Council To Hire Law Firm, Advisors To Help Navigate Tweed 'Strategy'

EAST HAVEN, CT — Before the Town Council went into executive session, a closed door meeting, it received a letter from East Haven Mayor Joseph A. Carfora. In it, he spelled out the reasons why the council should agree to bring legal help aboard to handle the Tweed New Haven Airport expansion issue. An issue he called the "most transformative" the town has faced.

Carfora maintains Tweed New Haven Airport's expansion negatively, and disproportionately, impact the East Haven side of the airport. As noise and environmental concerns grow, it is not reasonable that the majority of jet parking, all flight arrivals and departures, along with all passenger parking be placed on the East Haven side. He pointed to quality of life issues related to the expansion. Jet noise, and jet fuel odor, among them. But it's the "clear impacts" of traffic on streets to and from the beach, the Town Green, and the "already burdened" High Street to North High Street Bridge area, that "create worrisome safety and quality of life issues."

He was making the case for legal help: "To allow our town attorney to formally put in place the specialized aviation, airport land use, and FAA experts that we need to evaluate, advise, and navigate us through this process," he wrote. "That time has come."

The council agreed.

It voted unanimously on a resolution to hire the law firm Pullman & Comley LLC. And, to "engage federal aviation legal counsel" as recommended by the law firm to help Town Attorney Michael Luzzi "with all matters in connection with the proposed expansion of facilities at the airport." It also hired an attorney who has experience with federal aviation cases and the Federal Aviation Administration in particular, Daniel S. Reimer of Denver, CO. Reimer has over 20 years' "experience and a deep understanding of airports and airport law." And from 2014 to 2019, he supervised the law department at Denver International Airport.

Carfora had told the council that, while he wanted to be in the executive session, "counsel has advised me that it would not be appropriate, since there is a distinct charter separation of responsibilities between the mayor and the legislative counsel."

Carfora: "New Haven, and to Yale, cannot be placed in higher regard than the impact that this expansion will have on our town."

As Carfora had noted in the letter to the council in advance of the executive session, that he, the town engineer, town attorney, public safety and legal staff have met regularly on Tweed. The town has met "numerous times with Tweed stakeholders, and during those meetings we have asked for specific information." But he noted that "there have been offers that simply do not address the root concerns about this proposed move to East Haven."

"But for me," he said, "It always comes back to the simple fact that the benefits to the region, to New Haven, and to Yale, cannot be placed in higher regard than the impact that this expansion will have on our town."

The awaited environmental assessment and noise study will provide guidance regarding noise mitigation programs, and outline environmental impacts, he said.

"We need answers and commitments from taxation to preemption claims," Carfora said. "We want our legal rights protected."

Wednesday, after the council agreed on the hiring of legal counsel, Carfora said the measure is "crucial."

"We look forward to their advice on everything from environmental impacts, land use, zoning, traffic, noise, public safety, and any other FAA considerations," he said in a statement emailed to Patch. "This hiring does not mean that there will not be continued discussion with Tweed and its stakeholders. It simply means that we want the appropriate assets in place now, prior to the release of the hard data that will impact all East Haven residents."