EAA and AOPA have weighed in on the FAA's new policy on through-the-fence agreements and both are asking the agency to back off. The new policy effectively outlaws the deals, in which property owners on land adjacent to an airport are granted access, usually via a gate that leads to a taxiway. Although the FAA has always officially frowned on such arrangements, it has given local authorities latitude to approve them in cases where it helped the airport and paid its own way. That changed in September with the release of the new policy, which includes the line that "there are no acceptable residential through-the-fence agreements." What's especially troubling to AOPA is that the directive appears to order any FAA-funded airports to cancel existing agreements that don't have end dates, something that could result in expensive litigation. EAA, however, says there's a place for the agreements and they should be allowed in some circumstances.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/news/eaa-aopa-critical-of-through-the-fence-ban