DoD AICUZ — DoD Air Installation Compatible Use Zones (AICUZ)

Overview

Department of Defense land-use compatibility zones around military airfields.

FAA Part 77 DoD AICUZ FEMA NFIP / SFHA Military Airport Preservation ESA Critical Habitat All overlays

Agency

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)

Enacted

1977 (DoD Directive 4165.57)

Last reviewed

2026-04-19

Overlays in file

1

Why it matters

Inside Accident Potential Zones (APZ-I and APZ-II) and high-noise zones, residential and assembly uses are incompatible per DoD guidance. Cities that accept federal funding or have base-ally agreements typically codify AICUZ overlays locally.

When to worry

Any parcel within the published AICUZ footprint of a DoD installation — look for APZ-I / APZ-II / NZ-II / NZ-III designations on local overlay maps.

AICUZ — Noise & Accident Potential Zone Land-Use Compatibility

Authority

federal

Scope

federal

Effective

1977-11-08

Federal-conflict flag

Not flagged

Citation

Authority source

DoD Directive 4165.57 — Air Installations Compatible Use Zones; DoD Instruction 4165.57

§ DoDI 4165.57 Table 2 (land-use compatibility matrix); applicable JLUS / installation AICUZ study

https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/416557p.pdf

Trigger predicate

When this predicate evaluates true for a parcel, the overlay applies.

city.military_installation_influence attribute is present

Preempted fields

The operations that federal rule forces onto the base zoning when the predicate fires.

Field	Op	Value	Note
`base_districts[*].allowed_uses`	remove	residential	Residential incompatible in APZ-I, APZ-II, and noise contours ≥65 DNL per DoD AICUZ compatibility matrix.
`base_districts[*].allowed_uses`	remove	schools	Schools/educational incompatible in APZ-I, APZ-II, and noise contours ≥65 DNL.
`base_districts[*].allowed_uses`	remove	hospitals	Hospitals/nursing homes incompatible in APZ-I, APZ-II, and noise contours ≥65 DNL.
`base_districts[*].max_units_per_acre`	cap_at	variable-by-noise-zone	Residential density caps scale with DNL: 65-70 discouraged w/ NLR attenuation, 70-75 strongly discouraged, ≥75 incompatible.

Notes

AICUZ is the DoD land-use compatibility framework around military airfields. Each installation publishes its own AICUZ study with installation-specific APZ and noise-contour geometry; the JLUS (Joint Land Use Study) process coordinates with surrounding jurisdictions. The federal overlay flags that a city has a military installation influence; exact APZ/DNL zones are resolved per-parcel against the installation's AICUZ maps. State-level implementations (e.g., AZ MAAMF, VA §15.2-2295) may carry these same constraints into binding local zoning — see FED_MAAMF_LUKE_AFB / FED_MAAMF_DAVIS_MONTHAN_AFB for the Arizona implementation.