Shaun Johnson (shaun@r266.com) is interested in getting a project started in the Atlanta, GA. Area and he’s looking for people who are willing to join with him and others to begin coming up with ideas for the project.

Here’s a chance to work on getting a residential airpark started the way you think it should be done. Contact Johnson to get more details.

I am building an airpark in Mississippi, about 12 miles N/W on McComb (KMCB) in Auburn MS. It is 3,000 ft and includes a 300 ft. overrun (grass). Runway 6/24 will be called Lockhaven Airpark LLC. This is the runway area, and there is a 3 1/2 acre section for hangers that will be called Lockhaven Properties LLC. For future development I am putting in a 10-acre lake and will still have about 40 acres for future home sites.

For now it will be a small airpark with just a few people using it (less than 6 people).

My questions are about Liability Insurance and what kind of cost would be average. I would also like to put it on your web site and any other thing I may need to know on thing to do.

Dave responds:

Wow!

Great location, nice runway length, separate residential airpark and hangar areas, plans for a 10-acre lake and still plenty of property for future development.

Sounds like a project that should be very inviting to lots of folks. My only question is whether or not you can make this pencil out with only half a dozen people on the airport, but I’m sure you’ve already given that plenty of consideration and figured out how to make it work.

We’re happy to get your project onto our website where we can list it as “under construction.” We only ask that you keep us posted on the progress of the project so interested people will have the latest information. Please complete the form on the LWYP webpage (http://livingwithyourplane.com/directory/submit-airpark/) and we’ll be able to get you posted.

As for liability insurance and what kind of cost would be an average I have to tell you there is no such thing as an average. Most insurance firms will rate your project  on an individual basis.

I can tell you that most of the airpark groups with which I am familiar acquire a policy in the $1 million range. Check with some of the companies listed under Resources (http://livingwithyourplane.com/professionals/insurance/)  Until you open for business and aircraft are actually landing on the runway, you probably won’t need liability coverage.

While only 12 applicants were interested in the original 41 residential lots (at below market prices), 18 individuals are interested in the airpark component of the project.

Click here to read the complete story from the Lacombe Globe.

Question - I’m trying to determine if I can successfully develop a residential airpark in my community. What do you think is the critical number of homesites needed for a fly-in community to work? Is there an optimum size of the lots and how many acres do I need for the runway and related taxiways, roads, etc? Answer - I’ve seen or heard of successful residential communities with as few as half a dozen homesites and there are some that failed to get off the ground with such a small number. On the other side of the equation, planned fly-in communities with a huge number of lots have been very successful, and, by the same token many haven’t gotten beyond the dreaming stage.

That’s a long way around in explaining that there isn’t any magic number of lots to make a project successful.

More critical to creating a successful project probably is taking a good look at how many airplanes there are within a 50-mile radius. What’s the condition of the airports where the panes are based? Are there lots of hangars available? In what sort of condition are the hangars? How much are hangar and tiedown fees in the area.

All these factors play a major part on whether or not there is adequate market for a fly-in community of half a dozen sites or a few hundred lots. The harder it is to find a decent hangar and the higher the rental rates for those that are available the better for someone planning a new airpark. If there aren’t hangars of decent quality available, it becomes much easier to sell the residential airpark. The same goes if the hangar or tiedown fees are high. When the rental fee for a hangar is equal to a good percentage of what a person would be paying for a lot and home, it becomes fairly easy to sell the property.

The amount of acreage needed for a fly-in community depends on a wide variety of conditions. Obviously, the length of the runway will be a primary factor. If the property is at sea level, a shorter runway can be utilized than if the property is located at 5,000 foot MSL. A market study should allow a developer to decide whether there will be buyers for lots that can support million dollar homes or small, relatively inexpensive places. That will determine whether the home lots will be small or large.

Probably a good way to determine some of these answers for any particular market is to drive around and see what type housing developments have gone up in the last couple years. Talk to the developers of those projects and find out how they sold. Get the names of the professionals who did the design and some of the contractors who built the infrastructure. You’ll get the answers to what can and can’t be accomplished - and a rough idea of the costs - pretty quick.

And let’s face it; the best project in the world won’t work if the pricing isn’t right for buyer and seller.

Have a question? Email Dave.

Greg Neal of Hot Springs Land Development in Truth or Consequences, NM, says his firm is “looking for a group of professionals with an aviation background that share our excitement for developing, owning and operating a residential airpark that is in close proximity to the features and amenities that exist, are under development or planned for the future.”

You can look at the planning that has already been done and the ideas for the giant undertaking in the following images (they are in order of presentation - click to enlarge).

Neal can be reached at Hot Springs Land Development, PO Box 3235, Truth or Consequences, NM 87901, phone 813-961-8400 or cell 813-390-4375

Airport project faces vote

By Cara O’Brien
Loveland Reporter-Herald

Tuesday night the Loveland City Council will vote on an agreement allowing airport access for Martin Lind’s proposed Airpark of the Rockies project.

The agreement, called a through-the-fence agreement, would allow planes to move from the property of the Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport to the two properties Lind intends to develop around the airport.Lind plans to build a business park for airport-related business on his 200 acres to the east and north of the airport.

Read more…

Dayton Airpark projects take flight

By Nevada Appeal News Service

Looking past the current storms in the housing market, the Dayton Airpark (Details - paid subscription required for Full Access), a Wade Lakemont development, is moving onto the runway.

“Nothing happens quickly. We want to get ahead of the market,” says Doug Thorngren, whose Reno-based Silverado Properties is providing consulting and marketing services on the project. Centerpiece of the development at the south edge of the Lyon County community is a privately owned 5,400-foot airstrip. Rebuilt within the past two years, the runway can handle planes as large as medium-sized jets.

Thorngren says his company is beginning to market hangar condominiums at the airpark, targeting pilots and other owners of aircraft in California. Advertising in pilot-oriented publications and at aviation shows will emphasize Nevada’s tax advantages for aircraft owners. Demand for hangar spaces in northern Nevada is high, Thorngren says, with waiting lists of two years common at airports in the region.

To continue reading, click here…

Pilots want eight fly-in homes

By Wayne Thompson

The idea of living with your aeroplane is taking off in rural Auckland where an American-style air park is proposed for a little-used private airstrip.

“People who are into light aviation are similar in an emotional sense to boaties whose ultimate is to step from their waterways home on to their boat,” said Tiger Moth owner Jim Schmidt, of Warkworth.His company wants to develop eight house sites alongside Kaipara Flats Airfield runway. Rodney District already has the 70-lot Dairy Flat Aero Park at busy North Shore Airfield.

The lure for aviators is to taxi their planes into their home’s own hangar - like driving a car into the garage.

Read the rest of the story here.