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County green-lights airpark
The controversial Rocky Mountain Airpark development is officially cleared for takeoff.
By By: Rhonda Moore
The controversial Rocky Mountain Airpark development is officially cleared for takeoff.
Elbert County commissioners gave the project its final nod of approval Jan. 31, months after developer Pete Vinton proposed the development.
The airpark is the latest addition to the Everitt airstrip community and the County granted approval only after Vinton reached an unprecedented agreement with surrounding landowners.
The agreement is filed with the subdivision's development guide and establishes airpark guidelines that are enforceable by the county, said Ken Wolf, the former Elbert County planning director who presented the land use application to commissioners.
Among the guidelines in the agreement are restrictions on the number of aircraft permitted at the airpark, hours of flight operations and who can use the airpark, and limitations on aviation activities and fuel storage.
Vinton met with residents surrounding the airpark after planning commissioners last August informed him they would not consider his proposal unless the public concerns were addressed. A core group of neighbors called the Elbert County Coalition against Rocky Mountain Airpark spearheaded the effort to call attention to concerns about flight activities near neighboring properties.
The Rocky Mountain Airpark is near the intersection of East Main Street Parker Rd. and Delbert Road, where Douglas and Elbert counties share a boundary. Residents along Delbert Road formed a vocal opposition to the airpark at its inception, with warning signs depicting fiery crashes posted along Delbert Road.
In July 2006, those fears were realized when a plane carrying an Everitt heir crashed on a neighboring property upon takeoff. The pilot, Andrew Whelchel, and his flight instructor, Charles Kaminski, survived the nosedive landing, but the incident further polarized the community against the proposed airpark.
The Everitt airstrip has been in use as a private airstrip since the late 1960s and use of the airstrip was grandfathered in for the surrounding communities, Wolf said. The Everitt airstrip is surrounded by the Kitty Hawk Hills minor development and the Everitt minor development. The Rocky Mountain Airpark Estates adds 11 lots to the surrounding community for a total of 18 lots around the airpark.
The county's conditions are a compromise between residents concerned about flight activities in the growing residential area and Vinton, whose agreement with residents was the first of its kind, Wolf said.
In the resolution, Vinton agreed to restrict use of the airstrip to landowners within the surrounding subdivisions, their immediate family members and guests, not to exceed four guests per year. Each landowner is permitted up to two aircraft on the property, not to exceed 36 aircraft at the airpark. There are no limits on the number of flights per year, but the hours of operation are from dawn to dusk, October through April; 7 a.m. to dusk, May through September; and 8 a.m. to dusk on Sundays. The airpark is permitted to have as many as 24 flights per year outside of the normal flight operation hours.
The airpark is not permitted to host air shows, flight demonstrations, sky diving or hot air balloon rallies. Prohibited commercial activities include aircraft rental, sales, flying clubs, flying lessons or sales of fuel to individuals who live outside the surrounding subdivisions.
Fuel storage is limited to a central location within the airpark and will be in compliance with state law and Environmental Protection Agency standards. Commissioner Hope Goetz, who worked in the insurance industry for 20 years before she became commissioner, asked Vinton to increase the required liability insurance from $500,000 to $1 million for each landowner who participates in flight activities. Vinton agreed to increase the liability insurance requirement in the resolution.
Commissioners agreed to Vinton's request to gate the community and maintain the interior roads. Although private maintenance is against the county's regulations in a subdivision of this size, the nature of the road traffic poses too high a risk to the public and to county employees, Wolf said.
The layout of the roads and the runways among the three subdivisions makes it difficult to tell which is a road and which is a runway, Wolf said. Residents who live there can tell the difference, but other visitors might not.
"The planning department is against the county maintaining these roads," Wolf said. "We have issues relative to road locations and runway considerations. Why does the county need to be concerned about being hit by an airplane?"
The question of danger to the surrounding communities remains with residents who consider the board's approval too much of a compromise. With less than a dozen people in attendance at the hearing, the public presence was far less than the 200-plus who showed up for previous public hearings.
Those in attendance repeated concerns about increased traffic and the dangers of planes flying low over a busy intersection. The County approved 3,000 lots at Spring Valley Vistas Jan. 4 , which is expected to increase traffic along the future extension of East Main Street Parker up to 10,000 vehicles per day.
"This is a bad idea on many levels and it will be a thorn in the side of the county for years to come," said Bill Stordahl, president of the Elbert County Coalition against Rocky Mountain Airpark. "With planes coming north on Delbert Road, cars have to stop. [When] E. Main Street Parker is extended with planes coming down that low, that's going to be one of the most dangerous intersections in the area.
"Delbert and E. Main Street Parker is the doorway to Elbert County," he said. "That airstrip there will be a problem for the county forever."
Contact Rhonda Moore at 303-646-2710 or rmoore@ccnewspapers.com.
Elbert County commissioners gave the project its final nod of approval Jan. 31, months after developer Pete Vinton proposed the development.
The airpark is the latest addition to the Everitt airstrip community and the County granted approval only after Vinton reached an unprecedented agreement with surrounding landowners.
The agreement is filed with the subdivision's development guide and establishes airpark guidelines that are enforceable by the county, said Ken Wolf, the former Elbert County planning director who presented the land use application to commissioners.
Among the guidelines in the agreement are restrictions on the number of aircraft permitted at the airpark, hours of flight operations and who can use the airpark, and limitations on aviation activities and fuel storage.
Vinton met with residents surrounding the airpark after planning commissioners last August informed him they would not consider his proposal unless the public concerns were addressed. A core group of neighbors called the Elbert County Coalition against Rocky Mountain Airpark spearheaded the effort to call attention to concerns about flight activities near neighboring properties.
The Rocky Mountain Airpark is near the intersection of East Main Street Parker Rd. and Delbert Road, where Douglas and Elbert counties share a boundary. Residents along Delbert Road formed a vocal opposition to the airpark at its inception, with warning signs depicting fiery crashes posted along Delbert Road.
In July 2006, those fears were realized when a plane carrying an Everitt heir crashed on a neighboring property upon takeoff. The pilot, Andrew Whelchel, and his flight instructor, Charles Kaminski, survived the nosedive landing, but the incident further polarized the community against the proposed airpark.
The Everitt airstrip has been in use as a private airstrip since the late 1960s and use of the airstrip was grandfathered in for the surrounding communities, Wolf said. The Everitt airstrip is surrounded by the Kitty Hawk Hills minor development and the Everitt minor development. The Rocky Mountain Airpark Estates adds 11 lots to the surrounding community for a total of 18 lots around the airpark.
The county's conditions are a compromise between residents concerned about flight activities in the growing residential area and Vinton, whose agreement with residents was the first of its kind, Wolf said.
In the resolution, Vinton agreed to restrict use of the airstrip to landowners within the surrounding subdivisions, their immediate family members and guests, not to exceed four guests per year. Each landowner is permitted up to two aircraft on the property, not to exceed 36 aircraft at the airpark. There are no limits on the number of flights per year, but the hours of operation are from dawn to dusk, October through April; 7 a.m. to dusk, May through September; and 8 a.m. to dusk on Sundays. The airpark is permitted to have as many as 24 flights per year outside of the normal flight operation hours.
The airpark is not permitted to host air shows, flight demonstrations, sky diving or hot air balloon rallies. Prohibited commercial activities include aircraft rental, sales, flying clubs, flying lessons or sales of fuel to individuals who live outside the surrounding subdivisions.
Fuel storage is limited to a central location within the airpark and will be in compliance with state law and Environmental Protection Agency standards. Commissioner Hope Goetz, who worked in the insurance industry for 20 years before she became commissioner, asked Vinton to increase the required liability insurance from $500,000 to $1 million for each landowner who participates in flight activities. Vinton agreed to increase the liability insurance requirement in the resolution.
Commissioners agreed to Vinton's request to gate the community and maintain the interior roads. Although private maintenance is against the county's regulations in a subdivision of this size, the nature of the road traffic poses too high a risk to the public and to county employees, Wolf said.
The layout of the roads and the runways among the three subdivisions makes it difficult to tell which is a road and which is a runway, Wolf said. Residents who live there can tell the difference, but other visitors might not.
"The planning department is against the county maintaining these roads," Wolf said. "We have issues relative to road locations and runway considerations. Why does the county need to be concerned about being hit by an airplane?"
The question of danger to the surrounding communities remains with residents who consider the board's approval too much of a compromise. With less than a dozen people in attendance at the hearing, the public presence was far less than the 200-plus who showed up for previous public hearings.
Those in attendance repeated concerns about increased traffic and the dangers of planes flying low over a busy intersection. The County approved 3,000 lots at Spring Valley Vistas Jan. 4 , which is expected to increase traffic along the future extension of East Main Street Parker up to 10,000 vehicles per day.
"This is a bad idea on many levels and it will be a thorn in the side of the county for years to come," said Bill Stordahl, president of the Elbert County Coalition against Rocky Mountain Airpark. "With planes coming north on Delbert Road, cars have to stop. [When] E. Main Street Parker is extended with planes coming down that low, that's going to be one of the most dangerous intersections in the area.
"Delbert and E. Main Street Parker is the doorway to Elbert County," he said. "That airstrip there will be a problem for the county forever."
Contact Rhonda Moore at 303-646-2710 or rmoore@ccnewspapers.com.
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