccardo, whose district includes residents affected by airport noise, asked the council to wait until the evening portion of next Tuesday's council meeting before deciding on the proposal, which the council roundly said it supports.
That will allow more constituents to publicly air their concerns and hopefully resolve their questions surrounding the curfew issue before the council considers Signature's development proposal.
"There's good reason for people in the public to be suspicious because the change came belatedly," Liccardo told the council. "Let's vet it and expose it to sunshine and move it forward."
In a 10-1 vote, the council agreed with Liccardo, with only Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio opposed, saying most of the corporate jets will ultimately be exempt from the curfew anyway because they generate less than 90 decibels of noise.
Earlier in the meeting, the council unanimously denied an appeal by Atlantic Aviation to halt the city's deal with Signature, which would provide at least $3 million annually in rent and other fees to the city's debt-ridden airport.
Source: http://www.mercurynews.com
San Jose's proposed Google-powered airport hit some turbulence on Tuesday. The culprit? San Jose's much-jawboned curfew regulations.
The City Council on Tuesday delayed a vote to approve a ground lease with Signature Flight Support for an $82 million fixed base facility. The fixed base operator's largest tenant would be Blue City Holdings LLC, which operates and manages Google's executives' planes.
The last-minute snag stems from Signature's request that it not be subject to some current curfew enforcement regulations.
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