Marc C. Lee authored a nice story in the September 2010 issue of Plane & Pilot magazine. The story, “Airpark Living: Waking Up To Your Dream” offers briefs descriptions on 18 airparks around the country (and one in Costa Rica). Be sure to check it out.

Several years ago we received information about an airpark in England – Telford Skypark in Telford – but have never been able to obtain any updates on the project. Now, Judith Woodsworth is travelling in Europe studying European Rural Development and plans a “dissertation on the benefits, or not, of Airparks/ Aviator Villages to the sustainable development of a rural area.”

She agreed to check up on some of the airparks we shared with her and recently she sent us the following information about Telford:

“The AirPark at Telford never got off the ground. It was subject to a public enquiry and planning was denied even though every residential plot was spoken for and the industrial units too. Funnily one of the Directors is now my flight instructor – she’s excellent. Just passed my Air Law and hopefully 1st solo soon.”

Going to the Arlington Fly-In this week? Dave will be leading a forum on Saturday, July 10 at 10:30 am in Forum Tent F. (See complete fly-in forum schedule). You can also stop by our booth (space 98). See you there.

Recently a reader asked about posting figures for airpark taxes, real estate taxes and much, much more. Although it is extremely difficult to accumulate this type of information for all the various airparks around the country, I ran across one item in the Wall Street Journal recently that might be helpful in figuring out the possible taxes a property has levied against it..

The article noted that taxes on a piece of real estate – home, airpark, etc., nationwide averaged around 1% of the property’s assessed value.

That got me to thinking and I checked my own home tax assessment and talked to several other people both locally and in distant places and discovered this was a good rule of thumb. It is always important to check out the tax load on the place you are considering purchasing, but you can probably use this bit of data for early figuring.

Of course, I will look forward to hearing from those who deal with this type of material all the time telling us whether r not this is a valid rule of thumb.

An airpark at Picton Airport in Koromike, New Zealand is in the permitting phase according to a story in The Marlborough Express. The story also notes:

“In this country, the Mackenzie District Council subdivided 33 sections on land next to Pukaki Airport in 2008, which returned more than $1.5 million.”

Have you bought or sold a home on an airpark within the last five years? If you did, the information about the transaction can be extremely important to many people out there wanting to do the same. In the economy of the last few years, factual information from those who actually completed deals are tremendously important. Please complete the following, very short survey so we can compile the real time data and make it available to the residential airpark community.

Jackson Hole Auction Company (866-486-7653)will hold a public auction of 18 fly-in hangar home sites in Afton, Wyo., on Saturday, May 15, according to William Burke, co-founder. “This is an absolute auction with no minimums and no reserves,” he said. “That means these properties will sell to the highest bidders.”

Located 60 miles south of Jackson Hole, Afton Municipal Airport’s (AFO) 7,023-f00t runway can accommodate most piston and turbine aircraft. Afton AirPark features dedicated taxiways, providing access to each of the 54 lots and hangars, and is serviced by Afton Flight Services FBO. Homeowners can arrange for fuel services directly to their homesite hangars. The property is unique in the fact there are no private hangars available at the Jackson Hole airport where tie down costs can run $250 to $750 per day, Burke said.

The auction, which will be at the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts at 240 S Glenwood Street, will be broadcast live on RFDTV starting at 2 p.m. on May 15 with telephone bidding available for pre-registered bidders.

An Australian airpark is the staging ground for a doctor who makes house calls. Great use of both General Aviation and in this case, a residential airpark. Read the complete story from the Fraser Coast Chronicle.

River Falls, outside of Amarillo, Texas, is an equestrian facility, but owner/developer Tully Currie wants to add a residential airpark next to a 6,000 foot runway. Read more at Amarillo.com.

Living With Your Plane reader Jens Torell sent us a note about… “a private airfield in Wichita, Kansas, going up for auction on June 3. It is well suited for an airpark development. Perhaps some of your readers would be interested.” See more auction data at McCurdy Auction and some additional background in a story from The Wichita Eagle.