The city's Airport Advisory Commission will be asked to postpone, pending legal review, further discussion of how much land around the municipal airport should come under a new state law about disclosing airport impacts to property buyers.
The commission was set to discuss at its meeting Monday whether to ask an Alameda County airport panel to expand the so-called "airport influence area" around the west Livermore facility.
But airport General Manager Leander Hauri said Thursday he first wants to get clarification from the County Counsel's Office on some "ambiguous language" in the state's real estate disclosure law. The law went into effect in January 2004.
The area around the airport subject to the new disclosure law is now relatively small, extending barely into northeastern Pleasanton, southeastern Dublin and northwestern Livermore. It is the same as the "referral area" for which Alameda County's Airport Land Use Commission reviews and makes recommendations on development proposals.
At issue is whether the new state law allows the disclosure area to be larger than that.
"We looked at the language again and started getting doubts about the whole thing, and the (land use commission) did as well, and we thought it was best to ask for the county counsel's opinion before I recommend any other work on this," Hauri said.
Ralph Cloud, chairman of Livermore's airport advisory panel, has argued the airport-impact disclosure area should be enlarged because residents from throughout the valley have complained about aircraft noise.
But airport critics warn that a bigger disclosure area would hurt property values and scare away new business development. They would rather have the airport take more steps to reduce noise, safety and other impacts.
