George and Lynette Campbell still do not have a permit for their 26 Mile heliport after their appeal to the assembly Tuesday. 

The controversy, which began in 2023, has become quite complicated. The written record for the permit decision reviewed by the assembly this week ran over 1,000 pages. 

As has become the norm on the issue, even basic facts continue to be disputed by multiple parties, including the Campbells, their neighbors and borough staff. 

The state Superior Court would ordinarily serve as the impartial arbiter of those kinds of disputes. But in this case, multiple appeals to Superior Court have ended up in various instances further appealed to the state Supreme Court, with only partial resolution and remanded to the borough assembly, or settled out of court. 

In short, there hasn’t been a court ruling as simple as declaring one side the winner. 

Because of that, the content of the court’s partial rulings remain in question. For instance, George Campbell maintains that the state Superior Court prohibited the borough from regulating his heliport on the basis of sound. And at one point on Tuesday, Campbell said borough manager Alekka Fullerton had agreed with that during a planning commission hearing. Fullerton, who is out of town, would not say whether that was in fact her position. 

And in one of the biggest disagreements of all, Campbell maintained that he had already been granted a permit for his heliport, with the borough only retaining the power to adjust the permit conditions in the hearing. Fullerton — based on the opinion of the borough attorney, she says — has repeatedly stated the planning commission had the authority to deny a heliport permit.

On the other hand, it’s somewhat hard to pin down exactly what the position of “the borough” is. 

At the March 10 assembly meeting, for instance, assembly member Cheryl Stickler described the planning commission as making their decision “on falsehoods,” given that the “intent at the one-year review… was to review the conditions,” she said, supporting the Campbells’ position over Fullerton’s. 

Fullerton, the manager, works under and takes direction from the assembly.

Tuesday, the assembly as a collective did not overturn the planning commission’s decision, even though a majority of the assembly members present voted to do so. 

That was a result of appeal rules requiring a supermajority of five members to take any action either overturning, or upholding, the planning commission’s decision. 

Voting on the appeal, assembly members Gabe Thomas, Mark Smith and Stickler voted to overturn the planning commission decision, and Craig Loomis and Kevin Forster to uphold the planning commission. Assembly member Eben Sargent was not present at the meeting. 

The split assembly meant neither a motion to uphold, or a motion to overturn, met the super-majority threshold. That’s where the assembly’s position will stand — taking no definitive action on the appeal. 

The public did not receive any rationale for the members’ votes, with the assembly voting to deliberate in a closed-door executive session. 

Prior to entering the executive session, Thomas said his rationale was to be able to speak freely without opening vulnerability in a potential future lawsuit over the permit, which Campbell has heavily intimated will be coming down the road. 

The doors reopened to the public at 10:34 p.m. after more than an hour of deliberation, but the assembly members did not speak about the content of the executive session. 

Some administrative steps will follow. The borough’s attorney on the case, Charles Cacciola, will draft findings of fact before the next assembly meeting, essentially a written record of the assembly’s justification for its decision. 

But likely, the more significant outcome will be another Superior Court case. After the assembly approves the findings of fact, the Campbells will be able to further appeal the decision.

George Campbell has strongly suggested they intend to do so, telling assembly members recently “if I haven’t proved already that we’re fighting this, I don’t know what to tell you.”