A Boulder District Court judge today denied every claim brought by the plaintiffs in a high-profile noise lawsuit against Mile-Hi Skydiving, which operates out of Longmont’s Vance Brand Municipal Airport.

Seven individual plaintiffs living in Longmont and in unincorporated Boulder County, as well as the group Citizens for Quiet Skies, claimed in the lawsuit that Mile-Hi owner Frank Casares was being negligent and a nuisance by flying what they said were unusually loud planes over their homes.

The plaintiffs especially took issue with the purple-and-white Twin Otter plane, claiming that it was much louder than the others, and that Mile-Hi flew frequently over residents’ homes when the plaintiffs were trying to enjoy their backyards and porches during summer weekends.

Mile-Hi, meanwhile, argued throughout the year and over the course of the lawsuit that Judge Judith LaBuda could not issue a ruling superseding federal aviation law.

The lawsuit drew large numbers of spectators for each day of the week-long trial, which featured testimony from noise and real estate experts, the former manager of the airport and the chair of the Airport Advisory Board. People, including City Attorney Eugene Mei, Councilman Jeff Moore and Airport Manager David Slayter packed the courtroom for the closing arguments in the case on May 6.

In a 13-page written ruling, LaBuda sided with the skydiving company, denying all claims and expressing hopes that both sides and the community move on.

“The Court recognizes that this case has produced tension among community members,” LaBuda wrote in her ruling, noting that supporters of both sides filled the courtroom during the trial. “It is the Court’s hope that following a week-long trial, in which both parties were given an opportunity to present their evidence, that the parties, as well as the community members, will accept the ruling of the Court and move forward in a manner that demonstrates courtesy, respect and consideration for one another.”

Kimberly Gibbs, who has been the de facto leader of the Citizens for Quiet Skies group, said Thursday that she was talking with her legal team and considering an appeal.

LaBuda’s ruling may have implications for the city, which hired law firm Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell in December for their expertise in aviation law with a specialty in airport noise. The city will have a public meeting on June 3 in which attorney John Putnam with Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell will address the question of what cities can do about airport noise. LaBuda noted in her ruling that members of the public who are bothered by airport noise have a recourse through the federal government.

“It is not by seeking an injunction issued by a state court, but by requesting a detailed noise study to be conducted by the airport operator, in conjunction with the (Federal Aviation Administration), which includes public participation as well as local governments,” the judgment read.

Regardless, Gibbs said she and her supporters would not give up and in addition to considering filing an appeal, they also want the Longmont City Council to pass an ordinance restricting noise from Mile-Hi, despite the judge’s ruling suggesting the city did not have that power.

“It’s an extreme disappointment but we’ve known from the very beginning that this was going to be a very difficult case … but still to come face to face with an outright loss is hard,” Gibbs said. “We’re not done. We’re not going to give up, we’re never going to give up and we are simply on the leading edge of fighting this good fight over noise pollution. It’s going to take some time but I’m confident that we will prevail and in fact, we are not stopping until we do.”

LaBuda also weighed in on the two noise studies commissioned by city officials to date. Former airport manager Tim Barth went out to some of the plaintiffs’ homes at some point before he resigned and took noise measurements, but the judge did not give these readings or Barth’s trial testimony much weight.

“The Court found Mr. Barth’s demeanor, tone, and testimony was biased in favor of Mile-Hi and against the Plaintiffs,” the judgement reads.

The court found a study that Barth commissioned from local firm Terracon to be much more credible. The Terracon study found that noise from two of Mile-Hi’s four planes were not “significantly higher than the background noise sources except in very specific, short duration instances.”

Both Mile-Hi and the plaintiffs brought in noise and real estate experts to weigh in on how loud the planes are and whether they were affecting the property values in plaintiffs’ neighborhoods. Mile-Hi won in both these arenas as well, with LaBuda concluding that the plaintiffs’ noise expert did not have adequate experience in the field.

Despite the plaintiffs’ claims that they were entitled to damages for what they saw as depreciating home values, Mile-Hi’s real estate expert, William Kamin, found that homes near the airport or in the skydiving company’s flight box, were actually appreciating faster than homes in other neighborhoods.

The plaintiffs seem to have come out on top on only one minor question related to a site visit LaBuda took to Gibbs’ and another plaintiff’s home on May 2. With the judge standing in two area backyards on that cloudy, windy day, Mile-Hi planes did a pre-planned fly-over but the noise rarely rivaled nearby trees rustling in the breeze. The plaintiffs claimed that Mile-Hi deliberately altered their flight paths while Casares said in a written statement the paths weren’t different than any other windy day.

Labuda, in one line in Thursday’s ruling, noted that “(t)he cloud cover and flight path on May 2, 2015, reduced the noise the Court heard to a level below the normal level of noise heard from Plaintiffs’ homes.”

While LaBuda noted that Mile-Hi has a “duty to the community at large, including the Individual Plaintiffs, to not operate in a careless or reckless manner,” she could not find any evidence that they were not.

Casares reiterated that sentiment in a statement he released via his public relations representative Thursday.

“I want to make it clear to the Longmont community that Mile-Hi Skydiving will continue our strong commitment to being a good neighbor,” the statement said. “We take great pride in our 20-year history growing a small business in Longmont with the support of the vast majority of residents. We recognize the concerns of a select few residents of Longmont and adjacent communities about noise associated with the airport and will continue to work to find solutions that balance those concerns with the rights of local businesses to grow and succeed.”

Karen Antonacci: 303-684-5226, antonaccik@times-call.com or twitter.com/ktonacci