Seems like the “federal funding as a tool” approach is working, at least for now. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a local government suddenly change their minds when they found out that by messing with a local airport they’d lose some funding. Upon finding out that my old home airport LNA was now allowing small jets I was shocked, they were previously prohibited. I was told that the county’s old prohibition was quickly erased when someone challenged it and the feds threatened to pull funding if the interference with public airport use wasn’t stopped.
It was a win for the airport users against the NIMBYs that are so commonly a problem. For reference, LNA predates all homes around it by at least 10 years, having opened in the early 40s. It’s one of the clearest examples of “well you shouldn’t have moved in near an airport if you don’t want to hear airplanes” I’ve ever seen. The jet operations, now allowed, are still fairly uncommon. There’s not much interest around there with an international airport only a dozen miles or so away, and LNA is too small for most light jets anyway.