Court Battle Over FAA Money Rages On

The East Hampton Aviation Association are calling victory, but opponents of the town accepting federal funding for the aren't done fighting it.

David Gruber and the Committee to Stop Airport Expansion have been trying to stop the town from accepting Federal Aviation Administration funds, for a deer fence, due to .

The town board for the deer fence on Dec. 6, 2011.

For the third time in as many months, the committee was denied a court order.

Following a hearing before Justice Peter B. Skelos of the New York State Appellate Division, 2nd Department, the committee was turned down, again last week.

, an East Hampton attorney representing the committee, said he had submitted an order to show cause.

Bragman first headed to court on the issue in December from Supreme Court Justice John J.J. Jones Jr. in Riverhead.

A second request to Jones was made and denied. Bragman said the second application for the temporary restraining order, was based in the fact that town made misrepresentations during the first application for injunctive relief. "The third application was really a request for permission to appeal," he said.

"That's why we have appellate courts," Bragman said.

The case will now be heard by a full panel of the Appellate Division.

"The petitioners will continue to make every effort to stay the town from irrevocably surrendering local airport control, because local control is the only way to reduce air traffic and noise," Bragman said.

However, Anthony Pasca of the firm Esseks & Angel, which represents the Aviation Association, which is party to the suit, said, "The underlying request by Mr. Gruber to set aside the Master plan has no merit," Pasca said.

He said, "Mr. Gruber is actually recycling arguments that he and his group made unsuccessfully a decade ago, when both the Supreme Court and Appellate Division denied his request back then to interfere with the Town’s decision-making process on how best to run the airport.”

“Courts are reluctant to substitute their judgment in matters where an elected Town Board has had many public hearings and reached a decision on what is best for the town residents,” Pasca said.

Bragman said he is confident the truth will come out. "Eventually, this litigation will reveal the simple truth: that East Hampton has always has the power to limit air traffic and noise, but concealed that fact, and chose to do nothing for thousands of residents tormented by noise, for the convenience of a privileged few."