Court case to decide future for Luke AFB - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Court case to decide future for Luke AFB

PHOENIX — The future of Luke Air Force Base is on trial in Maricopa County Superior Court.

At issue is a law shielding the base from nearby development and the billions of dollars the base brings in.

Attorney General Terry Goddard says overturning the law and permitting residential development near Luke could imperil Arizona’s other military installations that annually pump $9 billion into the economy.

Maricopa County opposes the law saying it unfairly deprives property owners on unincorporated land near Luke of the value of holdings.

Luke is currently the world’s largest F-16 training base and one of two sites being considered as the home for the new F-35 Lighting II, the new-generation aircraft that will replace the F-16, the Air Force’s primary fighter-bomber.

Base advocates fear that if Luke doesn’t land the F-35 program, Luke will be close as F-16s are withdrawn from service.

“If the county policy goes forward, as they are trying to justify, I think we will have additional residential encroachment, and that is a very, very negative message to send to the folks in the Air Force when they are making a decision about where the Joint Strike Fighter is going to be bedded down and where the training is going to take place,” Goddard said.

The state wants the county to adopt a general plan that forbids issuing residential building permits in the restricted zones of Luke and its Auxiliary Field 1 and near the Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field.

Maricopa County claims the state is taking away the county’s zoning authority through an unconstitutional unfunded mandate that tramples on private-property rights.

“If the state is the zoning authority, then it must take charge of the process and the county is out of it,” said Charles Kelhoffer, outside counsel for the county.

“This is not about not supporting Luke. Everybody ... wants to keep Luke, wants to make its mission succeed. “Our country is at war, and we certainly need what they do out there,” Kelhoffer said.

He added that if the judge rules for the county, then the state Legislature, which is in session, can always rework the statute.

Much of the legal fight has centered on building permits near Auxiliary Field 1 northwest of the base near Wittman.

The county has placed a moratorium on all building permits in the areas until the matter is sorted out in court.

The two entities have filed suits against each other and head to trial at 1:30 p.m. Friday in Maricopa County Superior Court before Judge Edward Burke.