Delaware Administrative Code
Title 2 - Transportation
2000 - Department of Transportation
2150 - Office of Aeronautics
2152 - Delaware Airport Obstruction Regulation
Section 2152-7.0 - Removal of Existing Obstructions

Universal Citation: 2 DE Admin Code 2152-7.0

Current through Register Vol. 28, No. 3, September 1, 2024

7.1 The Delaware Code at 2 Del.C. Chapter 6 provides the legal authority for removal of aviation obstructions. Obstructions to air navigation decrease operational safety margins at airports. For this reason, the Delaware Code provides DelDOT, through the Office of Aeronautics, the authority to identify and remove obstructions located in approach areas to public use airports.

7.2 The overview to the obstruction removal process was described briefly in Section 1. 0 As stated, the process entails the identification and preliminary ranking and costing of each eligible obstruction to air navigation, as defined in this regulation. Input shall be solicited from airport owners and operators. An Advisory Committee, appointed by the Department for the review and final ranking of each eligible obstruction, shall meet and consider the preliminary rankings. Based upon the recommendation of the Committee, funds allocated by the Legislature for obstruction removal shall be directed toward individual projects on a statewide basis.

7.3 To carry out this program the following process shall be observed:

7.3.1 Inventory.The Office of Aeronautics shall be responsible for the development of a Statewide obstruction inventory at each public use airport. This inventory shall be conducted periodically, but not less than every 24 months, and shall be carried out in conjunction with the airport owner input. The inventory shall document the existence of obstructions to air navigation as defined in FAR Part 77 in the approach areas at each public use airport. This inventory shall be updated, as needed, to properly identify obstructions and shall be maintained at the Office of Aeronautics. As part of the process, the cost to remove each obstruction shall be estimated.

7.3.2 Preliminary Priority Ranking.A preliminary priority ranking system shall be used to rank the obstructions. This priority system shall consider the following items:
7.3.2.1 Severity of the obstruction

7.3.2.2 Accident history at the associated airport

7.3.2.3 Role of the airport in the State system

7.3.2.4 Cost to remove the obstruction

7.3.2.5 Activity levels at the candidate airports

7.3.3 Deed Restriction.The next step in the process involves the protection of State resources and the elimination of projects that are not considered important by airport owners. In order to protect State resources, any cumulative State funding for obstruction removal, on or off of an airport, that totals more than $10,000 will require a commitment by the airport owner (in the form of a deed restriction) to maintain the airport a public use facility for not less than 10 years from the date that cumulative State expenditures exceed $10,000. Failure by the airport owner to agree to incorporate this deed restriction into the airport deed shall be grounds for DelDOT to disqualify the airport from the obstruction removal program for that obstruction. If the airport owner agrees to the deed restriction and the airport is converted to another use during the 10 year time period, the grant funds shall be reimbursed to the State upon closure, sale, or reclassification (to private use) of the facility, on a graduated scale as follows:

Years Used As Airport Prior to Conversion to Other Use % Grant Reimbursed to State
1-5 100%
6 80%
7 60%
8 40%
9 20%
10 0%

The State reserves the right to remove a hazard to air navigation, as determined by an FAA airspace study, even if the airport sponsor does not agree to the deed restriction.

7.4 Advisory Committee. An Advisory Committee shall be appointed by the Department to review the preliminary ranking of obstruction removal projects. Projects over $10,000 that an airport owner will not include in a deed restriction shall be removed from consideration by the Advisory Committee. The Office of Aeronautics shall provide the following:

7.4.1 The preliminary ranking from the priority ranking model; and,

7.4.2 The comments and rankings of the airport owners and operators.

7.5 The Advisory Committee shall meet and rank each of the obstruction removal projects and present a final list of rankings to the Department. This final list shall be published and a public hearing shall be conducted.

7.6 Implementation Process. Once the ranking has been adopted by the Department, an implementation process will be initiated by DelDOT using the following criteria:

7.5.1 Available Funding

7.5.2 Deed Restriction

7.5.3 Existing Easements

7.5.4 Airport Owner Cost Sharing

Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Delaware may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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