We received the following from Andre Durocher / Pontiac Airpark:

I am building the Pontiac Airpark with a clubhouse, gym, sauna, pool, spa, tennis court, marina, golf holes. I would like to know if most of the airpark offer amenities like this. Thank you.

So… What type of amenities does your airpark include? Who paid for the creation of any amenities? Was it the developer, homeowners association or some other entity? How are these facilities maintained, both physically and financially? Does the airpark carry property and liability insurance on the amenities? Are there restrictions on the use, ie, can you bring non-resident family and friends on an unlimited basis?

Post your answers below. They can provide valuable background information for other airparks, as well as your own.

My Parents have lived for over 20 years in Florida at the Spruce Creek residential airpark. They tell me that the Hangar, as it is not a living space, is not considered in the valuation for a home mortgage. My guess is the tax man has no problem recognizing it as a revenueable event / thing. I would have guessed in a situation like that, with runway access, it would have a positive effect on the valuation of the property.

Is this a Florida thing or is this another obstacle to living next to your airplane?

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Is the any help out there for someone who wants to build a small airpark? I’d like to create one in Texas with with about four lots and a 2600 foot strip. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,

Doug McGhee

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We are a well established fly in community in the Atlanta area. We have corporate bylaws, and a new set of covenants to comply with Georgia code 44-3-220. None of this is a problem.

What we need some help on is a thru the fence agreement between one of the property owners and the HOA. One of our owners owns several acres adjoining community/HOA owned property and they keep horses there. At the present, they simply access their property “thru the fence” from their property, then across HOA property, then onto their adjoining land. We’ve not had any problems, and really don’t expect to, but I suggested a Thru the Fence agreement should be drawn up to establish the rules, guidelines, restrictions, etc for this resident to access his adjoining property (which is NOT part of the subdivision at all). He is quite agreeable to this and would like to draw up something.

Does anyone have any Through the Fence agreements they might be willing to share, to help us create something?

Thanks,

Chuck Hanna
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Recently we’ve updated all the links to residential airparks that are listed elsewhere on the Living With Your Plane webpage. However, we have over 600 airparks listed in the LWYP Directory but there are only about 150 websites in our list.

If your airpark has a website and it isn’t included in our extensive list of airparks, please give us the url for your fly-in community so we can add it to our links. There’s no charge for the service!

Unfortunately, we found a number of broken links and several that no longer exist. During this exercise we tried to reach every fly-in community to which we have established a link asking them to reciprocate with a link to our website from theirs.

If you’re having trouble putting together a website or need to get information out to residents and prospects, please tell us what you are trying to do so we can offer you some assistance. E-mail us at dave@generalaviationnews.com

Question: I recently struck 5 stakes placed along the taxiway edge and airpark tenant’s property line (so snow plows won’t damage his grass).

Covenants at the airpark state no shrubbery or trees should be planted less than 45 feet from the centerline of the taxiway. His were placed approximately 15 feet from the centerline. The covenants don’t say anything about stakes.

Who should pay for the damage to my Mooney? Me or the homeowner? The homeowner says it’s the pilot’s responsibility to see and avoid all obstacles as stated in the FARs. He basically shut down the taxiway and I couldn’t stop quick enough to avoid hitting them.

Thought you folks might have some ideas for me.

Thanks Dennis

P.S – AOPA directed me to your web site.

Answer: Unfortunately, it appears to me if you and your fellow resident can’t resolve this amicably between yourselves it will be necessary to consult an attorney to satisfy your situation.

I am not an attorney and certainly am not qualified to comment on the legal aspects of your disagreement. However, common sense makes it seems to me there probably is some negligence on both sides and you should find a way to get the issue resolved without having to resort to hiring attorneys or taking other legal steps.

QUESTION: There’s a fuel tank in the ground on the residential airpark property I am interested in acquiring. The seller hasn’t had fuel delivered in a number of years but he says the tank is sound and there’s no reason it can’t be filled by a local distributor of av gas or auto fuel. What are the rules on this? Can I buy fuel in bulk? I know a lot of gas stations in town have had to dig up and replace their fuel tanks and I’ve heard that’s costly. Would a property like I’m looking at require that type action? Read the full story

Dan Daley, a freelance journalist, is working on a story about the home technology that goes into airpark new residential construction. Most new homes at a certain price level now come with things like home theaters, home automation, security video integated into home entertainment video, etc. I’d like to talk to some residential airpark homebuilders, homeowners and the technology integrators they work with about some of the unique ways home technology is being integrated with aviation technology. Perhaps NOAA or FAA Wx data integrated into the home’s LCD displays, etc. Please reply to danwriter@aol.com. Thanks.

QUESTION: I live on a residential airpark with covenants and deed restrictions that I consider to be pretty good. When I was looking into the property I followed the advice you offered during Sun ‘n Fun presentation about taking the CC&Rs to a good attorney and making sure I understood them.

After buying the property and moving here I discovered there are a few property owners who have failed to pay their annual assessments. The board of directors keeps talking about the situation but doesn’t appear to be doing anything.

At the last meeting I asked for the identity of those failing to meet the financial requirements of their agreement and was told that the BOD didn’t want to make that information public for fear of legal action or other problems.

My questions: should the identity of the miscreants be disclosed and what action should the board take? Read the full story

Question: I’ve been thinking about trying to obtain a residential airpark property – a house or lot on which to build a house – but I seem to hear a lot of talk (maybe rumors) that the FAA is opposed to residential airparks and is moving to eliminate the existing ones or at least keeping new ones from springing up. What can you tell me about these situations?

Answer: First of all, let’s make it very clear that there are two kinds of residential airparks:

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