Pegasus and Reynolds Appeal Ruling on Hall Apartment Plan to Fifth Circuit

Meanwhile, Lawyers for Landowner and City Protest Airport-Safety Draft

Attorney T.R. Hainline, representing Virginia Hall and family, asks Clay County planners to remove the airport at Reynolds Park from the list of facilities to be regulated by a proposed airport safety ordinance.

“We would hope that the county would choose not to get involved in the litigation. Simply take Reynolds Park out of the ordinance, and you won’t see me again.”—T.R. Hainline

In the eyes of Green Cove Springs leaders, their battle against a CIA-backed aviation outfit is playing out just as they had feared. They always said that the opposition strategy was to draw from the agency’s deep pockets while the city and a prominent local family bled money paying defense lawyers.

Earlier this month, CIA-controlled Pegasus Technologies and its landlord, Reynolds Industrial Park, appealed to the Florida Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing errors and omissions by the local judge who ruled against them at trial.

Originally, Pegasus and Reynolds had sued arguing that four-story apartments should not be built on land belonging to the family of Virginia Hall. These co-plaintiffs had argued that the city of Green Cove, which had annexed the land in question, rezoned it and approved the development all at the same time, had erred in its decision-making.

The details can be found in previous stories about the case available on the Clay News & Views website (search term: Pegasus), but the gist was that the rezoning and approvals were inconsistent with the city’s long-term development plan and that the city should not have proceded without completing state-mandated airport-specific zoning.

The plaintiffs argued the apartments would create an unsafe situation because they lay in line with the Reynolds runway, albeit a half mile away.

Part of the Pegasus/Reynolds appeal strategy is to cite a proposed airport zoning ordinance under consideration by Clay County in their arguments to the Fifth Circuit.

Earlier this month, lawyers for the city and Hall family spoke at County Planning Commission, urging that planners cleanse the final ordinance of any possible suggestion that it applies to Reynolds.

The proposed airport zoning is in response to a provision of Chapter 333 of Florida law which mandates that all counties or municipalities craft special zoning to ensure public safety at and around any airports within their jurisdictions. In ruling against Pegasus and Reynolds, Circuit Court Judge Don Lester disregarded the mandate issue, saying it should apply only to “public-use airports,” not facilities at Reynolds.

The move to comply with Chapter 333 is an inititiative promoted by County Commissioner Jim Renninger, a retired naval aviator, who insists that safety zoning should apply to all airports, including the one at Reynolds.

Because of the appeal—impending at the time—the city found itself in the unusual position of opposing a public safety initiative, and sent one of its hired attorneys, Brenna Durden to speak before county planners on February 6.

Durden argued that inclusion of the airport at Reynolds Park in the proposed county zoning would take away Green Cove’s oversight over the facility and would effectively allow Reynolds Industrial Park to create its own runway protection plan. “We’re asking clarity that none of this will apply to incorporated areas, rather it (the airport ordinance) should say that it is applicable only to unincorporated lands in the county,” she said.

Also attending was Attorney T.R. Hainline, representing Virginia Hall. Hainline said the Halls were concerned by a provision in the draft specifying that when the proposed ordinance disagrees with that of another jurisdiction, the one with the stricter provisions will apply.

“We’re asking just one thing. It’s very simple. Remove Reynolds Park from the list of airports that are covered by this ordinance. It is the only listed airport that lies entirely within another local government’s jurisdiction,” Hainline said.

“The port (Reynolds) thinks this ordinance could be used against Green Cove Springs and the Hall family. We would hope that the county would choose not to get involved in the litigation. Simply take Reynolds Park out of the ordinance, and you won’t see me again.”