Airpark coming to Oregon City?

Today's (12/19) Oregonian reports that Wayne Hall, the owner of Fairways airport on Beavercreek Rd. in Oregon City, filed a Measure 37 claim & says he wants to convert his property to residential and wants to sell 850 homesites. He will keep the airstrip open, so a portion would be a residential airpark. The article wasn't clear, but it somehow may also involve the adjacent golf course. The area has been annexed to Oregon City and is presently zoned industrial.

Fairways is about half a mile, maybe a mile, south of Clackamas Community College. Would be a great location for an airpark. Runway is now about 2,200 ft. sod, soggy & soft in the winter. There was no mention in the article about extending the runway, but there are powerlines to the north, so extension potential is limited.

I hope if anyone knows more they would fill us in.

Please keep us posted if anyone learns of any further development on this. Is there an existing strip there already?

Yes, a 2,200 ft. grass strip with mostly junky old hangars plus some newer ones. The strip tends to get soft in wet weather and the owner asks folks not to fly when it is soft. The owner doesn't want folks who aren't based there to fly in as he wants to maintain good relations with neighbors. RV's have used it. Location is about 1/2 mi. north of Henrici Rd, 1/2 mi. south of Clackamas Community College adjacent to a golf course, thus the name Fairways for the airport. Fly south from the college & you'll see it on the east side of Beavercreek Rd, but you might mistake it for part of the golf course if you aren't looking.

Richard Scott

Please keep us posted. I'd love to move back home to Oregon. Been here in Utah a few months now. Not sure if I like it here yet..

Here's all the info I have from the Measure 37 claim on file with the county:

File # ZC677-06
Claimant: Wayne C. & Linda L. Hall III

Address: 20100 S. Beavercreek Rd.
Oregon City

Description: Develop for residential uses, retaining the airport. A portion of the property will be used as a residential/aviation community (a development of not less than 850 residential dwelling units.

Unclear whether there would be any airstrip homes. 850 dwelling units suggests condos; there ain't much land for airpark homes if he wants to put up 850 dwelling units unless he owns adjacent land that doesn't appear from the air to be part of the airport property. On the other hand, the newspaper article said he would be working with the owner of the adjacent golf course, but did not say if they were going to rip out the golf course or leave it. There is a beautiful swath between one of the fairways and the landing strip that would be a great spot for a few airstrip homes.

Dick Scott
EAA 902
RV-9A wings

utah grows on you

hey greg, i'm an oregon transplant myself, moved here about 6 years ago. Still not sure i like it, and have a feeling i'll be back in oregon in a few years. that being said, it rains less, skiing is better, flying is better, at least better than oregon's west side. oh, and i found my wife, so i guess it's not a total loss.

brew pub situation is kinda meager though...


phil
salt lake
rv10 emp just about done
wings on the way

sat map of property.

Here's the sat map link for the address Richard provided. Smaller cropped version here:

Cool, Doug!

For scale, the N-S runway is 2,200 ft. long. The E-W runway is usable but rarely used.

Existing hangars are at the bottom of the triangle.

Buildings and track at left is the new Oregon City High School.

There is a large area of undeveloped land east of the golf course which may or may not be part of the area in the Meas. 37 claim. If so, that would explain where the 850 homes could go.

Most Meas. 37 claims that have had decisions have been approved. Given that it is just outside Oregon City, it would have gone into the urban growth boundary in the next round or two of boundary expansion anyway, so I expect their claim will be approved.

Future?

This is an area of rapid developement. Even if the intent of the Measure 37 filing was to gain approval to develop, and not just to settle with the State, what are the odds that this airport would survive? For those living in other States, this measure was "sold" to the public as a way to protect properties and investments from the State's "whims" when it came to zoning changes or to prevent legitimate development. People did not realize that pandoras box was being opened until it was too late. If this measure was put to vote again, it would fail. Like any change, the crooks and the marketers get thier first (this has no reference to the property owner here at all and he may very well be within his rights to do this.)
Regardless, this airport is doomed, probably sooner than later.

Did this every go through? Did Measure 49 kill it? I was reading http://www.airfields-freeman.com/ when I saw this. The website is both interesting and sad at the same time. too many airports being built around/closed.

Ryan

Well a couple things killed it,or at least made it very sick, but apparently not Meas. 49. The first thing was the dying housing market, followed by some sort of falling out between Wayne Hall and the developer. May have been complicated by Oregon City wanting to put an industrial development there, which is really dumb, as it is a 2 lane road and just up the road is one of the busiest intersections in the state and that's the way to major highways. It is also just a few hundred feet from a brand new high school.

The site got annexed to Oregon City and it was already inside the urban growth boundary.

Wayne was kind of bummed out about how things worked out.

When I talked with him last fall, he didn't know where things were going from there. If anything happens favoring aviation, it looks like it will be awhile.

Sorry, but I have to agree.

JonJay said:

Regardless, this airport is doomed, probably sooner than later.

Click to expand...

Sad, but I have a real problem with 850 dwelling units not impacting the airport. 1700+ people? The odds of the residents being amused by airplanes and airplane noise is slim. Looks like a land owner, within his rights, setting up for a very pleasant retirement.

John Clark
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA