011011 Commissioners approve easement on property adjacent to airport
By Sharon Haught
January 2, 2011
285
During their December 28 meeting, the Wayne County Commissioners voted unanimously to place an Avigation and Hazard Easement on approximately 80 acres of property along Hutton Road adjacent to the Wayne County Airport.
The property was purchased at a time when it appeared that federal regulations would require the airport to construct a cross runway. Since that time Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations have changed considerably and the airport is no longer able to use the property for airport expansion as originally intended.
Because the original plans called for the 80 acre parcel to be used for economic development purposes title to the property was placed in the name of the countys economic development arm - the Community Improvement Corporation (CIC).
The CIC is contemplating selling those 80 acres because it cannot be used for airport expansion because there is no access to the runway from that side so it cant be used for those purposes said Commissioner Ann Obrecht noting that the CIC felt that we could use the money from that sale towards economic development in better ways than to hold on to this ground.
According to Obrecht the property is currently being rented by local farmers and generates some rental income for the CIC.
Obrecht noted that a farmhouse located on the property has been rented to tenants for many years. When the decision was made to sell the property, the CIC first offered to sell a small tract of the property containing the farmhouse to the long time tenants.
According to local attorney Bob Reynolds, who was on hand at the meeting to speak to the need for the easement, a small three acre portion of the larger 80 acre parcel containing the farmhouse will likely be sold shortly.
As part of that process the county received information regarding the need for an easement on the property should it be sold from Delta Consultants, which acts in a consulting capacity for the airport on long and short term planning.
They recommended that as part of this sale or any sale of these properties, that the county reserve an Avigation and Hazard Easement, said Reynolds.
One of the purposes of (the easement) is to make sure, as unlikely as this might seem, that no high-rises go up next to the airport or more likely communications towers and things of that nature – things that could interfere with the use of the airport, said Reynolds.
In order to save costs and provide future buyers of the remaining 31.888 acre and 46.710 acre tracts on notice of the restrictions on the property, Reynolds noted that the easement would be placed on the entire 80 acres now.
Its more of a notification feature where it puts the owners of the land on notice that if you live next to an airport there are certain things you cant do with your property, said Reynolds.
Commissioner Scott Wiggam noted that the terms of the easement mimic FAA restrictions on building around airports.
This easement is basically what the FAA would require anyway but it is just putting that easement in place so people will be on notice, said Obrecht.
It isnt anything more than they would have to comply with, its just putting it in easement form so when someone goes to buy the property they are well aware of (the fact that) they cant put a high-rise next to the airport, they cant put certain lights out there in a way that would distract the air traffic, they cant complain about the noise or the fumes from the airplanes, said Obrecht.
