One Of The Oldest Strips In Nation Gets 220 Percent Tax Boost

Land valuation, and increased taxes may take another historic airport off the charts, and turn it into athletic fields. William Weasner, who has owned the Twin Pine Airport, in Hopewell Township since 1956, says he is sad to see it happen but can't afford to pay the taxes, according to the Trenton Times.

Twin Pine Airport was previously valued at $500,000-- before the county ordered township wide property tax revaluations. After the revaluations, the land was assessed at close to $2 million. The Mercer County revaluations pushed the Weasners' taxes up nearly 220 percent in one year -- from $17,000 to more than $36,000.

Twin Pine Airport (N75), one of the oldest in the nation is the site of a mega-deal among Hopewell Township, Lawrence Township, Hopewell Borough and Pennington. The airport land is being sold, bit by bit, to the four municipalities who came together last year to apply for $2 million in grants from Mercer County to tear down the airport's little red hangar and turn the airstrip into playing fields.

The municipalities want to buy one acre of the tract before year's end and the remaining 50 acres after Jan. 1.

FMI: www.mercercounty.org, www.aopa.org/asn