CLEVELAND — The Ohio Department of Transportation says the proposed Browns stadium in Brook Park is too tall – and will pose a risk to planes going in and out of nearby Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
ODOT’s aviation office delivered that message Aug. 1, in a letter to a consultant working with Browns owner Haslam Sports Group on plans for the 176-acre Brook Park stadium district. The agency says it denied a permit for the project, calling it “an obstruction to air navigation.”
That finding conflicts with the stance of the Federal Aviation Administration, which issued a letter in May saying the stadium won’t be a hazard – but must have red lights on the roof so passing pilots can see it. The FAA’s obstruction evaluation group also signed off on temporary construction cranes that will be used to build the enclosed stadium.
The Browns confirmed Friday that they received ODOT's letter.
In an emailed statement, a Haslam Sports Group spokesman said the team’s aviation consultants were surprised, describing the letter as “flatly at odds” with the FAA’s conclusion.
“We’ve already begun working collaboratively with ODOT to explain the stadium’s heights and the detailed work we’ve done more fully, which shows no safety or efficiency issues to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport,” spokesman Peter John-Baptiste wrote. “We look forward to resolving this matter expeditiously and continuing our work to bring this transformative project to Northeast Ohio.”
The potential roadblock comes as Haslam Sports Group is driving toward an early 2026 groundbreaking for the stadium, with the goal of moving in 2029. The Ohio General Assembly approved a $600 million grant for the project in June, tapping unclaimed funds the state is holding from Ohioans' old bank accounts, insurance payouts and other misplaced money.
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RELATED: Ohio lawmakers settle on unclaimed funds to put $600M into new Browns stadium
Haslam Sports Group has said the stadium, a $2.4 billion project, will be recessed about 80 feet into the ground, in the center of a former Ford Motor Co. plant property off Snow and Engle roads, just east of State Route 237 and the airport.
FAA and ODOT records show the building will top out at 221 feet above the ground.
In its recent letter, ODOT’s aviation office says the maximum acceptable height for the building, at that location, is 163 feet – a difference of 58 feet. “Please contact our office to request a permit at these reduced heights,” the letter says.
“This structure may also be permitted at your proposed height at another location further away from the airport,” ODOT’s aviation office added.
Haslam Sports Group and its consultants can ask for a hearing to appeal the denial.
ODOT's letter was addressed to Kenneth Quinn, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer who specializes in aviation. FAA records list Quinn and his firm, Clyde & Co., as part of the team working on the Brook Park project, along with Virginia-based Capitol Airspace Group.
Quinn sent a follow-up letter to ODOT on Aug. 8, asking for a chance to talk before challenging the denial and requesting a formal hearing. Haslam Sports Group provided that letter to News 5.
The lawyer said Haslam Sports Group’s consultants never filed a permit application with ODOT. It appears that notices about the stadium filed with the FAA triggered a review of the project by ODOT’s aviation office.
“Give the FAA’s extensive review and aeronautical studies and ODOT’s adoption of rules based on the FAA’s obstruction standards, we are confused by the letter’s justification for the permit denial,” Quinn wrote.
“We respectfully submit that no basis exists for denial of the permit,” he added. “Either an approval or a waiver is warranted, with the denial withdrawn.”
Public records show that the FAA’s obstruction evaluation group, which assesses everything from cell-phone towers to buildings within a few miles of airports, initially raised concerns about whether the stadium could be a hazard to airspace navigation.
“Negotiations to lower the height of the structure to eliminate the adverse effect were unsuccessful,” the agency wrote in a preliminary findings letter in February.
Ultimately, the FAA signed off, finding that the building won’t hurt visibility for pilots and won’t require a change in flight patterns.
ODOT's recent permit-denial letter also went to the city of Cleveland's Department of Port Control, which oversees Hopkins. In response to a request for comment Friday, a city spokesman said, "this was a decision made by the state, so we are deferring to them."
But late Friday, an ODOT spokesman said the agency deferred to Cleveland's airport system, which believes the new stadium will interfere with airspace at Hopkins.
"The deferral to local airport authorities is standard for all development proposals considered by ODOT that are over height but received clearance from the FAA," Matt Bruning, the ODOT spokesman, wrote in an emailed statement.
"There are still options to keep the project moving forward that include, but are not limited to, revising the plans to lower the structure, an administrative appeal ... or the Cleveland Airport System could change its position and accept the current plans," Bruning added, noting that agency officials expect to meet with Haslam Sports Group's consultants to talk about the next steps.
In July, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne asked ODOT and the FAA to weigh in on how the new stadium will impact traffic and aviation.
During an interview Friday, Ronayne said he wasn't surprised to see ODOT push back on Haslam Sports Group's plans.
"It seems to me intuitive when you have a stadium this close to a runway, you have a potential problem," he said.
Ronayne has been an outspoken opponent of the Brook Park project. He continues to urge the Browns to stay put on the lakefront, where the team's lease on city-owned Huntington Bank Field ends in early 2029.
"We'll see where this goes," he said of the conflicting feedback from ODOT and the FAA. "Only time will tell. But are they going to dig another 60 feet, at an exorbitant cost, into the water table? ... Our hope is that they see the light and they come back Downtown."
Meanwhile, Brook Park Mayor Edward Orcutt said his city is moving forward.
Brook Park City Council is scheduled to hold its second reading Tuesday of rezoning legislation for the entire 176-acre site. A public hearing on that rezoning is set for Thursday evening, followed by a special meeting where City Council will vote on the legislation.
Orcutt said Brook Park's building department has not received any permit applications for the project, and the city's analysis of the deal is still under way.
