A story in the November 17, 2008 issue of the Polk County Itemizer-Observer provide a good recap of the challenges facing some airports with through-the-fence agreement.

FAA’s directive threatens runway access at airpark

By Craig Coleman

INDEPENDENCE, OREGON — A directive from the regional office of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) could threaten future taxiway access between the Independence State Airport (ISA) and the adjoining airpark to the east.

Click here for the complete of the story.

The (Boulder, Colo.) Daily Camera is reporting that a 50-year-old agreement that allows, “direct and perpetual access to the (Boulder) airport” from an adjoining residential property is creating problems. The FAA states the “through-the-fence agreement” is in violation of federal rules and is threatening to withhold federal AIP funds.

Barry Barnow, owner of both the property in question and Boulder Valley Aviation, see it differently. He wants to build a home and 2,000-square-foot hangar that will make for quick access to the airport. Nothing more, nothing less.

The story cites a similar situation happening in Scappoose, Oregon (click here for story). Perhaps the most troubling aspect of this can be found in the comment area of the Boulder story (scroll to the bottom). The perception of aviation is bad.

Editor’s note: For many years Dave Sclair, retired GANews publisher and founder of Living With Your Plane, has spoken at Oshkosh about residential airparks. Some of the questions that always come up during his session year after year probably are ones you’ve wondered about, too.

Question - What’s the best form of organization and management for a residential airpark and how should the property be owned? Read the full story

Harvey Browne wrote to us asking…

We are in the process of creating a “Meadowmist Property Owners Association” and were wondering if you had any copies of by-laws for such organizations?
Best Regards,
Harvey

We sure do. You can check them out in our CC&Rs area of the Living With Your Plane website. If anyone associated with an airpark would like to offer up information for this section, please email us.

Kelly Moyer writes in the South County Spotlight that attorney’s for the City of Scappoose, Oregon and the Port of St. Helens will argue (October 30) a land use case before Oregon’s Land Use Board of Appeals.

At the heart of the matter is whether or not the city’s new airport related zone allows residential uses at the Scappoose Airport. The Port says it does. The city says that’s not true.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

Written by investigative reporter Brian Maass

ELBERT COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - A homeowners association in Elbert County has gone to court and is suing one of its homeowners over the color he painted his house and the HOA’s contention that the man failed to get proper HOA authorization before starting to paint.

But 60-year-old Robert Mark Bell isn’t rolling over, telling his HOA, the Kelly Air Park Association (website - subscription required), to take a hike.

Read the full story

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. Read the full story

From The Cresswell (Oregon) Chronicle, August 27, 2008:

By Helen Hollyer

After devoting much of their more-than-two-hour Aug. 19 meeting to a sometimes-contentious discussion of what would constitute an appropriate through-the-fence (TTF) access fee, the four Creswell Airport Commission members present voted unanimously to recommend that the city council set the fee at $35 per month.

Read the full story

Dave Sclair, publisher of Living With Your Plane, regularly addresses problems affecting residential airparks. Many of the questions he addresses come up during his presentations at various aviation events around the country.

Question: The runway in our fly-in community isn’t a separate legal entity or tax parcel. The lots on either side of the runway go to the center of the runway and each lot owner’s deed provides an easement across their private property for the runway. This means there’s no separate tax for the runway itself since each property owner pays their tax bill which includes an equal share of the runway.

Recently we’ve been looking into obtaining liability insurance for our airpark and the question has come up about how we insure this. Is this a common practice? Have others had problems with this format? Can insurance be obtained for the runway only to be paid for by the various property owners?

Read the full story