Town Condemns Large Portion Of Property For Development

There was bad news Wednesday for a family fighting to save its private airport from condemnation by a New Jersey town.

Solberg Airport has deep aviation routes. In 1935, Thor Solberg completed the first flight from the US to his native Norway. Four years later, he opened Solberg Airport Readington, NJ. He raised his kids there and put them through Readington schools.

His son, Thor Jr., went on to Princeton University and became a 777 captain for United. Since Thor Sr., died in 1967, Thor Jr. has run the airport and FBO. In the intervening years, he's been joined in the family business by his sisters, Lorraine Solberg and Suzy Solberg Nagle.

The airport hosts a variety of community events each year, and had peacefully coexisted with the town for decades. But in the mid-1990s, the Readington Township Board voted to site a new school in a legally mandated runway safety zone, and the political clouds began gathering. When the Solbergs attempted to draft a new master plan calling for airport improvements, the storm hit.

Former Mayor Julia Allen set about to condemn the airport, an initiative which the town is still pushing today. As is often the case in NIMBY battles, protestors have frightened nearby residents with wildly exaggerated tactics. In the case of the Solberg Airport, picketers carried signs which said, "Stop the 747s," implying that runway improvements would lead to jumbo jets flying in and out of the small, rural community.

The town did ultimately condemn 624 of the airport's 726 acres in 2006, and seize development rights to the remainder, saying it wants to preserve the land as a greenspace. The Solbergs counter that if that was the real goal of the politicians, leaving the airport as-is would provide a greenspace at no taxpayer expense, and in fact continue the airport's contribution to the town's tax base.

The family challenged the condemnation, but on Wednesday Superior Court Judge Yolanda Ciccone ruled that the Solbergs had not adequately proven their case that the town was taking the land just to prevent airport expansion. The judge ordered an appraisal process to start, with a report to be delivered by May 19.

The Solbergs, and their attorney, Laurence Orloff, told the Star Ledger newspaper they had not yet had time to study the ruling. They'll have until early March to file an appeal.

FMI: www.solbergairport.com