Planning board backs county airport zoning ordinance draft, urges careful implementation

The Planning and Development Board unanimously recommended the Board of County Commissioners adopt a draft airport zoning ordinance that establishes height notification zones, overflight/noise zones and runway protection areas around Flagler Executive Airport.

County planner Adam Mingle reviewed a model ordinance derived from Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) aviation guidance and from state statute (chapter 333). The model creates multiple overlapping “surfaces” — primary, approach, horizontal, conical and transitional — based on Federal Aviation Administration criteria (14 CFR Part 77). Those surfaces define where construction, tall vegetation or temporary obstructions such as cranes must be reviewed for aviation safety and notified to pilots. The ordinance also uses a 65 DNL noise contour to identify the most restrictive runway protection/noise overlay; for Flagler Executive the 65 DNL contour falls entirely on airport property based on a 2008 noise study accepted by federal reviewers, Mingle said.

Mingle told the board the ordinance is meant to protect the county’s public investment in the airport and the safety of operations, not to regulate routine flight training noise beyond those areas defined by Part 77 and the noise contour. "This has aspects that are related to height, and to noise admittedly, but in the context of the air operations in the direct vicinity of the airport itself," he said. He also noted the airport master plan update underway is expected to remove an instrument approach that currently produces a large western transition surface; if the master plan changes, the mapping for affected zones will be revised.

Board members sought clarifications and wording changes. One member asked that the ordinance use clearer wording where the draft refers to "structures or object of natural growth"; staff agreed to revise the phrase to a more ordinary term such as "structures or trees". Board members also asked staff to prepare a simple online parcel lookup so landowners can check whether their property falls inside any of the airport zones and what height limits would apply.

After a brief discussion the board voted to recommend adoption of the model ordinance to the Board of County Commissioners and to ask staff to work with legal counsel and FDOT aviation to refine language prior to the county’s scheduled first reading on March 3. The county will notify all jurisdictions that contain land under affected surfaces and the ordinance will be pursued by interlocal agreement where required. Mingle warned the board that some questions require follow‑up — particularly around how plat and property rights interact with airport zoning — and the board asked staff to return any redlines before the county commissioners' hearing.