Findings
The height restrictions in the City of Montgomery’s Zoning Ordinance
do not consider the airport elevation and parcel location within the
35:1 Approach / Departure Clearance Surface for the Maxwell AFB LZ
as it has a different slope than the Main Runway.
There are zoning districts that do not have height restrictions in the
zoning ordinance, and they are not addressed in the AHA section of
the ordinance.
ISSUE
VO‐2
Trees Inside Southern Clear Zone
Aerial of Maxwell AFB Runway 33 Clear Zone and Trees
Trees inside the southern CZ pose an obstruction to
navigable airspace for Maxwell AFB’s Main Runway
(R15/33).
Compatibility Assessment
There are several trees located in the southeastern corner of the southern
CZ of Runway 15/33 that present vertical obstructions to Maxwell AFB’s
navigable airspace. These trees are mostly associated with residential
properties within the City of Montgomery. This is a concern to Maxwell AFB
due to the vertical obstructions that the trees create for low‐altitude,
reduced speed arrival flight operations and low‐altitude, increasing speed
departure operations from this runway. These trees are recommended to
be a certain height and maintained at that height so as not to interfere with
these arrival and departure aviation operations. This type of vertical
obstruction can potentially create an unsafe environment for the public in
the area as well as the pilots flying the aircraft. This type of encroachment
can also have costly property damages both to private and federal property
and equipment in the event of an aircraft collision with the trees.
The City of Montgomery’s AHA is the two‐mile area around Maxwell AFB in
which the city requires maintenance of tree heights at regulated structure
heights associated with the individual zoning districts. The properties in the
southern CZ are zoned Residential R‐60‐s, which has a height restriction of
35 feet. Thus, the 35 feet height should be maintained as the tree height,
according to the AHA in the City’s Zoning Ordinance. However, the AHA
regulations state that maintaining the tree heights is only a necessary
enforcement if the tree(s) becomes a vertical obstruction to safe aviation
navigation in this area. This regulation is excerpted from the AHA
regulations as follows:
Article VIII Airport Hazard Areas, Section 4. Additional
Regulations
§ 4.d. – Height regulations concerning trees shall be enforced
only when a failure to do so would allow an obstruction to air
navigation to occur or exist.
Page 5‐118
Background Report
June 2017