Vermont Statutes Title 5 Sec. 207
Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 5 Sec. 207
- Aeronautics: means the science, art, and practice of flight, including transportation by aircraft and matters relating to air commerce; the operation, construction, repair, or maintenance of aircraft, aircraft power plants, and aircraft accessories, including the repair, packing, and maintenance of parachutes; the design, establishment, construction, extension, operation, improvement, repair, or maintenance of airports, restricted landing areas, or other air navigation facilities; and air instruction. See
- Agency: means the Agency of Transportation. See
- Air navigation: means the operation of aircraft in the air space over this State, or upon any airport or restricted landing area within this State. See
- Air navigation facility: means any facility other than one owned or controlled by the federal government, used in, available for use in, or designed for use in, aid or convenience of air navigation, including airports and restricted landing areas. See
- Airport: means any area of land or water set aside by the Agency, any political subdivision, or person, except a restricted landing area, that is designed for the landing and take-off of aircraft, and used or to be used in the interest of the general public whether or not facilities are provided for the shelter, servicing, or repair of aircraft, or for receiving or discharging passengers or cargo, and all appurtenant areas used or suitable for airport buildings or other airport facilities, including all appurtenant rights-of-way. See
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Board: means the Transportation Board. See
- Municipality: means a county, city, village, town, or any other political subdivision of this State and any public corporation, authority, or district of this State that is or may be authorized by law to acquire, establish, construct, maintain, improve, or operate transportation facilities or services. See
- Person: means an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint stock association, or body politic, including a trustee, receiver, assignee, or other similar representative. See
- Restricted landing area: means an area of land or water, or both, that is used or is made available for the landing and take-off of aircraft, the use of which, except in case of emergency, shall be only as provided from time to time by the Board. See
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
- Town: shall include city and wards or precincts therein; "selectboard members" and "board of civil authority" shall extend to and include the mayor and aldermen of cities; "trustees" shall extend to and include bailiffs of incorporated villages; and the laws applicable to the inhabitants and officers of towns shall be applicable to the inhabitants and similar officers of all municipal corporations. See
§ 207. Registration; licenses, certificate of approval
(a) The Board is authorized to approve airport and restricted landing area sites or other air navigation facilities in accordance with rules to be adopted by the Board. Certificates of approval shall be granted for airports and restricted landing areas that were being operated on or before July 1, 1945.
(b) [Redesignated.]
(c) All proposed airports, restricted landing areas, and other air navigation facilities shall be first approved by the Board before they are used or operated. A municipality or person proposing to establish an airport, restricted landing area, or a seaplane landing area shall make application to the Board for a certificate of approval of the site selected and the general purpose or purposes for which the airport, restricted landing area, or seaplane landing area is to be established to ensure that it shall conform to minimum standards of safety and shall serve public interest. A municipality or officer or employee or any person shall not operate an airport, restricted landing area, seaplane landing area, or other air navigation facility for which a certificate of approval has not been issued by the Board.
(d) The application for a certificate of approval of the site selected shall be in writing and substantially describe the property involved and the general purposes for which it is to be acquired and the manner in which the acquisition is asserted to serve the public interest. The application shall designate the names of all owners or persons known to be interested in lands adjoining the property and their residences, if known, and shall contain such further matter as the Board by rule shall determine. The application shall be supported by documentation showing that the proposed facility has received municipal approval. After evaluating the application, the Board shall issue its order giving notice of the time and place of hearing on the application. The applicant shall give notice of the proceedings to all persons owning or interested in adjoining lands by delivery of a true copy of the application and order for hearing by registered or certified mail to the last known address of each of the persons; the notice to be mailed at least 12 days prior to the date of the hearing. Notice of the hearing and a general statement of the purpose shall be published at least once in a newspaper of common circulation in the town where the property described in the application is situated at least two days before the date of the hearing, and a similar notice shall be posted in a public place at least 12 days before the hearing. Upon compliance by the applicant with the foregoing provisions for notice, the Board shall hear the applicant and all parties interested on the question of approval of the site or sites and shall consider and determine whether in the public interest the application ought to be granted. Whenever the Board makes an order granting or denying a certificate of approval of an airport, or a restricted landing area, approval to use or operate an airport or a restricted landing area or other air navigation facility, an aggrieved person may seek judicial review pursuant to 19 V.S.A. § 5(c).
(e) In determining whether it shall issue a certificate of approval for the location of any proposed airport or restricted landing area, the Board shall take into consideration the Agency‘s recommendations, the proposed facility’s location, size, and layout, the relationship of the proposed airport or restricted landing area to a comprehensive plan for statewide and nationwide development, existence of suitable areas for expansion purposes, absence of hazardous obstructions in adjoining areas based on a proper glide ratio, the nature of the terrain comprising the airport location and adjoining areas, the nature of the uses to which the proposed airport or restricted landing area will be put and the possibilities for future development, and shall determine that the use will serve the public interest.
(f) Prior to the beginning of aeronautics operations on the site approved, the owner of the site shall apply to the Board for operational approval of the airport. In granting operational approval, the Board shall take into consideration the Agency’s recommendations, the length, width, and smoothness of landing strips, longitudinal and transverse grade of the strips, freedom of the usable area from hazardous soil and surface conditions, absence of hazardous obstructions in approach zones, establishment of a suitable wind direction indicator, and other matters pertinent to the character of operations proposed to be undertaken at the subject airport, and shall determine that the proposed use of the site will serve the public interest.
(g) Unless determined otherwise by the Board, the hearing provisions of subsection (d) of this section shall not apply to helicopter landing areas, ultralight landing areas, and restricted landing areas designed for personal use.
(h) In emergency circumstances, the Agency may suspend temporarily, and in nonemergency circumstances, the Board may revoke both temporarily and permanently any certificate of approval when it shall determine that an airport, restricted landing area, or other air navigation facility is not being maintained or used in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and the rules adopted. A person aggrieved by a temporary suspension issued by the Agency may appeal to the Board within 30 days after the Agency’s decision. Unless otherwise ordered by the Board, the temporary suspension shall remain in effect pending final determination of the appeal.
(i) The provisions of subsections (e) to (g) of this section, inclusive, shall not apply to any airport, restricted landing area, or other air navigation facility owned and operated by an agency of the federal government within this State. (Added 1985, No. 222 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; amended 1993, No. 172 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 1995, No. 60, §§ 29, 30, eff. April 25, 1995; 1995, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), § 18a, eff. May 22, 1996; 1997, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 21; 2017, No. 113 (Adj. Sess.), § 6; 2021, No. 184 (Adj. Sess.), § 30, eff. July 1, 2022.)