Longmont airport: City attempts to balance housing needs, FAA concerns

Matthew Bennett, Daily Times-Call, Longmont, Colo.
·4 min read

May 18—Longmont officials are discussing how to balance the city's need for more housing with federal grant funding rules for the Vance Brand Airport.

That's because proposed developments near airports are seen as an "incompatible land use" in certain zones, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA requires cities to restrict land use next to airports to "activities and purposes compatible with normal airport operations," including airplanes taking off and landing.

In particular, FAA officials, in a letter dated June 13, 2023, said they had concerns about Modern West 2, a proposed residential development south of Rogers Road, just east of the Vance Brand Airport. In the 1-page letter, the FAA said it "may" terminate the airport's eligibility for grants if specific types of development go forward in areas close to airport runways.

In a follow-up statement to the Times-Call Friday, FAA spokeswoman Brittany Trotter said that "the FAA is in discussions with the City of Longmont and has not made a decision about the Modern West 2 development."

At the same time, the Longmont City Council is discussing proposed amendments to a planning document called the Airport Influence Overlay zone, which includes the area in question. The 2023 FAA letter was included in the City Council's packet of materials for its study session May 7, where the council discussed areas around the airport and how they should be used.

"One of the big challenges we have with this particular part of Longmont, is, it is one of the very few remaining parts of the city with significant vacant and developable land," Jennifer Hewett-Apperson, Longmont principal planner, said during the May 7 study session. "We're seeing a lot of development pressure in this area."

The Airport Influence Overlay zone is about 9,541 acres — just under 15 square miles. Of that, 9.1 square miles are within the Longmont planning area and much of the remaining land is within unincorporated Boulder County.

Longmont planning staffers say the largest concentration of development pressure in the Airport Influence Overlay zone, is the area bound by Rogers Road, Nelson Road, Airport Road and Hover Street.

"We're basically trying to figure out how do we address the FAA's needs while also addressing our very real housing needs as well," Hewett-Apperson said.

Staffers propose creating two separate zones within the existing Airport Influence Overlay Zone to try to address both the FAA's requirements and the possible development pressures. Zone A, which is about 46 acres, would largely encompass the airport runway and a trapezoidal area 1,000 feet beyond the end of the runway. Zone B, which is 156 acres, would extend an additional 4,000 feet beyond Zone A.

No development would be allowed in Zone A.

Zone B, which is referred to as the "Approach Zone," would prohibit all residential uses. Rehabilitation facilities, lodging facilities, schools, day care centers and hospitals also would not be allowed in Zone B. Most other commercial uses would be permitted in Zone B as long as they were non-residential uses.

Since Zone A and Zone B are proposed, neither have been approved by the City Council.

"What we believe is that Longmont ... has been caught up in the wave of complaints from the ... airports farther south, who have all built right up to the very tips of their airports, and their complaint levels are very high right now," Longmont Councilmember Marcia Martin, who is the council liaison to the Longmont Airport Advisory Board, said Friday.

To the south, the Superior town government and the Boulder County commissioners are suing Jefferson County related to noise and leaded fuel complaints toward Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport to the east near Broomfield. And in Boulder, a group wants to see the city's 96-year-old airport closed and turned into a residential area, a question that may go to voters in November.

Vance Brand Airport also has dealt with noise and other complaints over the years. In 2024, the Vance Brand Airport received complaints, mostly about noise, from 17 households, according to Levi Brown, airport manager. In all of 2023, the Vance Brand Airport received complaints from 45 households. The airport logs complaints by household instead of by total complaints to better understand the actual number of people who are complaining, Brown said.

The FAA has given $6.2 million in Airport Improvement Program grants to the city of Longmont, which is the sponsor of Vance Brand Airport, according to the 2023 letter from the FAA.

An attorney for Modern West 2 declined to comment Friday.