The Federal Aviation Administration has dismissed a complaint alleging Ventura County violated federal rules in selecting a developer for aging hangars at Camarillo Airport.
The FAA's Western-Pacific Region issued a dismissal letter dated Monday, Sept. 21, preliminarily finding that the county's handling of Request for Proposals AIR 2026-01 did not breach its federal grant obligations. The complaint, filed under 14 CFR Part 13 by Mark Malone, a longtime Camarillo Airport hangar tenant, alleged the county violated Grant Assurance 22, which covers economic nondiscrimination, and Grant Assurance 23, which prohibits exclusive rights.
The FAA preliminarily found the allegations unsupported.
The dispute centers on a proposed redevelopment of a 4.1-acre mid-field parcel containing 49 county-owned hangars, many roughly 40 years old. Eighteen of those hangars are unusable, according to county submissions to the FAA, leaving only 31 tenants on the site. The county said it lacks the near-term financial capacity to replace or rebuild the hangars itself.
Three firms responded to the RFP, issued on or about Dec. 31, 2025: Sky Harbour Group Corporation, Air 7 LLC and Legend Aviation LLC. The county ranked Air 7 first. Air 7 proposed 46 T-hangars and 16 executive box hangars on a 5-acre replacement site, plus a new maintenance, repair and overhaul facility on the existing parcel. Sky Harbour proposed rehabilitating the existing hangars in phases.
The FAA reviewed the county's scoring and found it used defined, published evaluation criteria tied to airport objectives. Air 7 ranked first on all but one scorecard. The FAA also found Air 7's 46 proposed T-hangars appear sufficient to accommodate the 31 current tenants.
The Ventura County Department of Airports followed the dismissal with a public statement Thursday, Sept. 24, pushing back on what it called continued misinformation about the process. The department said both Air 7 and Orbic Helicopters had expressed interest in airport parcels roughly two years ago, but Director of Airports Keith Freitas placed that interest on hold to complete noise compatibility studies and an Airport Layout Plan update before opening the RFP.
The department also addressed concerns about jet traffic. Air 7's proposal includes maintenance, repair and overhaul services not currently available at Camarillo Airport. The department argued on-site maintenance would reduce flight operations by eliminating empty flights to other airports for repairs, and that Air 7 anticipates adding at most three to five new business jets.
The department said it remains committed to the 1976 Joint Powers Agreement between the City of Camarillo and Ventura County, which prohibits scheduled airline service, large cargo operations and extending the runway.
Lease negotiations with Air 7 have not yet begun. Once completed, the draft lease must go before the Aviation Advisory Commission and Airport Authorities before the Ventura County Board of Supervisors votes on final approval. The Camarillo Acorn reported Sept. 11 that the department intends to bring the lease to the Airport Authority in November or December and to the Board of Supervisors in December or January 2027.
In 2025, Camarillo Airport generated more than $9.6 million in airplane personal property tax revenues, split among the county, the City of Camarillo and the Camarillo public school system, each receiving over $3.2 million.
As of Sept. 25, no public response from Malone, Sky Harbour or the community group Save Our Skies Camarillo regarding the dismissal had been published.
