A couple issues have surfaced in recent months that might have considerable impact upon residential airparks. I’ve had several contacts about these situations so I’m bringing them to your attention and asking for your ideas and also what experience you’ve had with them.
Are you an attorney? Or perhaps a real estate appraiser? How about a firefighter or fire department official? Are you knowledgeable in growing grass or highway construction?
Over all the years that we’ve been tracking residential airparks, one aspect about them is the excellent record of safety: safety between airplanes and people, safety between airplanes and cars, and safety between airplanes and structures.
John Trissel, manager of Waynesboro-Eagles Nest Airpark (W13) in Virginia, thought a CBS news crew was at the airport to do a story about life on an airpark. But when they turned the camera on him, the questions were not about airpark living, but about security at general aviation airports.
At more than one meeting with city and county and airport authority representatives, the question of “safety”‘ has come up. Basically, the officials want to know if it is safe to live on or adjacent to an active airport.
Do you have any problems with cars speeding down a taxiway at your airpark?
What’s the safety record for residential airparks? That’s a frequent question I’m asked at forums and in other conversations.
In the aftermath of the incident, several issues came up, none of which the residents and owners of the airpark had previously addressed.
A LWYP member says the developer of the airpark on which he has a home must soon deed over the runway and taxiways and certain other parts of the property to the homeowners association.
If the matter is handled through the homeowners association, personality conflicts can be avoided best. In other words, the association is requiring the actions, rather than any individual.
No other residential airpark has been required to provide such equipment for a private facility.