December 15, 2009

Mr. Randy Babbitt, Administrator
U.S. Department of Transportation - Federal Aviation Administration
800 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC  20591

Re: Notice of FOIA Twenty-Day Statutory Deadline Violation/Offer to Assist

Dear Mr. Babbitt:

On November 9 & 10, 2009, the FAA received and confirmed receipt my two written requests under the Federal Freedom of Information Act for 1) “a copy of any noise complaints from owners/occupants of homes with “through the fence” access at federally funded airports for the past 10 years; and 2) ) “a copy of any records in all forms that went into the formulation of FAA policy related to “hangar  homes/residences” and “through the fences” agreements at federally funded airports; respectively.

The FOIA requires your office to respond to a FOIA request within twenty business days from the date of receipt of such a request. This deadline has now elapsed without any response from your office. I am notifying you that I am not at this time exercising my legal option under the FOIA to file suit to compel compliance with the time limits of the FOIA. This information is time critical since the FAA has asked for “hangar home” comments by December 21, 2009, and all “through the fence” comments in reference to the September 30, 2009, release Airport Compliance Manual by February 28, 2010.  Again, for this reason, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE regarding the public disclosure of this information.

I do not wish to initiate litigation at this point because I feel a cooperative approach is better suited to resolving this situation. Therefore, I am offering to assist your office in any way possible to facilitate the prompt release of the requested documents. If I may redefine or clarify our request, or answer any questions, by all means, please let me know. I have left messages and sent Emails to the FOIA Coordinator Leon L Thomas and Airport Compliance Specialist Kathy Brockman without response.

Please let me know if we can help you in your efforts to publicly disclose the important information contained in the requested document. While I do not want to resort to litigation at this time, because of the time sensitive nature of the requested document, a legal action may be required if disclosure is not promptly forthcoming.

Very truly yours

Brent Blue