"Jose" wrote in message
m...
Seems to me this would be an illegal usurpation of Federal authority (over
aviation).

Could be. I'm not an expert in that area of law. I will point out that the
way that the regulations are written, it may not be. I generalized when I
described the regulations, and what they actually prohibit is aircraft
taking off or landing outside of the aviation district. You can fly through
the airspace above other areas within Lakeway, of course. After all, you
would have to in order to get to the aviation district.

Given that the regulation basically addresses only those activities that
occur on the ground, I think it's possible that it doesn't represent an
illegal usurpation of Federal authority. After all, there is precedent for
regulations affecting the operation of aircraft being upheld as legal, as
long as those regulations don't step on the FAA's toes.

Also, all that said, there is ample precedent of regulations that probably
ARE illegal usurpations of Federal authority, but which have never been
contested vigorously enough to have them revoked. AOPA in particular spends
a lot of time warning municipalities about potentially illegal rules, but
I'm not aware of many instances where they actually took a municipality to
court over such rules, nor of an individual doing the same.

A rule that is illegal but which is never contested might as well be legal.

Pete