Airport hangar operator says solar farm plan violates FAA and City Charter guidelines and standards

Fernandina Beach Airport FBO and hangar operator Brian Echard of FHB Aircraft Hangars, LLC said that a proposed solar farm on airport land under lease to Amelia River Golf Course violates numerous FAA requirements as well as City Charter mandates.

The City Commission will vote Tuesday to amend Amelia River Golf's lease to allow the solar farm and hangars to be built on 36 heavily wooded acres.

In a letter to City Attorney Tammi Bach and Interim City Manager Charlie George, Echard said that the City is giving preferential treatment and an unfair economic advantage to Amelia River by failing to follow FAA guidelines to meet the City’s minimum standards which are established to ensure that aeronautical operators are held to the same minimum standards to conduct business at the airport.

Here is Echard's letter:

May 12, 2023

Ms. Bach and Mr. George,

I have recently learned that the Amelia River Golf Course has a proposed lease amendment that

will be voted on by the City Commissioners on Tuesday, May 16, 2023.

I believe that this proposed lease amendment firmly places the City in jeopardy of violating FAA

grant assurances. Not only is this proposed amendment a bad business decision (as detailed

below), but it is being done outside of the City’s Minimum Standard protocols and without any

public input. It is extremely troubling that the City is considering amending this lease without

requiring the tenant to follow the documentation and review process that the City requires of

every other tenant on Airport property to ensure that the City remains in compliance with its

federal obligations.

Any proposed aeronautical or non-aeronautical development on the airport must be processed in

accordance with the minimum standards that the City has accepted as the FAA sponsor of the

airport. The City Charter requires that a commercial aeronautical and a non-aeronautical

application and business plan be presented to the Airport Advisory Committee for discussion and

recommendation before they proceed to the City Commission.

The current lease with Amelia River is for a golf course and a hotel. The current rental rate for

the Amelia River ground lease is far below a Fair Market Value. A recent market appraisal was

completed for the Alvarez Sports Fields, which is 20 acres, and it was appraised at

$400,000/year. The Amelia River lease is 130 acres, and their annual lease rate is $200K/year.

Will this proposed amendment require the increase of the lease rate to Fair Market Value as

currently paid by other leaseholders at the Airport? The FAA requires that Airports receive Fair

Market Value for non-aeronautical property use.

There are numerous development issues that this proposal for a solar field and hangars raises,

such as:

• The number of trees being removed and details on how it will be mitigated in

coordination with the City’s tree ordinance.

• How will this development have airport access? Who will pay for the development and

maintenance of that access? It should be noted that, by FAA rule, airport funds cannot

be used for a non-aviation development project.

• Where is the site plan?

• Has a Glare study for the solar panels been conducted to ensure safety for arriving

aircraft?

• There are no utilities on this site. Who will be responsible for the significant financial

investment necessary to bring utilities to the site?

• There is no airport taxiway access to this parcel.

• This parcel faces a closed runway with failed asphalt not in condition for aircraft use.

Who is responsible for improving this asphalt to allow for aeronautical connection?

The airport has never contemplated the future of the closed runway, and this decision should not

be made without considerable planning and research.

When this request for non-aeronautical use is received by the FAA, it will trigger a Fair Market

Value Review and will likely require an Environmental Assessment for the proposed project as it

exists on a parcel that has never been disturbed. These studies should be completed before

executing a lease amendment with Amelia River.

If this amendment is approved, I believe that the City is giving preferential treatment and an

unfair economic advantage to Amelia River by failing to follow FAA guidelines to meet the

City’s minimum standards which are established to ensure that aeronautical operators are held to

the same minimum standards to conduct business at the airport.

FHB Aircraft Hangars, LLC submitted an application on March 16th for a commercial

aeronautical development as well as a non-aeronautical application in strict accordance with the

Airport's Minimum Standards. Yet to date, my application has still not been processed and

submitted to the Airport Advisory Commission for review.

The City, under Grant Assurance 22, is required to make the Airport available on reasonable

terms without unjust discrimination among its users. Airports, such as Fernandina Beach, publish

Minimum Standards which clearly outline a process for applying to conduct an aeronautical

business. They also provide minimum requirements that must be met for carrying out an

aeronautical business. The Amelia River proposed lease amendment, which authorizes

aeronautical hangar development, has not followed the prescribed process and is in direct

violation of the City’s standards.

Here are a few glaring examples that make this point:

• Has the City received and reviewed an application as outlined in the minimum

standards for the intended use of aeronautical hangars to be authorized for

construction by Amelia River? A public records request did not find such a

document.

• Will commercial operations be conducted in these hangars?

• Will an FBO or flight school be placed in a hangar?

• Even if the intent is to provide aircraft rental storage, the Minimum Standards

provide specific requirements to be met for this type of service. Will these

standards be met? If not, this will immediately place the airport in violation of

Grant Assurance 22.

• Has a business plan with projected financials for this development been

submitted for review as required by the Minimum Standards?

• Is this development consistent with the Airport Master Plan, and has the AAC

reviewed this proposal - as required by the City Charter?

• Will a transparent market rate consistent with the airport's federal obligations

and not unjust among aeronautical users be established for property to be used

for aeronautical development in the lease?

• Will the hangars revert back to ownership of the airport as required in all other

leases?

• Does the Amelia River golf course lease protect the Airport's Rights and

Powers by requiring compliance with minimum standards, rules and

regulations, and will the lease contain similar provisions to other aeronautical

airport leases? A non-aviation golf course lease should not be used for

aeronautical development.

• Has a site plan for this development been drafted to ensure that hangar

development can occur in conformance with airport planning criteria? It should

be noted that the current Amelia River Golf Course lease does not connect to

any operational taxiways at the airport.

In summary, I believe this amendment places the airport in great jeopardy of violating its grant

assurances.

I respectfully recommend the City pull this item from the City Commission Agenda next

Tuesday and instruct Amelia River to present their development application and business plan to

the AAC and the public so that this can be discussed in the open and to make sure the City is not

violating airport minimum standards and FAA Federal Grant Assurances.

Thank you for your consideration,

Brian Echard

FHB Aircraft Hangars, LLC