READINGTON, NJ - The Solberg Aviation Company has filed a suit against Readington Township, saying that the township has spent decades trying to constrain the modernization and improvement of Solberg Airport.
The lawsuit, according to the complaint, was spurred by the recent adoption by Readington Township of an ordinance to create Solberg-Hunterdon Airport Zone Districts.
The new zoning, as approved in September, replaces zoning provisions struck down a decade ago after the township attempted to take Solberg-Hunterdon Airport by eminent domain.
The new airport zoning overlay, officially referred to as the Solberg-Hunterdon Airport Zone District, lays out both airside and landside uses, allowing the potential for a restaurant on the site, but prohibiting, among other things, the use of hangars for non-aviation purposes or the construction of warehouses or a heliport.
While the construction of a heliport would be specifically banned, takeoff and landing of helicopters would be allowed on any existing runway or helipad. In addition, the use of hangars for non-aviation purposes including storage of boats, automobiles and either personal or business goods would not be allowed, nor would the construction of warehouses.
The measure bans the use of eVOTLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft) often called “air taxis,” and all advanced air mobility (AAM) platforms. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, AAM aircraft typically are electrically powered and highly automated, and have vertical takeoff and landing capacity, but they are in development to have capacities for both automated cargo handling and emergency services operations.
The ordinance lays out safety zones surrounding the airport, regulating construction heights and placing limits on placement of gas tanks and other necessary but potentially hazardous facilities.
According to the lawsuit, the enacting of the ordinance seeks to usurp control from the New Jersey Department of Transportation and the FAA to prevent any revitalization of the airport.
“Readington’s adoption of the subject ordinance follows years of contentious dispute, culminating at one point in a failed effort to constrain any future improvement or modernization of the airport by eminent domain, accompanied by an earlier Air Safety Zone ordinance, all of which were roundly condemned and decisively invalidated by two trial judges and three Appellate Division judges of the Superior Court of New Jersey in litigation spanning more than a dozen years and costing Readington’s taxpayers millions of dollars of fees and costs,” the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, the newest ordinance is illegal and invalid because it fails to conform to state and federal requirements, and it works to appropriate the airport’s property without compensation.
Specifically, the lawsuit said, the ordinance conflicts with municipal land use law by failing to advance legitimate planning purposes, and failing to satisfy the statutory requirement that zoning regulations are drawn with consideration to the character of the district. The lawsuit said that no empirical analysis, land use data or professional planning documentation came with the ordinance to explain its purpose.
In addition, the lawsuit said, the ordinance is inconsistent with the overriding New Jersey Air Safety and Zoning Act, as it misstates licensed runway dimensions and state-mandated safety zones, while also improperly intruding into pre-empted areas of aviation regulation by purporting to prohibit heliports, restricting helicopter take-offs and landings to existing runways and prohibiting advanced air-mobility aircraft.
As discussed at length in several meetings regarding the ordinance, Readington Township officials have said that Runway 4-22’s measurement at the airport is self-reported, and does not reflect the reality on the ground or the figures the airport’s owners gave when they last had an application before the municipality.
“Our 5,598-foot runway is clearly depicted on all navigation and airport directories as being what it is, 3,735 feet paved with turf extensions at each end,” said Ed Nagle, of the Solberg Airport.
Readington officials have said it is actually 3,735 feet long.
“The 4-22 5,598-foot runway is approved, licensed and regularly inspected by the FAA/DOT,” Nagle said. “This documentation is public information and on file with the governing authorities, the FAA and NJDOT.”
The lawsuit said the ordinance also introduces unnecessary procedural hurdles, and undermines the ongoing NJDOT funded Airport Master Plan process for Solberg Airport.
The lawsuit noted that Readington has taken other efforts to control the airport through air safety zoning in 2007, later vacated in 2015.
In the decision from the judge at the time, he said the effect of the ordinance was to legislate Readington’s long-term purpose to restrict and choke the airport with a confined space.
Another ordinance in 2020 was rejected by the NJDOT because the ordinance provided false information about one of the runways.
In the lawsuit that was filed Oct. 31, Solberg Airport alleged that the new ordinance is just a veiled response to the airport’s efforts to update and amend its airport master plan and airport layout plan, and “a continuation of Readington’s long-term efforts to constrain the use and operation of the Solberg Airport in such a matter as, in all probability, to ultimately destroy the airport as a viable operation,” the lawsuit said.
The SAC began its master plan study in 2023 to align the airport to support the growing demand for modernized aviation facilities. Among the work was a notice that there are wait lists at Morristown Municipal Airport and Teterboro Airport, and overcapacity in the New York area, which could position Solberg Airport as a potential reliever airport for existing and new private and corporate aviation markets.
In addition, members of a Technical Advisory Committee noted that there are several pharmaceutical companies within a 10-mile radius of the airport, and the companies would benefit from the potential use of Solberg Airport.
The SAC has been looking into changes to the airport to accommodate these needs, and, the lawsuit said, Readington Township has been made aware of the discussions, and has been invited to be a member of the Citizen Advisory Committee to discuss the master plan.
The SAC has noted, however, that the new ordinance has significantly more restrictions on the airport, according to the lawsuit, plus a number of onerous requirements.
The lawsuit is seeking to have the ordinance be declared null and void, and that Readington Township be named in continuing violation of the New Jersey Air Safety and Zoning Act of 1983.
Officials with Readington Township did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit.