Good morning,

While letters from UT residents will obviously carry the most weight, any letters would help. I’m posting this here because I know there are other hangar owners in different states that are running into similar issues. If we can get this resolved either via the lawsuit or legislation, hopefully it will set some precedence so it doesn’t show up on your doorsteps. These airport managers, and airport consultants, share their playbooks and this is becoming more common. So if you feel inclined, a couple minutes if your time to write…especially if you live in Utah…would be appreciated. Thanks!

Please cc Rep Katy Hall who is sponsoring the bill.

[email protected]


To the Utah Aviation Community,

Ogden City and the Ogden airport manager intend to take possession of every hangar at the Ogden airport without compensation by not renewing leases. Additionally the City has also more than tripled lease rates over the past five years. The goal of the City is to convert the airport from being part of the transportation infrastructure in support of aviation, to the equivalent of a municipal ATM machine at no cost to the City. This is wrong and is not aligned with FAA grant assurances which states airports should strive to be self sufficient. A municipality should be supporting airport businesses not becoming one. But that is Ogden City's plan.

ORAA is taking legal and legislative steps to prevent Ogden City from taking these illegal and immoral actions. HB367 is intended to prevent a municipality from taking a hangar without compensation and then using the asset in a for profit business. HB367 is currently in front of the Political Subdivisions Committee which is where we need your immediate help. A letter needs to be sent TODAY! The Committee is listed below. We need as many voices speaking in favor of this legislation and asking these committee members to vote in favor of the bill.

Thanks so much for your help,

Ogden Regional Airport Association Board

https://le.utah.gov/~2023/bills/static/HB0367.html

HB 367 - Local Government Airport Ordinance Sponsored by Rep. Katy Hall

Political Subdivisions Standing Committee - https://le.utah.gov/committee/committee.jsp?year=2023&com=HSTPOL

Chair Jim Dunnigan [email protected]
Mike Kohler - [email protected]
Gary Bennion [email protected]
Paul Cutler - [email protected]
Matt Gwynn - [email protected]
Jason Kyle - [email protected]
Trevor Lee - [email protected]
Rosemary Lesser - [email protected]
Anthony Loubet - [email protected]
Jordan Teuscher - [email protected]
Neil Walter- [email protected]


Suggested Email Content -

Include your name and address and phone number.

Present a factual, short and respectful email with the reasons why you support this legislation, and ask for their support.

TELL YOUR STORY - but keep it short. The legislators are running on fumes right now (and their emails are blowing up) so brevity is our friend.

This is fundamentally about personal property rights. If a private citizen builds a hanger that is titled in their name on which they are paying taxes, how is it legal for a local government to take that asset - which the government will then profit from - without just compensation to the owner?

FAA fundamentally wants airports to be self-sustaining, not a profit center, by encouraging a business-friendly atmosphere that welcomes all businesses on an equal and fair footing.

Asking a government to respect the constitutional rights of Utahns to private property protections is not in violation of grant assurances. It’s upholding the US and Utah constitutions and preventing government overreach.

Cities are political subdivisions of the state, and if they are violating constitutional rights of their citizens, the state has every right to pass laws and enhance and protect the rights of the individual.

Airports are a public utility as part of the national transportation system providing a vital service to their communities. They are generally not a profit center - especially a municipal airport.

While the bottom line may struggle for some airports, in Utah the economic activity generated by Utah’s municipal/general aviation airports is approximately $1.26 billion. Direct activities supported by these airports is estimated at $49.8 million. Approximately 11,567 jobs with a payroll of $476.5 Million is associate with the general aviation airports in Utah. These numbers do not include Salt Lake International.(source: https://www.udot.utah.gov/connect/wp-content/uploads/sitest/50/2022/05/Utah-Statewide-Airport-Economic-Impact-Study-Technical-Report-2.pdf) But one airport is driving business away, has lost its commercial carriers and by doing so is hurting their community. The bulk of those things are happening because of changes to city code and the taking of private assets.

I'm curious if you own one of these hangars, and are dealing with this yourself,
or are you getting your information at second hand?
FWIW the land lease from my airport for my hangar pad states that ownership of "improvements"
reverts to the airport at the end of the lease period--
in our case, that was 50 years.
We're at about year 25, so not an issue for us (yet),
but a couple other hangar owners here have had their land leases extended.
But I know of at least one other airport which did not extend their land leases,
but instead took the hangars.
Shitty deal, but per the terms of the lease so perfectly legal.

Yes. I own a hangar at this airport and am on the Board of the ORAA. You wouldn’t believe the antics the airport manager is up to. A real scumbag. Here is a little taste. He’s gone to all the FBOs on the field and told them he plans to put them all out of business, he plans for the only source of services, and has offered lineman jobs when this all happens. Security badges that came because of the airlines (now gone but he thinks they will come back after he spends $3 million to renovate the terminal. They won’t.) are being use as leverage for compliance for whatever they want. They have gone as far as telling people they could have a new lease if the withdraw from the lawsuit and aren’t a member of ORAA.

These are only high level examples. Lots more details. While our leases are reversionary leases, for 70 years the precedence has been to renew unless the land was needed for other purposes. It’s rarely been used. Also all our leases have first right of refusal language in them. A couple of years ago the city council voted to change Title 8 that is referenced in our leases. Problem is they are saying that the changes are retroactive to our leases, which violates contract law. As a result, our ground leases have increased more than the CPI that is referenced in our leases. Some have seen over 400% increase.

It’s a mess…and a city government/ airport manager that is out of control.

Here is another one you’ll like. Region 4 of the USFS has leased hangars and office space from a family here for decades. They recently put a large addition onto the hangar at the cost of about $2-3 million…but the base structure is over 40 years old. That’s the random number the city has decided on. Upon learning of the worth of the GSA contract, the airport manager set his sites in taking the structure so they could have the USFS contract…and revenue. So the city offered a lease to the family and GSA looked at it and said they wouldn’t sign it because it’s one of the most illegal leases they has seen. The city refuses to offer a new lease.

Side note, the USFS wanted to put a heli base at Ogden. They deemed it the best location. The manager killed a nearly complete deal because they want the building to run their one and only city owned FBO out of it. We’ve had some bad fires the last few years and having a better initial response facility would be very beneficial in keeping fires from growing and getting out of hand.

A few years ago the manager started requiring that you tell the city how much you’re charging for rent if you are subleasing your hangar. It was a data collection move to see how much they could gain by taking the hangars. Failure to comply would get your badge turned off and denied access to your hangar. Have multiple hangars and one hangar doesn’t have an inspection done…but all the others are compliant…badge shut off. Sometimes including your tenants. It’s been very heavy handed. And these are mild cases. There have been worse.

Sounds like all the hanger owners and FBOs need to get together and find a good lawfirm l

This happened to a friend of mine who lives in California. Lost his hangar to the city.

Contact AOPA and ask for advice from counsel. I am sure these lease forfeiture lease events have come up before. Need a good attorney in contract/lease law. I am based at large GA (BJC) with many many ground leases. The County as always been favorable on extending leases, because the hangar owners spend a fortune supporting the airport
. I ventured to purchase a hangar with a ground lease, it gave me "Heart Burn". One thing to point out, the pilots have been supporting the airport for years, fuel purchase, maintenance, fuel taxes, now you confiscate your property....!! Also contact the FAA, as sometimes the Cities/Counties have contractual agreements with the FAA on how the airport is operated, think "Van Nuys" in CA. City of Van Nuys, has been trying to close the airport for years, seething on the property development of the airport. Or, just disassembly your hangar and move it to another airport, been done before, Personal property, right? Good Luck.

NineThreeKilo wrote:Sounds like all the hanger owners and FBOs need to get together and find a good lawfirm l

Federal and state lawsuits are in progress.

ColoMtnMan wrote:Contact AOPA and ask for advice from counsel. I am sure these lease forfeiture lease events have come up before. Need a good attorney in contract/lease law. I am based at large GA (BJC) with many many ground leases. The County as always been favorable on extending leases, because the hangar owners spend a fortune supporting the airport
. I ventured to purchase a hangar with a ground lease, it gave me "Heart Burn". One thing to point out, the pilots have been supporting the airport for years, fuel purchase, maintenance, fuel taxes, now you confiscate your property....!! Also contact the FAA, as sometimes the Cities/Counties have contractual agreements with the FAA on how the airport is operated, think "Van Nuys" in CA. City of Van Nuys, has been trying to close the airport for years, seething on the property development of the airport. Or, just disassembly your hangar and move it to another airport, been done before, Personal property, right? Good Luck.

Thanks. We are neck deep in all the above. Grant assurance violations, attorneys, etc. AOPA hasn’t been as helpful as I would have hoped given all the highlights you see in the magazine every month of pressure they can put on airports and such. We do have a new ASN volunteer who is a hangar owner and has a relationship with the city attorney…so hopefully that will help.

This airport manager views GA as an inconvenience and wants airlines here. We had Allegiant (heavily subsidized) for about a decade and Avelo briefly. They all have pulled out. This airport manager thinks he will get them back by spending $7 million. Meanwhile Allegiant just dumped $90 million into Provo…which is better situated for airline service. They won’t be back. So he will fleece the GA section of the airport for all he can, not realizing he is killing his biggest asset on the airport. And the city attorney, and council members, are all just bobble heads that agree with whatever grandiose, unrealistic plan he feeds them.

My wife said the same thing…we’ll move the hangar or burn it to the ground before the city is allowed to make a dime off of it. Of course they have tried to make it more difficult to take that action, which is specifically allowed for in our leases, via changes in title 8 I mentioned above.