City Flap Over Hangar Events

Aviation companies at Van Nuys Airport are mobilizing an effort to reverse a city of Los Angeles administrative order banning public events from aircraft hangars at the San Fernando Valley airfield. Through the Van Nuys Airport Association, which represents the major airport tenants, and the Van Nuys-based advocacy group Valley Industry & Commerce Association, city officials are getting an earful of objections to the ban from airport tenants. The airport was unaware of the ban on public events in hangars until a meeting on Dec. 4 of the Airport Association at which representatives of the city’s Department of Building and Safety and the Los Angeles Fire Department said they would begin enforcement immediately. Violators could be fined up to $5,000. “Other than hearing there was this administrative order, no one knew what the details were,” Association President Curt Castagna said in an interview with the Business Journal. “We all found out the specifics as it was relayed from DBS and the Fire Department. That’s when we first heard their position on it.” The Building and Safety Department did not respond to requests for an interview. The VICA Aviation Committee discussed the issue at its Dec. 5 meeting, and two days later the group sent a letter to Mayor Eric Garcetti, the City Council, the Fire Department and Building and Safety outlining its objections to the ban. VICA is seeking a 180-day stay on enforcement of the order, a formal review and permitting process and a distinction between aircraft hangars and warehouses, which are also subject to the ban. “An abrupt ban on events without any type of warning or public engagement is simply unfair and will cost businesses thousands of dollars to put up tents or find alternate arrangements,” said the letter signed by President Stuart Waldman and Chairwoman Lisa Gritzner. Tony Marlow knows firsthand the impacts of the ban. Marlow, president of aviation operations and business development at Castle & Cooke Aviation, a fixed-base operator at the airport, donated hangar space for the fifth year to the Mid Valley Family YMCA for the Van Nuys group’s annual fundraiser. The event took place on the evening of Dec. 5, a day after finding out about the ban on public events. This year the event honored Los Angeles Councilmember Nury Martinez, whose district includes the airport. At the last minute, Castle & Cooke had to move the gala into a series of gigantic tents. “It was pretty awful,” Marlow said. “We had to set up tents and be outside with portable heaters and electricity running across the ramp in the rain and generators. Had we had it inside the hangar, it would have been considerably safer.” Clay Lacy Aviation had its annual holiday party in one of its hangars on Dec. 14. Bob Rodine, a consultant who works with aviation clients, was present at the party and talked with the company’s Chief Executive Brian Kirkdoffer about the hangar issue. Kirkdoffer said that he left it in the hands of his staff to handle, Rodine said. “I have no idea what accommodation was made for them or what they were able to arrange,” he said, adding there were no aircraft in the hangar where the party took place. Attempts to reach a representative of Clay Lacy Aviation were not successful. Oakland warehouse fire The origins of the ban trace back to the Ghost Ship fire in a warehouse in Oakland two years ago in which 36 people were killed. Afterwards, L.A. Fire Department and Building and Safety decided to stop approving temporary special use permits for public events in warehouses at the Port of Los Angeles and in aircraft hangars. Castagna, of the airport tenant’s association and also chief executive of Aeroplex/Aerolease Group, which operates hangar space at Van Nuys, said that to equate aircraft hangars with warehouses was just wrong. There is a big difference between a warehouse building made of wood and a metal hangar with large doors giving a clear opening, he added. “No operator at the airport is going to endorse anything that isn’t safe,” Castagna said. “No one is trying to circumvent any safety requirements. Truth is, our industry is based on safety. We’re going to make sure that safety stays at the top of the focus here, relative to how we look at this issue.” In October, Aeroplex hosted a public event in one of its hangars attended by about 60 people, including representatives from Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that oversees Van Nuys. Rodine called hangars without aircraft in them a risk-free environment. One of the reasons for the ban was over concerns of a fire breaking out during a public event. But that is not likely to happen because the hangars at the airport “have the best fire suppression systems that you could possibly imagine because such huge value is parked in those hangars,” Rodine said. “When the hangars are used for these kinds of events, the aircraft are moved out and there is no aircraft issue,” he added. The ban, however, does not include events connected with film and television production, as the Building and Safety Department isn’t involved in issuing permits for them. The Hollywood nonprofit FilmL.A. coordinates the issuance of permits for film shoots in the city and other jurisdictions. It was ironic, said Marlow, that the YMCA event could have gone ahead as planned in a hangar if there had been filming included with it. If that had been the case, a fire marshal or representative of the Fire Department would have needed to be in attendance, Marlow said. “We had offered to do that at our expense, but the Department of Building and Safety said no,” he added. “The only difference was we did not have cameras there.” The ban also does not apply to events that are held just for the employees of the aviation companies at the hangars. “That is OK because they work in the building,” Marlow said. “When it was opened to the public and we had people from the YMCA, that is what pushed us over the line.” City Council solution Already there is movement to reverse the ban. Martinez and Councilman Joe Buscaino, whose district includes the port, introduced a motion to the City Council on Dec. 11 requesting that the Fire Department and Building and Safety come up with recommendations to set up a system to allow public events on a case-by-case basis in aircraft hangars and at the port. The motion also directs both departments, the city’s chief legislative analyst and city attorney to come up with recommended changes to state and city law to adopt alternative safety measures for temporary special events in city-owned hangars and warehouses. The Van Nuys Airport tenants are ready to get involved with crafting a solution to the issue, Castagna said, adding that it could help bring in resources and industry experts to provide some guidance. “We just want to be involved in the due process part and provide input relative to solutions – mitigation measures and best practices – to address how we can make sure these events take place and do so safely,” he said. As for the Mid Valley YMCA gala, Marlow, of Castle & Cooke, said the aviation company planned on making a hangar available for this year’s event. “If we cannot get an approval, we likely won’t do it,” Marlow said. “(A tent) is not the right way to handle this particular event. It needs to be done inside.”