Sat, Dec 19, 2009
Homes Have Had Access To Airport For More Than 30 Years
For three decades, homeowners at Independence Airpark adjacent
to Independence State Airport in Oregon have had "through the
fence" access to the public airport, one of about 40 such places
nationwide. But a tightening of the FAA's long-standing
policy against such arrangements may cost the homeowners their
access, or the airport its federal grants.
New verbiage in the FAA Airport Compliance Manual changes the
work "discouraged" to "prohibited", and in an official memo dated
last fall, the FAA re-iterated "As a general principle, FAA does
not support agreements that grant access to the public landing
areas by aircraft stored and serviced off-site on adjacent
property." The manual changes were announced on Septemeber 30th of
this year.
According to the Oregon Statesman-Journal, Independence
Airpark has about 200 homes with access to the airport, one of the
larger such communities in the country. Both the city of
Independence and the State of Oregon have filed comments in support
of the airpark and its access to the airport. "The … City of
Independence supports the efforts of the Independence Airpark
Homeowners to maintain their current through-the-fence status,"
Mayor John McArdle said in a letter to FAA Compliance and Field
Operations. Gregg Dal Ponte, the acting director of the Oregon
Department of Aviation, said the airport and residences have
co-existed safely for many years. "Oregon … has had a safe
and financially self-sufficient airport at Independence State
Airport that is adjacent to over 200 residential airpark homes,
many of which have been there since 1974," Dal Ponte wrote.
But FAA director of airport compliance and field operations
Randall Fiertz said the FAA's policy has not changed for decades
either, and it will continue to oppose through the fence
access.
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