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By Lookout Staff

May 16 -- The City on Friday asked an Appeals Court to stay a District Court ruling barring it from enforcing an ordinance that bans larger, faster jets at Santa Monica Airport “in order to promote public safety.”

The City’s application to postpone enforcement of the ruling comes one week after U.S. District Judge George H. Wu ordered the City to comply with the Interim Order issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) barring the City from imposing fines to pilots who violate the new law.

Filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the application argues that the City “is likely to succeed on the merits of the case” because, as Airport proprietor, it has the power to dictate usage of the facility in order to protect safety, said Kate Vernez, a senior analyst for the City Manager’s office.

The FAA’s Interim Cease & Desist Orders were unlawfully issued and “no significant harm would result from issuance of a stay,” which would “promote the public interest,” City officials argued.

In his ten-page ruling May 15, Wu declined to rule on the merits of the order and suggested that the City seek a ruling from the Court of Appeals.

The FAA went to court last month after airport officials notified pilots that the ordinance --which bans jets with approach speeds of between 139 and 191 mph -- would go into effect as scheduled on April 24.

The FAA argues that the City lacks the authority to ban jets under the 1984 settlement agreement between both parties. The Federal Agency argues that the law approved by the council last month is unnecessary and would harm jet operators.

The City has called the federal government’s challenge a “legal assault” on an ordinance responding to increasing concerns that soaring jet traffic -- from 4,829 jet operations in 1994 to 18,575 last year -- is putting neighboring homes, as well as pilots, in danger.