San Diego Grants a Roof to Tower Near Montgomery Field

The city of San Diego will allow a roof to be built on a 180-foot-tall office tower under construction near Montgomery Field, even though the FAA hasn't budged from its position that the building is a hazard to planes landing in bad weather and opposition to the project continues to grow.

The city's Development Services Department authorized the roof work in December, two months after it ordered the developer, Sunroad Enterprises, to stop all work on the top two floors, which had already been framed. Sunroad said the roof was needed to protect the lower floors from rain.

The Federal Aviation Administration, the City Attorney's Office and the state Department of Transportation have been battling with Sunroad since the FAA notified the company last spring that the building could be no more than 160 feet tall.

Last month, the City Attorney's Office filed a lawsuit demanding that the top two floors be removed. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, whose 410,000 members are involved in civil aviation, joined the lawsuit last week. So did a group of local pilots and airport users.

Sunroad says the building is not a hazard and that it won't remove the top floors.

Tom Story, the company's vice president of development, said the City Attorney's Office and the pilots organization are distorting and sensationalizing the issues.

"Sunroad Enterprises is fully committed to public safety, and we would not have built the building if it was a public-safety hazard," Story said in a statement.

Marcela Escobar-Eck, director of the city's Development Services Department, says the roofing compromise doesn't mean the city is ignoring the FAA's concerns.

In a letter to Sunroad, Escobar-Eck warned that the roof is being added at "Sunroad's own risk" because the FAA hasn't removed the hazard designation. The letter also puts Sunroad on notice that the city won't be liable if the company has to remove the roof.

The FAA isn't likely to remove the hazard designation anytime soon, said Ian Gregor, an FAA spokesman in Los Angeles.

"Our position with regard to the project has not changed," he said last week.

`So much at stake'

Chuck McGill, a pilot who flies into Montgomery Field and is a member of the city's Airports Advisory Committee, said he was shocked to learn that Sunroad can begin roofing the project.

"It's incredible the city is allowing this work to go on," he said. "Sunroad pulled a fast one on the city and the FAA and built the building above the legal height, and now the city is saying, `Go ahead and put a roof on it.' "

Bill Dunn, vice president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, said his group joined the city's lawsuit against Sunroad because it fears that pilots, airport users and people who occupy the building will be in danger if the building isn't modified to meet FAA safety standards.

"There is so much at stake here," Dunn said.

Pilots who use the bad-weather landing pattern at Montgomery Field, which accounts for about 10 percent of the landings, must circle within 400 feet of the building. Several pilots say they'll be able to see office workers though the windows once the building opens.

Despite the city's compromise over the roof, tension has been mounting between Sunroad and city officials.

In a strongly worded letter in November, a Sunroad lawyer reminded Jim Waring, head of the city's Land Use and Economic Development Department, that the city had issued the final building permit for the office tower after the FAA had made a preliminary finding that it posed a hazard.

"The city has no basis to stop work at the building. The building poses NO threat to public safety -- and should be allowed to proceed to completion," the letter said.

The letter emphasized that Sunroad will hold the city responsible if the building ultimately has to be altered.

"The city's failure to lift the order may constitute a breach of the development agreement, thereby exposing the city to significant damages claims by Sunroad," the letter said.

Waring rejects the notion that the city may be liable.

"Sunroad knew the FAA had issues and Sunroad elected to build beyond that height limit," he said. "Sunroad was aware of the risks of going beyond the FAA limitations."

Waring acknowledges that city building codes don't place a height restriction on construction projects that fall outside the airport's area of influence, but said Sunroad was obligated to comply with the FAA limits nevertheless. The area of influence refers to the the community surrounding Montgomery Field that is affected by airport activities.

"Where there are competing regulations on the same matter, the more stringent apply," Waring said.

The Sunroad project falls just outside the Montgomery Field area of influence, near the intersection of state Route 163 and Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.

Sunroad's offer

Sunroad executives say their aviation consultants have advised them that the building isn't a hazard at 180 feet.

To allay the FAA's concerns, the company has offered to pay for and install a sophisticated electronic navigation system that would allow pilots making bad-weather landings to fly straight onto the runway instead of circling the building.

Escobar-Eck said the city is waiting for Sunroad to provide a detailed plan for the navigation system. If the plan is practical, the city will present it to the FAA, she said.

The FAA has balked at that idea because it could take more than a year to determine whether the proposed change in the landing pattern would conflict with air routes used by jetliners at Lindbergh Field and military aircraft at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

The state Department of Transportation also wants the building lowered because Sunroad didn't apply for a state permit that's required for any project that doesn't comply with FAA standards.

Deputy City Attorney Carmen Brock said she has been talking with Caltrans lawyers to develop a joint legal strategy and decide whether to seek an expedited court date for the city's lawsuit against Sunroad.

"We want to proceed to abate this nuisance no matter what it takes," Brock said.

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