Gatt, My homebase 59S is independently owned but is up for sale and the
housing developers are wanting the property. The area is highly over taxed.
If a developer wants some land around here they over build the surrounding
area to ware the city/county keeps raising the property taxes and then the
owner cannot afford the taxes and is forced to sell or lose the property to
the city/county. I hope everyone knows it is more advantages to the
city/county to have a housing project then a airport as they can have 300+
tax lots instead of 1. I wish more Americans would notice this trend of
city's and developers working together to take peoples land away from them
by over building and over taxation it is sad.

I also have an airport about 2 miles down the road it used to be called
clarkcounty, or sholls airport was closed for unknown reasons roumor has it
was closed due to county tax lien and when purchessed and shut down but is
still there used for tractor trailer parking the other roumor has it that
the FAA that built a large building at the south end of runway 25 purchassed
it for their own use then closed it.

Next time I am above it i will take a few current photos.

http://members.tripod.com/airfields_...ields_WA_W.htm


"gatt" wrote in message
...

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Our Airport Commission was set up after World War II specifically to
insulate the airport from the winds of politics. Our grandfathers knew
that
one day our airport -- once so far from town -- would become surrounded
by
development, and that airport land would be almost irresistible to
developers.

This is not unfounded. IIRC, NWPILOT's home base has the same history and
is threatened by the same fate. They actually have red lights on the
roofs
of the apartment complexes across the street from the airport.

Unfortunately, I don't live in Iowa (or Washington state) so my voice
probably isn't worth anything. But if somebody needs a good general
purpose
cussing out, why...

-c