Hi guys,
I was wondering if anyone on here lives in an airpark with community strip. I have a few questions...
How exactly is the organization structured with other land owners and shared use of the strip?
You own your lot fee simple?
Is the runway shown as an easement in your survey? Or is it common grounds for an HOA?
You pay monthly or annual fees for the upkeep on the runway/taxiways Im assuming?
How strict was your building code for your house/hangar?

Have an interesting opportunity that I'm investigating and trying to get a handle on the airpark model.

Thank you!

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Ask about HOA fees, whether there are habitual late payers (or any in default), whether the HOA has regular meetings, does the HOA carry insurance for the facilities and liability insurance for board members. What is the litigation history of the HOA and individuals who own homes or lots. Are any lots exempt from HOA assessments? How many lots are tere in the HOA? A little 'due diligence' might save both money & headaches in the future.

Our airstrip is a 3200x60 grass strip and is HOA common grounds. There are 16 lots and we each pay 1020/ year (85/month) to mow the runway and maintain the gates. Building requirements are stated in the covenants and generally followed, but some deviations have been allowed. Our HOA is pretty dysfunctional. We basically all meet once or twice a year and the 5 elected board members take care of everything. This is my 3rd year as treasurer and I cant seem to pawn it off....not alot of work but still a hassle. Most people get along ok, those that don't tend to leave each other alone. Unfortunately I think there are now more nonpilot than pilots living here but convents are written that it would take 100% vote to get rid of the runway. Most of the lots here are 5 acres with a few 1 acre lots so we are spread out pretty nice. I sometimes think I'd rather have my own strip but we couldn't afford that much land in this area and there is no way Id have time to fly if I had to mow anymore than I already do.

I always said I would never live in an HOA, but after being able to walk out to my plane and taxi down the driveway, I would absolutely do it all over again. We were fortunate enough to buy an existing property so not having to build was nice. We have two young kids, coming home from a trip and just tossing them in bed instead of unloading the plane and shuffling them into a car is priceless. Plus for me, I can just walk out and work in the hangar anytime I want. Not perfect, but a whole lot more pros than cons if you ask me. Also, the hangar rent will never go and I get to set it up how I want. It really is a pilots dream come true!

Good luck with you venture!

I moved into a residence adjacent to L26 in So. Cal. December 2016. I own my property with a hangar and have a fence that separates the property from the airport which is owned by an individual. there is a "Thru the fence" agreement that costs me $75 a month.
That's all no HOA, no other fees. I pay, I push the plane thru the gate. Bad part of this is if some day the owner decides to sell or develop warehouses or some other silly venture I have no say in it. I can cry, bitch or moan but it's (airport) not my property.

I have no experience living in an airpark, but I have looked into one in particular and here are some of the big points I remember from their covenants:

-HOA for runway and taxiway upkeep ($100/mo)
-Minimum square footage for house was 1800sq/ft
-Hangar had to be attached to the house (although 3 of the 7 developed lots had detached hangars. Which makes me think deviations aren't a problem as long as they are aren't an eye sore to the community)
-HOA only allowed pilots to buy lots/houses. As a prospective buyer you had to send a photocopy of your certificates to the HOA for approval.
---This part I really liked because I am based at an airport with a lot of hangars being used for storage units by people that have never been inside a small airplane. It drives me nuts. The only downside to this is if you want to sell, obviously the market is much smaller. This tends to lower the value since there is ultimately less demand, or less demand that can actually purchase.
-No livestock/chickens (understandable, but I would like to have chickens someday).

Overall I see the benefits of an airpark and am really on the fence about moving to one versus buying enough property that I can make my own airstrip. The rules of an HOA really hold me back though.

I'd rather have much less house on a lesser runway then live in an airpark HOA. I've heard of airparks banning helicopters. Absurd. Would never hitch my housing wagon to such a potential train wreck.

I looked at an airpark home last year. Nice spot, nice runway, pretty cool all the way around. But, when my buddy and I parked our 180's, there was no clear place to park. We parked near the fuel pump, as it was the only place to get off of the runway without driving off into unknown vegetation or someones front yard, there were no signs designating parking, nor any spot that looked safe to taxi into. We walked to the end of the runway and stopped to look at the home. Maybe 20 minutes total, no one came in to land, or take off. But, when we got back to our planes, we were met by two very unhappy guys. They gave us an earful about parking where we did, and left nasty notes on our planes.
That was all I needed to know about the airpark.

I have lived on one for thirty years, most people are friendly but every place has their less than agreeable people unfortunately. Some people can take the fun out the best things.

A 2600' rwy of adequate width is about 6 acres. Add another 3 for a home and hangar and round it up to 10 acres. Even in farm country, at $15K/acre, that's $150K. But you need those 6 rwy acres to be aligned at least within 30 degrees of the prevailing wind, which often is not easy to find. Airport/HOA communities have already dialed this in. So one of the issues is the trade-off between buying into an existing HOA air community, with all its ups and downs, vs. the time req'd to find, purchase, gain permits, and build your own, and then hope all the neighbors don't sell out to wind generator farms, creating the proverbial 50' obstacle you need to clear going out and coming home.

I live adjacent to a publicly accessible private airstrip. Lot ownership is fee simple.
Myself and 2 others who are similarly adjacent pay through the fence access annually. There is a small group of hangars on the airport that also generate revenue for the owner monthly.
As for building code, don't know as I bought the place with the hangar already built, though I'd imagine my county would treat it as any other shop of which there are many here.
I appreciate not being in an HOA, but at the end of the day there are pro/con to any arrangement. HOA's can be a nightmare as noted, and in my situation the airport owner could decide to bulldoze the runway and build a chicken farm tomorrow.
The only situation I've heard of that completely avoids any drama is private home/strip. Then you only have to worry about the massive cost of putting in a strip, angry neighbors, municipal bureaucracy, etc.
You roll your dice and take your chances. But, being able to walk out and preflight the airplane in slippers sure doesn't suck.

DreadPirateWill wrote:I live adjacent to a publicly accessible private airstrip. Lot ownership is fee simple.
Myself and 2 others who are similarly adjacent pay through the fence access annually. There is a small group of hangars on the airport that also generate revenue for the owner monthly.
As for building code, don't know as I bought the place with the hangar already built, though I'd imagine my county would treat it as any other shop of which there are many here.
I appreciate not being in an HOA, but at the end of the day there are pro/con to any arrangement. HOA's can be a nightmare as noted, and in my situation the airport owner could decide to bulldoze the runway and build a chicken farm tomorrow.
The only situation I've heard of that completely avoids any drama is private home/strip. Then you only have to worry about the massive cost of putting in a strip, angry neighbors, municipal bureaucracy, etc.
You roll your dice and take your chances. But, being able to walk out and preflight the airplane in slippers sure doesn't suck.

"Massive cost?" Depends on what you fly I guess, and of course what the property is like. As I told the late Joe Clark once (his private airport one of, if not the biggest/best in the country) when he asked me what I did to make my strip, I responded with "I ran the Kubota up and down it 3 times, with the 4' brush hog behind, and called it good." About 18' when done. Now that I have a bigger Kubota, I bought a 6' brush hog, and the runway seems like JFK, plenty wide enough, at a bit over 20'. I also bought a attachment for the front, with hydraulic pinchers, and ripped up every sagebrush on the place, so if I do have a problem at least I'll be just into the unmowed native grasses not the sage. The 40 acres is a legal farm, I rent some space out for grazing, plus it was in CRP for several years. According to my accountant, this means the new tractor, as an example, is a piece of farm equipment, so some tax advantages there if one plays the angles carefully, and legally. The small part of the property the house is on is taxed separately from the majority of it, so the prop taxes are quite low (shhhh....) due to the lower rates for ag ground. If I ever have to move again, I wouldn't consider anything but a similar setup.

courierguy wrote:

DreadPirateWill wrote:I live adjacent to a publicly accessible private airstrip. Lot ownership is fee simple.
Myself and 2 others who are similarly adjacent pay through the fence access annually. There is a small group of hangars on the airport that also generate revenue for the owner monthly.
As for building code, don't know as I bought the place with the hangar already built, though I'd imagine my county would treat it as any other shop of which there are many here.
I appreciate not being in an HOA, but at the end of the day there are pro/con to any arrangement. HOA's can be a nightmare as noted, and in my situation the airport owner could decide to bulldoze the runway and build a chicken farm tomorrow.
The only situation I've heard of that completely avoids any drama is private home/strip. Then you only have to worry about the massive cost of putting in a strip, angry neighbors, municipal bureaucracy, etc.
You roll your dice and take your chances. But, being able to walk out and preflight the airplane in slippers sure doesn't suck.

"Massive cost?" Depends on what you fly I guess, and of course what the property is like. As I told the late Joe Clark once (his private airport one of, if not the biggest/best in the country) when he asked me what I did to make my strip, I responded with "I ran the Kubota up and down it 3 times, with the 4' brush hog behind, and called it good." About 18' when done. Now that I have a bigger Kubota, I bought a 6' brush hog, and the runway seems like JFK, plenty wide enough, at a bit over 20'. I also bought a attachment for the front, with hydraulic pinchers, and ripped up every sagebrush on the place, so if I do have a problem at least I'll be just into the unmowed native grasses not the sage. The 40 acres is a legal farm, I rent some space out for grazing, plus it was in CRP for several years. According to my accountant, this means the new tractor, as an example, is a piece of farm equipment, so some tax advantages there if one plays the angles carefully, and legally. The small part of the property the house is on is taxed separately from the majority of it, so the prop taxes are quite low (shhhh....) due to the lower rates for ag ground. If I ever have to move again, I wouldn't consider anything but a similar setup.

I look forward to landing my Bearhawk at your place if I can get permission.

courierguy wrote: "Massive cost?" Depends on what you fly I guess, and of course what the property is like. As I told the late Joe Clark once (his private airport one of, if not the biggest/best in the country) when he asked me what I did to make my strip, I responded with "I ran the Kubota up and down it 3 times, with the 4' brush hog behind, and called it good." About 18' when done. Now that I have a bigger Kubota, I bought a 6' brush hog, and the runway seems like JFK, plenty wide enough, at a bit over 20'. I also bought a attachment for the front, with hydraulic pinchers, and ripped up every sagebrush on the place, so if I do have a problem at least I'll be just into the unmowed native grasses not the sage. The 40 acres is a legal farm, I rent some space out for grazing, plus it was in CRP for several years. According to my accountant, this means the new tractor, as an example, is a piece of farm equipment, so some tax advantages there if one plays the angles carefully, and legally. The small part of the property the house is on is taxed separately from the majority of it, so the prop taxes are quite low (shhhh....) due to the lower rates for ag ground. If I ever have to move again, I wouldn't consider anything but a similar setup.

Yep, very true.
Where I'm at I've got 2600 foot of asphalt(30 ft wide no less!) at 1900 ft MSL, plenty to fly the R182 at gross in the summer with a lot of margin. If I only flew the cub solo, I'd be fine with much less.
Quite a bit of Nevada you wouldn't even need the brush hog, it all depends. Of course you might have a 4 hr round trip for groceries and no good Thai food - the horror!

Raptor wrote: A 2600' rwy of adequate width is about 6 acres. Add another 3 for a home and hangar and round it up to 10 acres. Even in farm country, at $15K/acre, that's $150K. ......

Dunno about where you live, but around here most 10 acre parcels are either square (660' x 660'),
or else a slice off a 40 acre square (1320 x 1320)-- so a 1320 x 330 foot piece.
Plenty wide for an airstrip & buildings, but on the short side for most of us for day-in, day-out, all-weather use.

A 10 acre slice off a quarter section (160 acres, 2640 x 2640) would be OK- 165' x 2640.
But to find one, for sale, aligned with the prevailing wind, clear of obstructions, etc....
might take some doing.
Take a look at the county parcel maps for your area & see how many fit the bill.

I'm at L00 (Rosamond Skypark, Ca). We have 3600'x50' asphalt with lighting, and are at 2410' elevation in the Antelope Valley of SoCal. DA ranges from2410 to almost 6000' in the summer. There are approx 60 homes with hangars (most are approx 1/2 acre lots). The first homes went in in the late 80s and there are a few lots remaining. We have monthly board meetings (I'm new on the board) and "HOA" dues are $80/mth. It's a very well established Skypark and we have all kinds of people here. One thing we are concerned with is the lack of younger pilots/families with planes, or even an aviation interest. It is generally accepted that you have a plane or a project in your hangar but there is nothing in writing. Usually, the houses sell by word of mouth, but when a realtor is used.....they generally promote the homes as "fantastic for large car collections" So far, no issues! I like the caveat about 100% of the owners would need to vote to close the runway.....may have to look in to adding that to the rules/regs. I moved in about 2.5 years ago, and it has been even better than I imagined!! If you can find a place that works for you, go for it!!

I live in an airpark in NC that has been an airport since 46 so the grass strip has been here for a long time. Approximately 2200 feet long with I believe 15 homes on the runway and probably 7-8 off runway. Old dairy farm. The brothers that started it had a contract to train cadets after the war in an old barn that is still standing. They did flight training out of here and I believe even a little freight running at one point in I believe an Aztec until one of them lost an engine on departure and went in inverted in a field off of the south end of the runway. I am not sure of the timeline after that but the other brother eventually started to develop it into and airpark and sold off lots. The runway lots are an average size of approximately 3 acres. First house I believe was built in the late 80's. Howard, the developer, was one of the early Piedmont pilots and I believe originally flew DC-3's for them. To buy a lot here you had to first interview with and be approved by him so a fair amount of the folks who bought the runway lots and built homes ended up being airline people. Due to his hand selection of the original owners he created a pretty good environment of folks who thought alike, got along and, airline or not, they were all aviation people. The runway lots all extend to the centerline of the runway. It is in the covenants that no building can be built closer to 175 feet of that lot line. No fence, shrub or anything over 2.5 feet can be put in within 125 feet of the centerline. It also states that you can not build a hangar alone here or start construction of a hangar before starting construction of a house. You could build the two simultaneously though most I think built their house first, hangar second. One of the things I think he should have done but didn't was there is no runway access for anyone living off runway so only about half of those folks are aviation people. We have sort of a HOA but not really. Everyone is supposed to pay 200 a year and that goes towards the fuel and maintenance of the tractor used to mow the runway and fertilizer for the grass once every year or so. When my parents built a house here in the late 90's, I would say the average age of the homeowners was late 40's to late 50's. It was a magical place during those years when they built and it is also where I learned to fly in my late 20's.

Fast forward to present day and the dynamic out here has changed. I am 52 now and became the second owner of a house on the runway here in July 2020. I am also currently the second youngest homeowner on the runway. Most of the folks who still live here, my parents included, who were the original owners/builders are now in their 70's-80's. Some folks have aged out of aviation and moved away. Some can't pass a medical and don't fly anymore. Some have passed away and their widow's still live in the house. We are starting to get second owners moving in here and not all of them are into aviation. That is the part that worries me a bit as there is no way to control who buys after the original owner decides to sell. It is still a good bunch out here but I am seeing change with some of the second owners. There was a point in time 20 years ago where I knew every single homeowner and I didn't even live here. Not anymore. There are a few now that don't socialize with the airplane crowd at all and I have yet to meet them. I want to think that this will always be an airport but if the majority of owners turns into non aviation folks it may take a turn at some point in the future.

Finished a new hangar & house on an air park about a year ago. Paved runway and taxiways are owned by the HOA and maintained by a fee (around $100/mo) but always subject to change. This is a fairly new one so it is still in the first of several planned phases, personally I’m not sure it will ever be filled like the developer dreams. Lots are high, but so is everything around here. Pros and cons are pretty much what has been already posted, you have no control over who your neighbors will be or sell to. Building was a nightmare as this development seemed to have changing goalposts while you are in process. Building inspector on the house and hangar seemed to be a hangup with me for some reason as I somehow seemed to get singled out on fire code issues with the hangar that no one else did(same inspector for all other recent hangars so ?????). All in all we like it, hard to beat a good view, airplanes buzzing around, and the ability to go flying for a half hour or so, where as before it would take an hour just to get to the hangar and open the door. Go for it, you only live once.

My wife and I bought an airpark lot a few years ago on an airstrip that parallels a river. The main attraction for us was the river and the strip is just a sweetener. The strip was laid out in the early 70s and has about 25 lots on it. I'm told it used to be an active GA community, but by the time we got to it there were four active pilots and two airplanes on the strip. Now we're down to two pilots and zero airplanes based there. The hangars are filled with other stuff. There are absolutely zero zoning or building restrictions. You could live in an RV if you wanted.

The strip is still owned by the descendants of the guy who laid it out. The strip is laid out in the deed, but there's no formal HOA or anything like that anymore. The strip is on the chart and we make sure the data stays current with the FAA. I pay a couple hundred bucks a year to help with the maintenance but it is an informal arrangement. The descendants tell me that they intend to keep the strip open as long as people use it and keep it maintained, but they're older than me by a couple of decades so the future is uncertain. If I ever decided to buy or build a hangar on it then I'd want something in writing to protect my investment. If they announced plans to close the strip then I'd pursue all reasonable options to keep it open, with the clear expectation that I might become responsible for its maintenance.

I guess the point of this is to know what you're getting into. If you plan to live there and the strip is a must, then make sure you have a clear legal right to the strip. If, like me, the strip is just a nice-to-have then perhaps you're comfortable with a more informal arrangement.