A supercub pilot that owns land just outside the city limits of Boise Idaho received approval from the planning and zoning commission to build an airstrip on his private land. City officials have come unglued, and even managed to get the Idaho fish and Game to oppose it. These officials are attempting to kill the approval. Considering the strip was to be short, on a grassy ridge, and away from houses one has to wonder why the fuss.

Sean

seward wrote:...owns land just outside the city limits of Boise...

My first thought was how does the city even get to voice an opinion about it, if it's outside city limits.
I wonder if they want it inside city limits so they can tax it somehow. Or benefit from any increased property tax or possible business tax from it?
The city near where I live raised hell about a proposed "airport industrial park" outside city limits, turns out they wanted any tax revenue from it to go to them not the county.
Why the fur-n-fins agency would oppose it is a mystery- it's not in their bailiwick at all.

Dean was approved by the county, but still faces an appeal potential.

our local excuse for a city government wants the entire foothills area to be turned into a large nature park, where people can ride bicycles, hike, hug the small furry creatures, etc. the fact that large amounts of it are private property is unimportant to them. our current mayor lives in his own little fantasy land most of the time, which is an improvement over our last mayor who resigned on the same day he was indicted. politics in this town is frequently entertaining or disgusting, sometimes both at once. just my $.02 on the subject after living here for 26 years.

I love small furry animals too- esp when accompanied by gravy & some taters.

I'm in CO, not ID, but I contacted the county prior to converting my driveway into my landing strip (my driveway basically stretches between my home, and my folks home. 15-1600ft usable because of 30-50ft obstructions on either end.

Anyway I didn't give them my name or exact location, just that I am 25 miles out from the city in a certain type of agricultural zoning etc. Closest neighbor is a 1/2 mile or so away off the one side, there is nobody directly inline with it. etc. Told them it's just for my little plane, private use blah blah.

I received a snippy, non-supportive email instructing me that I would need all sorts of special building permits and sound permits and other nonsense. I was given the county zoning law book section to reference. I carefully read every section I could find pertaining to these permits. And searched through the rules looking for anything aviation related. There was exactly 0 anything pertaining to flying, planes, airports, runways, aviation etc. in the book whatsoever.

It gave all the reasons one would have to apply for these permits and nothing I could find related to what I'm doing. So I widened and flattened out my driveway as best I could and fingers crossed it's been 8-9 months of fairly often landing on it. Hanger is a work in progress so I house the plane at a dirt strip 5 miles away for now. Figured a test run for a while to see if it stirs up any trouble would be good anyway.

I can land either direction and make a pattern without coming remotely close to anyone's home or stuff. I do my best to stay friendly with our neighbors because I figure it's really in their hands as far as creating trouble. So far they have all been good with it and commented on enjoying seeing an airplane taking off and landing and all that.

I guess I am going with the "it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission" attitude and crossing my fingers... seems there is always a rule or offended person standing in they way of doing just about anything anymore...sadly.

In our county in Iowa, cities have a buffer zone 2 miles around the city boundaries in which they get considerable say in what goes on. Maybe Boise has a similar law.

Most towns/Cities have an impact area, they are defined. If it is within the impact area they will have a say. This is true in Idaho. If not impact then you get to deal with the County. Boise has a lot of pull on the county.

GravityKnight wrote:I'm in CO, not ID, but I contacted the county prior to converting my driveway into my landing strip (my driveway basically stretches between my home, and my folks home. 15-1600ft usable because of 30-50ft obstructions on either end.
...
I received a snippy, non-supportive email instructing me that I would need all sorts of special building permits and sound permits and other nonsense. I was given the county zoning law book section to reference. I carefully read every section I could find pertaining to these permits. And searched through the rules looking for anything aviation related. There was exactly 0 anything pertaining to flying, planes, airports, runways, aviation etc. in the book whatsoever.

Mind sharing your county (PM is fine) so I can compare notes? I have a place in Park County that someday I'd like to land near...