Greetings SPARKS members,
I just wanted to take a minute to touch base and let everyone know what’s going at our field.
First and foremost the county IS NOT closing us down! They are merely in negations with two developers to see if building on the land fill is feasible. What the county is really looking for is someone (a land developer) to take responsibility for all the garbage buried in the landfill, forever! This is a very unprofitable situation for the developers, especially with what the housing market is expected to do in the coming years. So the chance that the land will get developed in the next 5 years – very, very slim!
We are working on several field improvements! We are waiting on one last sign-off on the runway extension and helicopter pad, which we are expecting in just a few weeks. In the mean time we are getting quotes from several different vendors on doing the work. Once we have the letter from the county we’ll chose a vendor and lay the extension. The helicopter pad will be 30x30 and placed adjacent to the east end of the runway, the runway extension will be 75ft long and on the east side as well. See a map of our proposal to the county here. The pad will be for hover training/practice and testing ONLY with a 6 foot altitude limit. Pilots may not proceed into forward flight from the pad!
Our next project is extending the Gazebo to get more shade area and add three tables. This extension will also cover the grill area so poor Phyllis isn’t suffering in the summer sun all weekend while she’s cooking. This project should happen pretty quickly if we can get enough volunteers (this means you) to get it done once the concrete poured.
In the next couple of weeks we will be posting new signage at the field outlining our safety rules, no smoking areas, AMA guidelines, and marking fire extinguisher and first-aid kit locations. As a long term project we are looking to redesign the radio-impound/frequency-board area to include a bulletin board so we can post messages and keep up with current events at the field.
That’s down and dirty for now folks, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to post them here or approach me at the field. Remember this is your club and the staff is always open to hearing what you have to say.
Fly hard and stay safe,
Jimmy Dacey
Vise-President
