Editor’s note: This story was updated 11:47 a.m. Friday, March 22 with comments from Jeff Bodin.
Federal dollars won’t be falling out of the sky anytime soon at South County Airport in San Martin due to an unresolved dispute between the county and a skydiving business that wants to operate on its premises.
The Federal Aviation Administration sees no reason why Garlic City Skydiving, a Gilroy-based business hoping to get off the ground, can’t use San Martin’s general aviation airport as its home base and landing spot for thrill-seeking customers.
But Santa Clara County has a problem with skydivers landing near the airstrip situated close and parallel to U.S. 101, and won’t budge unless Gilroy resident Jeff Bodin – owner of Garlic City Skydiving and an experienced skydiver who worked previously in Hollister before attempting to start his own company – opts to find another location for his clients to land.
According to Assistant Director Eric Peterson for County Airports, the county has “no issue of a skydiving business located on the airport grounds…but we do have an issue with the landing position of the skydivers.”
The County believes it is unsafe for the skydivers, passing motorists and aircrafts taking off and landing to allow this unnecessary luxury since there are off-site landing spot options. The FAA, however, has already done studies on the safety issue and the findings don’t support the County’s take.
Bodin insisted he has tried to work cooperatively with the County to no avail. He even looked into off-site landing spots at nearby farms and, furthermore, the possibility of a drop zone at Harvey Bear County Park in San Martin. But was told by the County parks director that “it was not in the master plan for that park.”
Peterson attributes the County’s stance to reasons such as the airport’s proximity to a major highway and the fact that the airport also operates as a reliever airport to the three Bay Area metropolitan airports for small, unscheduled flights. To land in San Martin, the non-commercial aircrafts must be under 12,500 pounds so they can safely taxi in the 3,000-foot long runway.
“We’ve talked to airports all over the country who operate skydiving,” Peterson added. “It didn’t look like a wise idea and the County made the determination that it was not something they wanted to do.”
Bodin estimated his skydiving business would bring in $100,000 in yearly revenue to the airport from fuel, leases and permits.
“I’m looking at bringing in a business that will help the airport, help the community, meets all the requirements of the FAA for safety and the United States Parachute Association (USPA),” said the 10-year veteran skydiver who first met with Director of Airports Carl Honaker back in May 2009. He also gave a presentation to former County Supervisor Don Gage and was led to believe he had his full support of skydiving at South County Airport.
At two other local airports in Watsonville and Hollister, where skydiving companies are allowed to operate, skydivers land at a designated area away from the airport property and are transported back. The County has asked Bodin to follow that same procedure in order to start his new business in San Martin.
However, Bodin was within his rights to file a complaint with the FAA, especially since the County must follow federal aviation compliance guidelines of allowing all aeronautical uses at its airports or face non-compliance sanctions.
According to FAA spokesman Ian Gregor, it is not uncommon for skydivers to land on airport property. Federal regulations allow airport landings as long as there is prior approval from airport officials, the parachutist is at least 2,000 feet above the airport’s traffic pattern and a two-way radio is used for communication between the pilot and control tower.
Marco Igarashi, owner of Skydive Hollister which has operated out of the Hollister Airport for 30 years, isn’t confident Bodin will ever be able to get county approval to land his skydivers on airport grounds, regardless of the FAA ruling.
Igarashi, who took over Skydive Hollister five years ago, is content with having his customer skydivers land about 10 miles from the airport in scenic Tres Pinos. While it would be much more cost-efficient to have an airport drop zone, Igarashi would rather be in business and continue having “good relations here” with airport personnel than “upset anyone here” and push for an on-site landing spot.
He suggested Bodin start with an alternate landing spot near San Martin airport and build a mutually beneficial and amicable relationship with county airport officials. Then, after Bodin and the county begin to reap the rewards of having more customers use the facility, try to push for the drop zone on location.
“It shows that you can provide a business for the economy and help build a community instead of destroying it,” Igarashi said. “The airport is hurting because of (the sanctions).”
Bodin has taken a much more aggressive approach, filing a formal complaint in June 2011 with the FAA against Santa Clara County. The FAA sided with Bodin one month later and ordered the County to approve his application or they would be in “violation of grant assurances.”
But the County refused, appealing the ruling in January of 2012.
In doing so, the County wound up getting its federal grant funds put on lockdown.
As for liability issues, Bodin said that “no public entity has ever been found liable in skydiving accidents” and that California civil code prevents that from happening. He added skydivers must sign a “hold harmless waiver” before jumping out of an airplane as well.
“They’re willing to lose millions of dollars in funding and spend tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyers’ fees (to stop skydiving at the airport),” said Bodin. “I’m at a loss for words here.”
Bodin said he has met with and gained the support of South County Airport Pilots Association (SCAPA) and committed to meet regularly with them on any business operation issues.
According to Peterson, the county is given $150,000 in federal grant money each year. Under the Airport Improvement Program, they have the option of “banking” the grant money for up to four years to save for bigger projects.
Peterson said the county wanted to start a “pavement rehabilitation project” – estimated to cost $450,000 to $600,000 – for redoing the runways and taxi areas at county airports in San Martin, San Jose and Palo Alto. But thanks to the injunction put on the County by federal regulators for being out of compliance, the County can’t access the saved grant funds.
According to court documents, the county has accepted close to $4 million dollars in airport improvement grants since 1982.
The county used grant funds in 2007 to install a new perimeter fence and an Automatic Weather Observation System, Peterson stated. In 2005, they replaced trees along the U.S. 101 fenceline that were protruding into airspace with bushes.
But any future improvements are in a holding pattern until a decision is made on the County’s appeal. If the FAA comes back and upholds its original decision, the County has the option of taking the ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The County has also introduced motions to lift the grant fund suspensions on Palo Alto Airport and Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose since San Martin is the only facility currently in non-compliance.
During the FAA compliance proceedings that started with Bodin’s initial complaint, the FAA has notified both parties that it needed more time to make its final decision on seven different occasions. The last pushed the FAA’s scheduled decision on the County’s appeal to Feb. 28, 2013. Each time the FAA stated that “An extension of time is necessary and appropriate for fair and complete determination in this case.”
In the interim, Bodin’s Garlic City Skydiving business remains grounded and the county can’t get started on its pavement rehabilitation project at three different airports.
