OCEANSIDE -- An ownership dispute over 14.7 vacant acres on the north side of the Oceanside Municipal Airport has landed in federal court.

Oceanside quietly filed suit last week against AELD LLC of Santa Monica, a company that has filed a claim against the city over the same piece of land. AELD has said it's entitled to buy back the property, which it sold to Oceanside in 2003.

The city believes reselling the land would violate its agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA and its administrator, Robert Sturgell, are also named as defendants in the lawsuit so that all parties can air their positions in a single forum, the complaint states.

"We need a court to tell us what to do," City Attorney John Mullen said Monday.

Oceanside bought the property from the Deutsch Co. in 2003 (AELD LLC is the company's successor). A previous settlement agreement said the company could buy back the land if the city failed to make airport-related improvements there within five years.

The property is an integral part of Oceanside's expansion plan for the airport, a single-runway facility in the San Luis Rey River Valley. But improvements there have yet to take shape.

AELD said in May that it was exercising the buy-back option. It has told the city to remove the property from its Airport Master Plan and redesignate it for an industrial use, according to the city's 24-page complaint.

A resale isn't kosher with the FAA.

The agency told the city in June the land is "still needed for the aeronautical purposes for which it was acquired." And because Oceanside used a $2.5 million FAA grant to buy it, the city can't sell it unless the FAA agrees, the complaint states.

Oceanside officials have said they would prefer to keep the land.

Recently, the City Council agreed to sign a 50-year lease with a private company that will take over airport operations. That company, Airport Property Ventures of Los Angles, has proposed building 174,000 square feet of hangar space on the 14.7 acres, if the ownership dispute is resolved.

Mullen said AELD filed a tort claim against the city Oct. 23.

Dan Dart, a company representative, declined to comment Monday on the city's lawsuit.

He referred questions to AELD's attorney, who did not return a call for comment.

Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 901-4062 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.