A new lawsuit filed by three businesses operating out of Hartford’s Brainard Airport alleges that Mayor Luke Bronin, City Council Members Nick Lebron and James Sanchez, and the City of Hartford interfered with their businesses by spreading false information and attempting to influence the Connecticut legislature to close the airport through Hartford Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford.

Hartford Jet Center, Pegasus Air Charter and Harford South Hangars allege that Hartford leadership intentionally misled the public about the viability and usefulness of Brainard Airport, leading to speculation the airport would be closed and thus interfering with their businesses, according to their 39-count complaint.

“Defendants Luke Bronin, James Sanchez, and Nick Lebron have engaged in tortious conduct designed to mislead the public towards believing that they and the Defendant City of Hartford can close Brainard Airport and that Brainard Airport is failing, economically unsound, and suitable for other purposes, despite all evidence and independent reporting to the contrary and despite a 1959 covenant deed ceding all control by the City of Hartford to the State of Connecticut such that the City of Hartford has no power or authority to close the airport,” the complaint says.

Although not named as a defendant, the complaint says Fonfara held back a 2016 report by the Connecticut Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee that found Brainard to be a reliever airport for Bradley – allowing smaller planes to land so that larger aircraft can land at Bradley – and that the land would likely not be suitable for anything else.

In comments published in Aviation Pros in 2022, Fonfara said, “That study was never voted on and never approved and that was intentional because they went so far beyond their scope of what they traditionally do. I gave it no credibility then, and I give it no credibility now.”

The complaint also alleges that various studies conducted by Hartford officials were possibly flawed, including a 2021 report authored by student Adam Ovian – called the Ovian Report in the complaint – that was cited by Fonfara and Sanchez in their call for closing the airport “to benefit themselves personally, politically and financially.” The complaint indicates that Ovian was then hired as a college intern by Sanchez.

The Ovian report was posted on a Facebook page called Wethersfield Against Deforestation and Expansion (WADE) reportedly run by Wethersfield Democratic Chairwoman Cindy Greenblatt, according to the plaintiffs.

Sanchez then filed a City Council resolution seeking to close the airport and tapped his Council Aide Haylee Green-Ortiz to “create a lengthier report to close Brainard Airport,” according to the suit.

“Haylee Green-Ortiz, however, has now been discovered to be Defendant Sanchez’s undisclosed niece with no professional experience,” the complaint says, adding that Green-Ortiz then went on to receive a permanent job in the Hartford City Clerk’s office.

The lawsuit also implies that much of this was done at the behest of Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) chairman and influential lobbyist William DiBella. 

Sanchez, who was also elected to Connecticut’s House of Representatives to replace Rep. Edwin Vargas, is employed by the MDC, and DiBella is a major contributor to Fonfara’s political campaigns, including his recent run for Hartford mayor.

“The efforts to close Brainard Airport by Defendants Bronin, Sanchez, and Lebron, as well as Senator Fonfara were for the purpose of damaging the Plaintiffs and benefiting the Defendants, Senator Fonfara, the MDC, and DiBella, and not for any realistic or true public benefit,” the complaint says.

According to the Legislative Review Committee’s 2016 report, the MDC in 2006 had proposed mixed-use development of the area “that was debated, but ultimately stalled,” and that the state “executed a small-scale even-trade land-swap” with MDC.

The suit also indicates that Sara Bronin – the mayor’s wife – wrote a draft city plan for the Hartford City Council to re-use the airport, claiming it was used by “fewer than 200 enthusiasts and some corporations.”

The plaintiffs contend that the constant push by local and state officials through misleading reports and studies caught the attention of aviation publications which then amplified concerns over the closure of Brainard and caused the plaintiffs to lose business, particularly following the City Council resolution to close the airport in 2021.

“The false and legally moot City Council resolution to close Brainard Airport – despite the fact that the Airport was never going to close – went national via various news wire services and aviation related publications,” the complaint says.

The future of Brainard Airport has been the subject of multiple studies – many of which are disputed in the court filing – and talk of closing the airport has been met with resistance from those who use it. The land on which Brainard Airport sits is contaminated making redevelopment into commercial or private real estate difficult, and the Connecticut Airport Authority continues to support keeping Brainard open, according to the CT Insider.

Supporters of the airport claim publicly and in the lawsuit that Brainard generates economic development in the Hartford region, supplying jobs, pilot schools and tax revenue. Both Bronin and Sanchez have argued that the city could gain much more tax revenue through redevelopment.

The debate has continued both in Hartford and in the legislature, with Fonfara chairing “multiple legislative hearings” in 2022 that elicited “damning commentary” from Bronin and Sanchez, among others, according to the complaint. 

Interestingly, the lawsuit also claims that House Speaker Matthew Ritter, D-Hartford, “stepped in at varying times during the 2022 Legislative Session to end Senator Fonfara’s conduct,” and stop funding for yet another study on Brainard’s closure – this time conducted by the Capitol Region Development Authority (CRDA).

The bill – Senate Bill 463 – was raised by the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee on which Fonfara serves as chair. The bill would have banned the CAA from entering into any agreements or obligations “that would encumber the property or that would prohibit or impinge the conversion of such property from its current use or the site’s future development.”

The bill itself was never taken up by the General Assembly, but parts of it were wrapped into the budget, including the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) conducting a study on potential uses for the Brainard Airport grounds, which requires CAA to assist and prevents them from entering into any agreements or obligations from 2022 to 2024.

That study found the most feasible option for redeveloping Brainard was closing was closure of runway 11-29 and redevelopment of 18 acres for industrial businesses and supporting retail businesses, with the airport remaining open.

“The closure of Hartford-Brainard Airport is definitely feasible, but it introduces a complex element that could significantly affect investment returns in any situation, given that the State wouldn’t reap any potential advantages for several years due to the indeterminate time required for the airport shutdown,” the study’s legislative summary said.

The Plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages and an injunction against the defendants to prevent them from “further publicly disparaging or otherwise publicly speaking negatively regarding Brainard Airport and it’s economic viability,” along with any other damages the court deems just.

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