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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 6983 ORDINANCE NO. _L:� AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 4, AIRCRAFT, OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS (1964) , AS AMENDED, BY ADDING THERETO A NEW ARTICLE AND SECTION DESIGNATED AS ARTICLE V, MEACHAM FIELD FLIGHT REGULATIONS, AND SEC. 4-35; PROVIDING FOR THE CLOSING OF MEACHAM FIELD ON MAY 1, 1974, TO ALL REGULARLY SCHEDULED AIRCRAFT THAT TRANSPORT PASSENGERS OR PROPERTY FOR HIRE; PROVIDING AN EXEMPTION FOR ALL AIRCRAFT THAT TRANSPORT PASSENGERS OR PROPERTY FOR HIRE BETWEEN ONLY MEACHAM FIELD AND THE DALLAS/FORT WORTH REGIONAL AIRPORT; PROVIDING THAT EACH LANDING OR TAKE- OFF OF REGULARLY SCHEDULED AIRCRAFT ON OR AFTER MAY 1, 1974, FROM MEACHAM FIELD IN CONTRAVENTION OF THIS ORDINANCE IS A SEPARATE VIOLATION; PROVIDING NOTICE TO AIRCRAFT OWNERS; AUTHORIZING THE CITY ATTORNEY TO EN- FORCE SAME; PROVIDING A SEVERAPILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING A14 EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the Civil Aeronautics Board instituted an investigation under Docket No. 13959 on August 20, 1962, known as the "Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport Investiga- tion," to determine whether the Certificates of all air car- riers should be amended in such manner as to require that they serve the Cities of Fort Worth and Dallas through a single airport; and, WHEREAS, after the holding of widely publicized and attended public hearings and the presentation of the evi- dence of all parties and a full and complete investigation extending over two years, the Civil Aeronautics Board on September 30, 1964, in its Order No. E-21341 unanimously de- termined that service to Dallas and Fort Worth should be re- quired through a singlQ airport; and, WHEREAS, pursuant to the orders entered in that hear- ing and the ultimatums expressed by the Civil Aeronautics Board, the Cities of Fort worth and Dallas on September 27, 1965, signed a contract providing for the interim steps to be taken toward the construction of a Regional Airport, with the thought in mind that there should be created a separate governmental entity in Tarrant and Dallas Counties known as the North Central Texas Airport Authority, but as the result of elections held in each of said Counties on June 6. 1967, such Authority was not favorably voted by the voters of Dallas County; and, WHEREAS, further intensive studies of the airport prob- lems of the Cities of Fort Worth and Dallas resulted in joint determination by the City Councils of the two Cities that the commercial aviation and airport facilities of the Cities, specifically Love Field and Greater Southwest Inter- national Airport, were wholly inadequate to meet the foresee- able commercial aviation needs of the citizens of the Cities and the residents and citizens of the entire North Central Texas Region; and, WHEREAS, the two Cities further found and determined that the most effective, economic and efficient means of pro- viding needed airport facilities would be the construction and equipping of a centrally located airport for the Cities; and to that end, on April 15, 1968, the Cities by a Contract and Agreement established the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Air- port Board as a joint administrative arm of the Cities to pro- vide for the construction and operation of an airport to be known as the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport; and, WHEREAS, it was a requirement of the Contract and Agree- -2- ment that the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport Board initially prepare and submit to the respective City Coun- cils for approval an over-All Preliminary Plan for the fi- nancing, construction and operation of the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport; and, WHEREAS, the Fort Worth City Council on September 30, 1968, and the Dallas City council on October 7, 1968, adopted resolutions approving the over-All Preliminary Plan; and, WHEREAS, it was a specific finding of the over-All Preliminary Plan that the practicality and the economic feasibility of the financing and construction of the Regional Airport depended upon a transfer of the interim commercial air carrier uses of Love Field and Greater Southwest Inter- national Airport to the Regional Airport upon its completion and that the Regional Airport could not be financed as a self-sustaining, self-supporting project without the revenues generated from these sources; and, WHEREAS, upon findings of imperative and paramount public need and necessity, the Cities of Fort Worth and Dallas proceeded to assume General obligations of some Sixty Mil- lion Dollars for the purchase of land and jointly issued Four Hundred and Forty Million Dollars worth of Revenue Bonds for the construction of the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport, which was completed and commenced operation on January 13, 1974; and, WHEREAS, in connection with the issuance of the Reve- nue Bonds for the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport, the two Cities of Fort Worth and Dallas, by and through their respec- -3- tive City Councils, passed the 1968 Regional Airport Con- current Bond ordinance, effective November 12, 1968, being City of Fort Worth Ordinance No. 6021 and City of Dallas ordinance No. 12352, and the Cities did in said ordinance acknowledge their mutual understanding that in Love Field, Redbird, GSIA and Meacham Field, they owned and operated airports which by their nature are potentially competitive with the operation of the Regional Airport, and the Cities mutually promised to provide for the orderly, efficient and effective phase-out at Love Field, Redbird, GSIA and Meacham Field of any and all Certificated Air Carrier Services and to transfer such activities to the Regional Airport effective upon the beginning of operations at the Regional Airport; and, WHEREAS, as a specific promise and obligation to the purchasers of such bonds, the Cities further agreed in said Ordinance that neither the Cities of Dallas and Fort Worth nor their Regional Airport Board would undertake, with re- gard to the Regional Airport, Love Field, GSIA, Meacham Field or Redbird, any action, implement any policy or enter into any agreement or contract which by its or their nature would be competitive with or in opposition to the optimum develop- went of the Regional Airport and the use of its lands and facilities at the earliest practicable date; and, WHEREAS, the Cities of Dallas and Fort Worth further promised in said 1968 Ordinance that aircraft uses at GSIA would not be permitted after the Regional Airport became operational and that except for promotion and full develop- ment of the operation of reasonable aircraft uses at Love -4- Field, Redbird and Meacham Field other than Certificated Air Carrier Services, none of the airports of the Cities would be put to or developed for any use which by the nature thereof would impair, diminish, reduce or destroy the optimum use and development of the Regional Airport, including its air and land space, at the earliest practi- cable dater and, WHEREAS, consistent with all of the foregoing, all of the Certificated Air Carriers who had theretofore ob- tained long-term lease rights at Love Field (which would extend beyond the prospective opening of the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport), to wit, Braniff, American, Texas International, Delta, Continental, Eastern, Frontier and Ozark Airlines, did on February 9, 1970, execute Letters of Agreement wherein all covenanted and agreed to move all of their "Certificated Air Carrier Services serving the Dallas- Fort Worth area" to the new Regional Airport and thereafter to "conduct such services to, from and at the Airport to the extent required under the terms of the 1968 Regional Air- port Concurrent Bond Ordinance, " and such actions effectively provided for the phase-out .of all such activities at Love Field upon the opening of the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport, notwithstanding the previous lease rights to the contrary; and, WHEREAS, the foregoing determinations of the City Councils of the Cities of Fort Worth and Dallas of the neces- sity to provide the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport as the single airport for all Certificated Air Carrier Services, -5- to limit Love Field, Redbird and Meacham Field to the func- tion of serving all other civil aviation needs of the pub- lic and to close GSIA have become known as the Dallas/ Fort Worth Airport System Plan; and, WHEREAS, as a part of the National Airport System Plan, the Cities of Fort Worth and Dallas have accepted over Sixty Killion Dollars of Federal aid to accomplish the Dallas/ Fort Worth Airport System Plan described in the preceding paragraphs) and, WHEREAS, Southwest Airlines Company, although owning no lease rights to continue its Certificated Air Carrier Services at Love Field after the opening of the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport, has consistently refused to recog- nize the obligations of the Cities of Dallas and Fort Worth to operate all of their airports under the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport System Plan, despite the fact that it commenced its operations at Love Field in sine of 1971, several years after the aforesaid commitments of the Cities to the Plan; and, WHEREAS, as the result of the announced intentions of Southwest Airlines Company to continue to operate Certifi- cated Air Carrier Services at Love Field without leases or contracts from the City of Dallas providing for such rights after the opening of the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport, the Cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, together with the Dallas/ Fort Worth Regional Airport Board, filed Cause No. CA-3-5927-C in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, to declare the obligation of South- west Airlines Company to cease and desist from its intended unilateral use of the facilities at Dallas Love Field; and, -6- WHEREAS, the Court, after hearing the evidence and considering the pleadings in said cause, interpreted the 1968 Concurrent Bond Ordinance to be discriminatory against Southwest Airlines because it did not appear to specifically require the removal of the intrastate services of the eight CAB carriers signing the Letter Agreement to the Regional Airport Board; and, WHEREAS, it being the intent of the Cities of Dallas and Fort Worth that all of the scheduled services of all air carriers carrying persons or property for hire should be covered by the Bond Ordinance and the Court's interpretation being contrary to the intent of the two City Councils, it is the desire of the City Council of the City of Fort Worth that that portion of the services of those airlines not cov- ered under the 1968 Concurrent Bond Ordinance as interpreted by the Court should be included and covered as are all other air carriers in order that there may be no alleged discrimination against any of the scheduled air carriers; and, WHEREAS, in recognition of all of the foregoing, the City Council of the City of Fort Worth is of the opinion that there exists an urgent public necessity for immediate affirmative action calculated to preserve, protect and defend the investment of the citizens of the City of Fort Worth in providing new facilities for the conduct of non-exclusive and non-discriminatory commercial aviation services for the North Central Texas Region of Texas; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS: -7- SECTION 1. That Chapter 4, Aircraft, of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (1964) , as amended, be and the same is hereby amended by adding thereto a new Article and Sec- tion designated as Article V, Meacham Field Flight Regula- tions, and Sec. 4-35, which new Article and Section shall be and read as follows: "Article V. Meacham Field Flight Regulations "Sec. 4-35. Regulating Flight Operations at Meacham Field (a) From and after May 1, 1974, Meacham Field Airport situated in Fort Worth, Texas, will be closed to all regularly scheduled flights of aircraft that transport passengers or property for hire except flights of air- craft that .transport passengers or property for hire between only Meacham Field Airport and the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport. (b) From and after May 1, 1974, no person, as operator, owner, lessee, or as officer or agent of the owner or lessee of an aircraft, shall, at Meacham Field, land or take-off, or authorize the landing or taking-off of such aircraft in the course of any regglarly scheduled flight that transports passengers or property for hire, except that this pro- hibition shall not apply to a regularly scheduled aircraft flight that (1) transports passengers or property for hire between only Meacham Field Airport and the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport and (2) does not extend to any point beyond Meacham Field or the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport. Each prohibited landing or take-off shall constitute a separate viola- tion: (c) Any person who, as operator, owner, les- see, officer or agent thereof, violates a pro- vision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, is subject to a fine not to exceed Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) ." -8- SECTION 2. The City Attorney is hereby directed to cause notice of the provisions of this ordinance to be given to the owners or operators of all aircraft presently using or proposing to use the facilities at Meacham Field for the transportation of passengers or property for hire on a regu- larly scheduled basis, and he is hereby authorized to take such action as may be necessary to enforce the provisions hereof, including authority to institute injunction proceed- ings in a court of competent jurisdiction; and if injunctive proceedings are instituted in the name of the City of Fort Worth, no bond shall be required. SECTION 3. That Chapter 4 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1964), as amended, shall remain in full force and effect save and except as amended hereby. SECTION 4. That the terms and provisions of this ordinance are severable and shall be governed by Section 1-4 of Chapter 1 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1964), as amended. SECTION 5. That this ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after the date of its passage and publication as required by law. APPR AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: ci y A torney -9- THE STATE OF TEXAS § COUNTY OF TARRANT § I. ROY A. BATEMAN, City Secretary of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, do hereby certify that the above and foregoing is a true and correct copy of Ordinance No. 6983, duly presented and adopted by the City Council of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, at a regular session held on the 15th day of April, A. D. 1974, as same appears of record in City Council Minute Book G-2, Pages 1 through 5, in the Office of the City Secretary. Said ordinance is in full force and effect. WITNESS MY HAND and the Official Seal of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, this the 19th day of February, A. D. , 1975. C ' y cretary of the City of FORT WORTH, TEXAS