The decision settles years of litigation and provides a historic offer to residents living near the airport — money if they agree not to sue.

Despite the protests of some vocal residents, Dania Beach City Commissioners unanimously approved a plan Tuesday to end nearly two decades of legal action, paving the way for the nearly $800 million dollar project to proceed.

“The settlement is the right thing because it gets benefits for residents that they otherwise would not get,” said attorney Neal Mcaliley, who helped the city negotiate the agreement with the county.

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The plan — if approved by the Federal Aviation Administration — will provide soundproof windows and doors for 17-hundred homes. The plan would also offer cash payments to more than 850 homeowners of 20 percent of the value of their homes. However, the residents must agree not to sue the county or the FAA over increased noise. The deal would also extend to whoever lives in the home in the future.

The deal approved by the city would also help some homeowners sell their homes.

But some residents — still wearing their red “No Airport Expansion” t-shirts — fear the loss of quality of life.

“They’re blocking us in our house,” said Betty Sokol, who bought her home in Melaleuca Gardens in 1999. “They’re putting us in our house to stay.”

Bob DelChiocca also lives in Meleauca Gradens. He says the sound from even small planes is horrible.

“I can’t have a conversation in my backyard,” DelChiocca said. “I can’t sit in my patio and listen to a television or a radio when a plane goes over.”

Plus DelChiocca says he lives just outside the noise threshold determined by the FAA. That means even though some of his neighbors will get a cash payment or sales assistance, he won’t.

“I’m upset that I’m not entitled to anything,” he said. “But I don’t begrudge my neighbors. They’ve certainly entitled to it. This runway has been a pain for everyone in Dania Beach for a number of years.”

Broward County commissioners must approve this agreement. Then, the FAA has to approve it. If the FAA balks at some of these proposals, the city has the right to opt out of the agreement.

The agreement is only binding on the city of Dania Beach, which means individual residents do not need to take the offer and can still sue over the airport expansion.

The battle has been to halt a $791 million runway extension that will allow large jets to fly over the neighborhood instead of the small prop planes and corporate jets that now land and take off from a nearby runway.

At one time residents were offered buyouts, but not anymore.

[worldnow id=5583056 width=385 height=288 type=video]Even though many residents have thrown their hands up in surrender, there still is plenty of outrage.

“I’m pissed, dude!” said one resident pictured in a video shot by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

“It is not what we want, it is not fair,” said another at the meeting.

Initially homeowners dug their heels in and fought the county to the tune of $1 million dollars and more, trying to keep their lifestyle. Now homeowner Dania Fairbank said “I’m not happy about it, obviously, but it’s ok.”

Fairbank’s house is in the glidepath of the jets.

“As long as the homeowners here are treated fairly and reasonably, I don’t have a problem with it,” she said. “I was angry to begin with because, when we moved in, we didn’t know about it.”

The airport will spend a couple hundred million on soundproofing homes and buying up some trailer parks that cannot be soundproofed. They also will help homeowners like Greg Ralston who said he would probably rather sell his home than stay.

But unlike before, there is no offer on the table for a wholesale buyout.

“They want out,” Dania City commissioner and runway foe Bob Anton said after last week’s airport meeting, according to The South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “They’re tired.”

Some said the aviation department should buy out all the surrounding property owners. But Broward Aviation Director Kent George said no way.

“What they want is us, the County, to come in now and buy the whole group,” George said. “And that’s just not going to happen. That just doesn’t make sense.”

About 4,500 residents will be affected by the new runway that is expected to be operational by 2014.

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