IN THE SUPREME COURT OF IOWA No. 17–1458 Filed May 10, 2019 THE CARROLL AIRPORT COMMISSION, Appellee, vs. LOREN W. DANNER and PAN DANNER, Appellants. On review from the Iowa Court of Appeals. Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Carroll County, William C. Ostlund, Judge. A farmer seeks further review of a court of appeals decision declining to give preemptive effect to a no-hazard determination by the Federal Aviation Administration. DECISION OF COURT OF APPEALS VACATED; DISTRICT COURT JUDGMENT AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED. Steven D. Hamilton of Hamilton Law Firm, P.C., Storm Lake, for appellants. Gina C. Badding of Neu, Minnich, Comito, Halbur, Neu & Badding, P.C., Carroll, for appellee. 2 WATERMAN, Justice. In this appeal, we must determine the legal effect of a “no hazard” letter issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to a farmer who built a twelve-story grain leg (bucket elevator) near an airport. The structure intrudes sixty feet into airspace restricted for aviation. Construction was well underway when a member of the local airport commission cried foul. The airport commission informed the farmer he needed a variance and refused to grant one, without waiting for input from federal officials. Shortly thereafter, the FAA investigated and granted a no-hazard determination, approving the structure on the condition the farmer paint it and place blinking red lights on top, which he did. The FAA also adjusted the flight path. This did not satisfy the local commissioners, who two years later filed this action in equity to force the farmer to remove or modify the structure. The farmer raised an affirmative defense that the federal no-hazard determination preempted the local regulations. The district court, sitting in equity, rejected the preemption defense and issued an injunction requiring the farmer to remove or alter the grain leg at his expense and imposed a daily penalty after a nine- month grace period to abate the nuisance. The farmer appealed, and we transferred the case to the court of appeals, which affirmed the rejection of his preemption defense. We granted the farmer’s application for further review. On our de novo review, we determine that the Federal Aviation Act allows for local zoning regulation, and the no-hazard letter did not preempt the local airport zoning regulations as a matter of law. We affirm the district court’s finding the structure constitutes a threat to aviation requiring abatement. But we conclude that the $200 daily 3 penalty should be vacated, and the nine-month period to modify or remove the structure shall begin anew when procedendo issues. We affirm the district court judgment as modified. I. Background Facts and Proceedings. Loren and Pan Danner, husband and wife, live on a farm they own in Carroll County, Iowa. Loren has been farming this land since 1968. Loren formerly raised livestock but has exclusively grown row crops on the land since 2000. The Danner farm sits under the flight path to the Arthur N. Neu Municipal Airport, a facility managed by the Carroll Airport Commission (the Commission). Local zoning ...
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