Difference between airpark and airport

Bill writes in with a question:

Explain the meaning of airpark and airport and the difference. Such as Adelanto Airpark or Adelanto Airport. Both have been used. We have a California Airport Permit. Thank you for doing LWYP.

Dave’s reply: Back when I started Living With Your Plane (while living on Shady Acres airpark) I looked for official information on residential areas attached to airports. There wasn’t any that I could find, so I created the definition.

“A Residential Airpark is an airport with two or more homes or homesites located immediately adjacent to the runway, accessible to the runway by a taxiway or can be reached by a short walk (less than 10-15 minutes.)”

What makes an airport an airpark is the co-location of homes with the intended purpose of providing access to the airport. There are many airports around the country with homes adjacent, but without official, legal access to the airport. These are not airparks.

An airpark is always also an airport, but an airport isn’t necessarily an airpark. Hope this clears things up.