Is airport funding in jeopardy?: Perry’s project has airport officials nervous
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Airport manager Kevin Bishop reports the land, which is owned by Ronnie Perry in association with Don and Chris Rounds, is adjacent to the airport and already has an aircraft hangar in construction on the property.
Although Perry and the Rounds have not contacted Bishop personally, they have spoken to airport employees about plans to construct an aviation-based business on the land and have asked for access to the Warren County Airport through the airport fence – which the airport has denied due to security issues.
Don and Chris Rounds currently operate a repair business on the grounds of Warren County Airport and Perry has one of his aircraft stored there.
The possible repercussions of this situation were discussed recently during a Economic Development Committee meeting which Bishop attended to present an airport report and its 2002-2003 budget. Committee Chairman David Vandagriff asked Bishop about the grass runway and how it might affect the future of the airport.
“It could adversely affect us,” Bishop said, “Since there aren’t any land compatibility controls in effect for Warren County, or any zoning in effect, people are free to do whatever they want around the airport. This is going to be a good motivation for us in the county to take steps to protect this property.
“In effect, if he builds a runway there, what’ll happen is the FAA will come in. He’s supposed to go through steps, which he has not. He’s supposed to have a land study done saying: OK, I want to build a runway here.
“The FAA would come right back and say no, we don’t recommend that you do that,” Bishop continued. “That’s all they can do is say we don’t recommend that you do that. But if he does, then they’re going to come back on us and say you have a safety violation, and until you fix it, we’re not going to fund you anymore.”
Commissioner Bill Zechman asked Bishop why the responsibility would fall back on the county’s airport.
“What’s happened is, years ago, the FAA and the state turned that control over to the owners of the airports, saying you can take care of it by enacting compatibility controls and zoning laws, so they turned all that over to the county,” Bishop explained.
Bishop went on to point out that since there are currently no zoning laws or land compatibility controls in effect, encroachment is a very real threat to the county’s airport.
“One airport a week in the United States is shut down due to encroachment, residential or commercial or whatever,” Bishop said. “Cookeville, prime example, shut down. Now they share Sparta’s airport.”
On the other side of the issue, Perry says all he wants is easement from his property onto the Warren County Airport runways – which airport authorities have refused to provide. Perry and the Rounds have plans to build an air park on the property with hangars offering space for rent to the public, an aircraft museum, and repair shops.
“I don’t want to cause any trouble,” said Perry, who owns aircraft, including a 1944 DC3, that he wants to store on the property, ” I just want access to the airport for my airplanes to take off and get gas. If they give me access, then I’ll just build a taxi-way and use their runways. If they don’t, then I’ll build my own runway and fly over the fence to get gas. It’s legal, and we plan to use radios so there won’t be any danger.”
But according to Bishop, the FAA and the state frown on providing the type of access Perry wants, though they don’t expressly forbid it.
“They can’t say no, you can’t do it, but they highly discourage the airport owners from allowing through-the-fence operations,” Bishop said.