Thomson Industries, Inc. v. Incorporated Village of Port Washington North

55 Misc. 2d 625, 286 N.Y.S.2d 187, 1967 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 957
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 28, 1967
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 55 Misc. 2d 625 (Thomson Industries, Inc. v. Incorporated Village of Port Washington North) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thomson Industries, Inc. v. Incorporated Village of Port Washington North, 55 Misc. 2d 625, 286 N.Y.S.2d 187, 1967 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 957 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1967).

Opinion

Daniel G. Albert, J.

The question presented by this action for a declaratory judgment and ancillary injunctive relief is whether the defendant village may prohibit plaintiff from using a portion of its property as a helicopter landing area.

The plaintiff corporation owns a 15-acre parcel within an Industrial “ A ” District of the village upon which it operates [626]*626a plant for the manufacture of various types of bearings. Plaintiff’s building covers approximately two acres. Adjoining it is a blacktopped parking area, also measuring approximately two acres. The balance of the property is as yet unimproved.

Plaintiff also maintains manufacturing facilities at Lancaster, Pennsylvania and has been operating its plant in the defendant village since September, 1963. From October, 1964, until September, 1965, plaintiff utilized a portion of the paved parking area as a site for the landing and take-off of a helicopter which it had previously purchased. During this period, 25 helicopter landings and, one may presume, an equal number of departures, were made at the parking area. The helicopter was stored and serviced at the Westchester 'County Airport and, except for the storage of a limited amount of fuel, no facilities, equipment or material were maintained for it at the site here involved.

The 25 flights to and from plaintiff’s plant were primarily for the transportation of important customers, distributors, licensees or personnel of the plaintiff corporation. The flights were not made on a regular schedule and were not available to the public.

On October 21, 1964, pursuant to the regulations of, and on a form provided by the Federal Aviation Agency (hereinafter referred to as the “ FAA ”), plaintiff gave notice to that agency of the establishment of the landing area on its property. The notice stated that one aircraft would be making an estimated 10 landings monthly at the site and that licensing of the facility was not required by State, county or municipal authorities. By letter dated January 19, 1965, a representative of the FAA informed plaintiff that, subject to compliance with certain conditions not relevant to this litigation, the latter’s notification of “ the establishment of'a corporate private use heliport” was acceptable to the FAA ‘ from an airspace standpoint ’ ’.

Plaintiff discontinued helicopter flights to and from its plant in the Fall of 1965, following communications from the defendant village directing it to do so on the ground that such operations were in violation of the village’s building zone ordinance and of section 249 of the General Business Law. Shortly thereafter, plaintiff commenced this action, seeking, according to its amended complaint, a judgment declaring that:

£< A. The operation of plaintiff’s helicopter and the use of a portion of plaintiff’s aforesaid premises for a helicopter landing-site is not prohibited by either Article VIII-A of defendant’s [627]*627Building Zone Ordinance or Section 249 of the General Business Law;

“ B. The absolute prohibition of the use of plaintiff’s aforesaid premises in an Industrial ‘ A ’ District by a helicopter is unconstitutional, void and ineffective;
“ C. Defendant be restrained and enjoined from bringing any action or proceeding against the plaintiff to prohibit the operation of plaintiff’s helicopter or to prohibit the use of plaintiff’s aforesaid premises as a helicopter landing site.”

Under section 1 of article VIII-A of the defendant village’s Building Zone Ordinance, the construction or alteration of a building, or the use of a building, lot or premises in an Industrial “ A ” District as a “ Heliport ” is proscribed. Plaintiff’s initial contention is that the prohibition of its ordinance does not extend to the occasional operation of a helicopter from its plant for the purposes and in the manner described supra. The ordinance itself does not define the term “heliport”. Upon the trial of this action, plaintiff produced expert testimony and documentary evidence to demonstrate the distinction which, it is claimed, the FAA draws between a “heliport”, a ‘1 helistop ’ ’ and an off-heliport landing site ’ ’ and to demonstrate that the use plaintiff proposes to make of a portion of its property would constitute such area an ‘ off-heliport landing site ” rather than a “ heliport.”

Plaintiff’s primary source for definition of these terms is the “ Heliport Design Guide ” published by the FAA in November, 1964. In that publication, the term heliport is defined as “ an area * * * that is used or intended to be used for the landing and take-off of helicopters and includes some or all of the various facilities useful to helicopter operation such as helicopter parking, waiting room, fueling, and maintenance equipment. ’ ’ The Design Guide defines helistop as “ a heliport * * * without auxiliary facilities ” such as those mentioned above and off-heliport landing site as “ a take-off and landing area intended for temporary or occasional use.”

Plaintiff also introduced upon the trial a copy of a letter addressed to it from the FAA’s District Airport Engineer, dated June 24, 1965, indicating that unless plaintiff increased its helicopter operations 11 beyond the occasional use as shown on # * * [its1] original proposal ” the FAA would consider the landing area on plaintiff’s property as an “ off-heliport landing site ’ ’ rather than a heliport.

At the outset, the court is concerned only with determining the intent of the legislative body which enacted the ordinance [628]*628in issue. The question is not what meaning the FAA, or this court, gives to the word “heliport”. The question is what meaning the board of trustees of the defendant village gave that word at the time the ordinance became effective.

A thorough reading of the FAA’s “ Heliport Design Guide ” convinces the court that the distinctions made therein between various types of helicopter landing sites, which plaintiff urges the court to read into the ordinance, have little if any bearing upon the question to be resolved herein and, in any event, are not of assistance to plaintiff’s position. The introductory material in the ‘ ‘ Design Guide ’ ’ states that it is issued ‘ ‘ as a guide for the preparation and construction of heliports of various types”-, that it “outlines the basic physical, technical and public interest factors which .should be considered in establishing heliport sites and that “ the heliports considered range from modest exclusive use types (the vast majority in use today) to fully develop facilities suitable for multiple operations ” (emphasis supplied). It seems clear from these introductory comments as well as from the tenor of the entire publication that the FAA itself treats the wTord ‘ ‘ heliport ’ ’ as a generic term embracing various types of facilities and that the classification of such facilities is solely for the purpose of discussing within the ‘ ‘ Design Guide ’ ’ such factors as location, size and support facilities which will vary depending on the purpose of the heliport and the frequency of helicopter operations. Indeed, the “Design Guide ”.itself, in a chapter entitled ‘ ‘ Physical Characteristics of Heliports ’ ’, states (p. 19) that “ A heliport is recognized and defined as an area for the landing and takeoff of helicopters, but not every site used for this purpose need be designated a heliport ” (emphasis supplied).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Garden State Farms, Inc. v. Bay
390 A.2d 1177 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1978)
Garden State Farms, Inc. v. Mayor Louis Bay, II
390 A.2d 1177 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1978)
Thomson Industries, Inc. v. Incorporated Village of Port Washington North
32 A.D.2d 1072 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1969)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
55 Misc. 2d 625, 286 N.Y.S.2d 187, 1967 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 957, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thomson-industries-inc-v-incorporated-village-of-port-washington-north-nysupct-1967.