Can anything be done to protect the approaches on a private strip?

MarkH

MarkH

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MarkH
If (hypothetically) I were to build a private strip stretching from one end of my land to the other, is there anything I could do to prevent a windmill (or other tall object) from being erected 100 yards from the end of that strip?
 
You can appeal to your local zoning board for an airport overlay district. Your neighbors would have to go along with this since it would go out for public comment. It's not too common for private strips.

You could also negotiate avigation easements with your neighbors, offering them something in exchange for not building up. Since this is recorded into the deed, it reduces the value of the property since it has limitations.

Typically the best option is to buy up surrounding land or locate the strip near a body of water where things can't be built.
 
MarkH said:
If (hypothetically) I were to build a private strip stretching from one end of my land to the other, is there anything I could do to prevent a windmill (or other tall object) from being erected 100 yards from the end of that strip?
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Make it public use maybe??
 
I was thinking registered airfields have protection against that. Or is the protection only for airports listed for public use?

A call to AOPA or EAA might net a solid answer.
 
kyleb said:
I was thinking registered airfields have protection against that. Or is the protection only for airports listed for public use?

A call to AOPA or EAA might net a solid answer.
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The FAA only comments on proposed projects. They do not create not enforce zoning, that is a local issue.

The only thing you can do is go and protest at your local zoning board. Results may vary.
 
If your state has an aviation board, contact them.

If you contact the state and the FAA to chart your airport, and you make it Private Airport Public Use then you will have protections around the airport. But this also requires your neighbors to amend their deeds within a certain radius to acknowledge your airport is there, which would place restrictions on anyone who wants to buy the deed or owns it.

Otherwise someone could buy the property on your approach end and place a cell tower.
 
Nope. In this fight right now at a friends field.
Big money wins and the big money bought the land at both ends of the field so they could shut it down.
 
There is a subdivision off one end of our runway. I'm not sure how we did it (probably during a rezoning request), but we managed to get an aerial easement over their property prohibiting them from building structures/obstacles higher than some number of feet. It also limits the heights of trees.
 
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Since my strip is on range land I might offer to not build a smelly pig farm at the approach end in exchange for no tall construction in the approach path. IOW exchange deed restrictions for win-win.
 
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Snowmass said:
Since my strip is on range land I might offer to not build a smelly pig farm at the approach end in exchange for no tall construction in the approach path. IOW exchange deed restrictions for win-win.
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i think i would go chicken farm instead, in a nice rain they smell worse than a pig farm.
 
Aerial easement is the way to go. From a legal perspective, the document is relatively inexpensive to have a real estate lawyer draft - and the fee to record an easement with the local government is usually not more than a few hundred bucks in my experience - but, the fee you negotiate with the landowner(s) to grant the easement is another issue.
 
MarkH said:
If (hypothetically) I were to build a private strip stretching from one end of my land to the other, is there anything I could do to prevent a windmill (or other tall object) from being erected 100 yards from the end of that strip?
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Have you done your due diligence and picked your neighbors carefully? :)
 
luvflyin said:
You could buy yourself an Approach. Then there might be restrictions on building stuff in the Clear Zone.
https://www.faa.gov/documentlibrary/media/order/8260.60.pdf
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Negative again. The FAA doesn't enforce building restrictions. They will analyze it, say it will impact aviation, and if constructed they will restrict those operations, usually instrument approaches. The FAA has no authority over property owners, only airports and pilots.
 
SoCal RV Flyer said:
Have you done your due diligence and picked your neighbors carefully? :)
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That is functionally impossible. In the 80/90s the Mojave Dessert was subdivided by drawing lines on the map and sold as some sort of speculative investment. I'm willing to bet that a sold quarter of the people who actually own these 2.5 acre parcels don't know that they own them, and no more than 50% of them have an accurate name on the deed.

I am trying to decide if it is worth trying to bind a few of these parcels together to make an airstrip. I am confident that if I do it I will spend more on attorney fees than on real estate. I don't want to do all of that work to have a windmill (or multiple) spring up and make the airstrip worthless.
 
Aviation Easement is the way to go. Need at least a 30:1 slope protection from the threshold. That's the magic number for FAA night visual approaches at public airfields (more or less...), but you need it for pretty far out if you're really worried.

Most people will sell their air rights because they either have no idea what it means, they like "free" money, or they just don't have any desire to ever build that high. BUT, most people also don't want an approach over their house, so if they know what/why you're doing it, they'll probably say NIMBY.
 
Yes, it's in Lancaster waiting for it's annual.
 
MarkH said:
, is there anything I could do to prevent a windmill (or other tall object) from being erected 100 yards from the end of that strip?
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Is it a wind turbine that you have in mind?

That might happen if you’re in an orange region in the map, but not a green region.

30m_wind_map.jpg
 
I am in that small orange spot just northeast of LA.

I am concerned about wind turbines because there are already a lot of wind turbines in the area.
 
MarkH said:
I am in that small orange spot just northeast of LA.

I am concerned about wind turbines because there are already a lot of wind turbines in the area.
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Get land adjacent to some solar panel farms. It’s unlikely they will rip out solar panels to make way for a wind mill
 
luvflyin said:
Get land adjacent to some solar panel farms. It’s unlikely they will rip out solar panels to make way for a wind mill
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A solar farm is going in on the approach end to runway 22 Ellenville N89. It is better than buildings, but instead of ditching in a flat field if you have trouble on takeoff or final, crashing into a field of solid metal beams and glass panels does not would be fun. The posts they put in the ground look like they would shred an airframe like a French fry slicing attachment on a mandolin.
 
Push to require that it be lighted. If someone intends to lay out cash to harass you, run up the cost via the wiring & electric bill.
 
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