ModernWest Longmont, LLC v. FAA

── ModernWest Longmont, LLC v. FAA ── Court: Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Date: May 29, 2026 Category: General United States Court of Appeals FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT Argued March 19, 2026 Decided May 29, 2026 No. 25-1150 MODERNWEST LONGMONT, LLC, PETITIONER v. FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, RESPONDENT On Petition for Review of a Final Order of the Federal Aviation Administration M. Roy Goldberg argued the cause and filed the briefs for petitioner. Caroline D. Lopez, Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, argued the cause for respondent. With her on the brief were Brett A. Shumate, Assistant Attorney General, and August E. Flentje, Attorney. Before: PILLARD and GARCIA, Circuit Judges, and EDWARDS, Senior Circuit Judge. Opinion for the Court filed by Senior Circuit Judge EDWARDS.  2 EDWARDS, Senior Circuit Judge: Petitioner ModernWest Longmont, LLC (“ModernWest”) is a property development company that seeks to build mixed-use housing developments directly under the approach and departure paths of a federally funded, public-use airport operated by the City of Longmont, Colorado (“the City”) in its capacity as an airport sponsor. ModernWest needs approval from the City to proceed with its plans. However, after a lengthy permitting process, the City effectively denied ModernWest’s proposal. ModernWest then filed a petition for review with this court seeking to abrogate messages sent by the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) to the City prior to its decision, advising the City that the proposed housing developments would violate a grant assurance upon which the airport’s federal funding is conditioned. ModernWest claims that FAA’s letters caused the City to reject the proposal and asks that FAA be ordered to vacate and withdraw the letters so the City can revisit the issue. We dismiss ModernWest’s petition for lack of standing. ModernWest “offer[s] nothing but speculation to substantiate [its] claim that a favorable decision from this court will redress [its] injuries by altering [the City’s] independent decision[].” Nat’l Wrestling Coaches Ass’n v. Dep’t of Educ., 366 F.3d 930, 937 (D.C. Cir. 2004). In other words, ModernWest has failed to show that its requested relief, vacatur and withdrawal of FAA’s letters, is likely to result in the City redressing its injury by approving the proposed housing development. In addition, in seeking review with this court, ModernWest failed to comply with our requirement that it argue standing, and furnish evidence of standing, in its opening brief. This briefing deficiency also requires us to dismiss the petition for review.  3 I. BACKGROUND A. FAA Role in Property Development Near Airports FAA oversees property development near airports in two ways. First, FAA requires, in exchange for federal funding, that airport sponsors ensure that land next to airports is used only for compatible purposes. Second, FAA reviews proposed construction for potential obstruction of flight paths. 1. Grant Assurances and Part 16 Enforcement As the Government aptly explains in its brief to the court: [A]irports that receive federal grants for “an airport development project” (known as airport sponsors) are subject to an array of ongoing statutory restrictions that are embodied in the terms of federal grants. 49 U.S.C. § 47107(a). Congress vested the Secretary of the Department of Transportation with broad authority to implement these restrictions in issuing grants pursuant to the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982, see id. § 47101 et seq., as delegated to the FAA Administrator, see 49 C.F.R. [§] 1.83(a)(9). FAA has implemented these statutory authorities through written grant assurances, which airport sponsors agree to follow on an ongoing basis