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Air park question....

C

cvairwerks

Well Known Member
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Anyone know of an air park in the north Texas, Oklahoma or Arkansas area that will permit a very low profile home based business? Looking for a place to retire and build a hangar and apartment. I've got a couple of my own restoration projects, but as I retire, I want to go back to doing outside restoration work and fabrication work again. No signage wanted, and very infrequent customer visitations. Most work will come in via email and go out via UPS/FedEx/USPS.

We need to build, due to having a son that is wheelchair and will be for the for the next several years. We have a place up in the north central Arkansas area already, on a runway, but it's accessible only by 4 wheel drive or tracked vehicle at least 6 months out of the year.
 
November will be 7-years that I have lived on an airpark. Not an expert on it plus there are pros and cons.

Unable to point you to a place in the area you are looking.

Most likely, the airpark will NOT allow a business.

My suggestion, get a PMB (Private Mail Box) that has a street address and use that as your business address. The UPS Store is one place that comes to mind. My address was "Mailboxes Etc" and it was changed to "The UPS Store" while I was there. That was my address for all parts while I was building my airplane. Was great to have someone sign for packages while I was at work making money. Your hangar / home is just a location that you use to work on "your stuff".

I have done a little work for others in my hangar. I know of an IA that will do a few inspections a year in his hangar but like you said, people are not coming and going every day. I know of a machinist that makes "go kart" parts in his garage and another that has been known to sell electrical stuff out of his home. There is also a realtor and photography business run out of the home but both have "business addresses" away from home.

All of this is taking place with no signage and does not disturb any of the other neighbors.

Above are my opinions and they may only be worth what you are paying me for them.
 
River Falls Airport H81 in Amarillo is exactly what your looking for. Maybe not exactly where your looking for though lol.
 
cvairwerks said:
Anyone know of an air park in the north Texas, Oklahoma or Arkansas area that will permit a very low profile home based business? Looking for a place to retire and build a hangar and apartment. I've got a couple of my own restoration projects, but as I retire, I want to go back to doing outside restoration work and fabrication work again. No signage wanted, and very infrequent customer visitations. Most work will come in via email and go out via UPS/FedEx/USPS.

We need to build, due to having a son that is wheelchair and will be for the for the next several years. We have a place up in the north central Arkansas area already, on a runway, but it's accessible only by 4 wheel drive or tracked vehicle at least 6 months out of the year.
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I used to live at Tailwinds Airpark in Canton, TX. (Thompson Field)
It meets all of your criteria.
 
Gary: It would be hard to hide the business as I like having my hangar open during good weather and have no problem helping out my neighbors when asked. It would also be pretty obvious, having a rigger delivering machinery that few home machinist would have....

Jack and Steve: Both River Falls and Tailwinds have covenants that prevent businesses within the airparks, beyond the established FBO's
 
cvairwerks said:
Gary: It would be hard to hide the business as I like having my hangar open during good weather and have no problem helping out my neighbors when asked. It would also be pretty obvious, having a rigger delivering machinery that few home machinist would have....

Jack and Steve: Both River Falls and Tailwinds have covenants that prevent businesses within the airparks, beyond the established FBO's
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That’s pretty typical wording. Having lived on a wonderful airpark for almost 20 years I can tell you that it’s just fine until it isn’t. We had small businesses doing work against the CCR’s and folks looked the other way. Same with other violations. Then a different violation and lawsuits started flying….. The Airpark won, but everybody lost.
You are wise to not put yourself at risk.
 
cvairwerks said:
Gary: It would be hard to hide the business as I like having my hangar open during good weather and have no problem helping out my neighbors when asked. It would also be pretty obvious, having a rigger delivering machinery that few home machinist would have....

Jack and Steve: Both River Falls and Tailwinds have covenants that prevent businesses within the airparks, beyond the established FBO's
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I don't know if that is true with River Falls. There is a flying club (although non profit), and an Airbnb. The doctor that provides medicals for the area operates his clinic from there as well.
 
Covenants are so arbitrarily altered and enforced, that they literally aren’t worth the paper they are written on. I made sure ours expired a quiet death never to burden the land again at the Falmouth Airpark in MA
 
sf3543 said:
I used to live at Tailwinds Airpark in Canton, TX. (Thompson Field)
It meets all of your criteria.
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As with with any airpark, don't just talk with residents and developers, talk with the county. I just found out yesterday from the septic inspector (he signs the government permits) that if you buy in Van Zandt County (where Tailwinds is) you'll have to install a extremely expensive septic system on your property because it was platted in 1/2 acre lots way back in the day.

Vaca Moo Airport - TA37 is exactly what you're looking for because :
- North-South runway ( 98% of the year you have southerly winds )
- We don't have the expensive water connections or septic restrictions. I'm installing a conventional one (no electronics or electricity or expensive chemicals needed) on my new hangar home and it cost me just $6300 vs $10k+ for the expensive one.
- Our major restriction is no noise making animals (roosters, guinea hens, geese, but chickens are fine)
- We're not an airpark where you must " keep up with the Jones' ". No building size restrictions but must use new materials on the outside. Inside live in a tent if you want since nobody will know, not even the government propert appraiser, unless you let them inside. Build a humble hangar home or build a mansion, that's up to you.
- You're welcome to have a business restoring other planes as long as you have the space on your property where it's hidden from view. I mean we don't want airplane clunkers on blocks and parts all over the yard. Inside you hanger is perfect. Main thing is that you don't bother your neighbors with noises at night when everyone wants to rest.
- many other major differences ( way less $$ per acre, less $$ for other things like water, septic, cost of electricity, etc) that I can talk to you about.

Flying Magazine did an article on us last year : https://www.flyingmag.com/vaca-moo-airport-a-little-facility-with-texas-sized-heart/
 
I just heard a radio DJ mention that USA Today just came out last week with the best towns to live in Texas so I checked it out. Tyler, Texas is #1 and we agree 98% !

They say "Tyler is the best city to move to in Texas, offering low unemployment, top medical access and low risk for natural hazards."

We shop and go to the doctors there. It has 6 Walmart, dozens of restaurants, and for us retired and getting older as we speak, two Level 1 trauma centers and medical specialists everywhere (that's how I ended up in Texas, I flew the hospital helicopter at one of them). My airpark is about 25 minutes driving from Tyler and I said 98% agree because I think we're better than Tyler since we don't have the traffic or crime that a big city like Tyler has but we can go there in minutes for everything they offer. There's also a closer Walmart and restaraunts in Canton about 14 minutes away in the opposite direction. In Ben Wheeler, just 1 mile from my home, we have a a US post office, 2 dollar stores, 2 gas stations, a bank, a bistro, a bakery, and a saloon with live music, plus a few little shops and lots of clean air with blue skies !!

Here's the USA Today article : https://www.usatoday.com/money/homefront/moving/best-cities-in-texas/
 
mke039 said:
Covenants are so arbitrarily altered and enforced, that they literally aren’t worth the paper they are written on. I made sure ours expired a quiet death never to burden the land again at the Falmouth Airpark in MA
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They were worth about $1M in the lawsuit at our airpark, but I don’t disagree with what you’re saying.
 
JonJay said:
They were worth about $1M in the lawsuit at our airpark, but I don’t disagree with what you’re saying.
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They are worth a fortune to the attorneys who “specialize “ in common interest law. They even have their own national lobbying group, Community Associations Institute orCAI. A “Diamond” member firm of the CAI in my state got a court to order the sale of a man’s home (condo) to pay the 60,000 in fines for feeding the birds OFF condo property on a public street. Turning over this rock has been a real education for me. And inspired me to kill off my HOA with extreme prejudice.
 
mke039 said:
They are worth a fortune to the attorneys who “specialize “ in common interest law. They even have their own national lobbying group, Community Associations Institute orCAI. A “Diamond” member firm of the CAI in my state got a court to order the sale of a man’s home (condo) to pay the 60,000 in fines for feeding the birds OFF condo property on a public street. Turning over this rock has been a real education for me. And inspired me to kill off my HOA with extreme prejudice.
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Well done. My Dad used to be in charge of school boundaries for a large public school system. So basically he and his folks decided which neighborhoods went to which schools. You can perhaps imagine the amount of “advocacy” he received. He once told me that “HOAs are the only inherently fascist institutions in American politics.” 🤣
 
As much as I despise HOAs to the max, they can serve a purpose when run correctly. At my airpark we don't have practically any restrictions but we do have one restricting noisy animals. The last thing you want is for a neighbor to own roosters that wake you up at 4am every day !

We also want to make our HOA approach different. All property owners must be part of it but it's dormant. This way it's not intrusive on anyone and we don't have an HOA president who thinks she's a king, or an "architectural review committee" who thinks their ideas are better than yours. If however we get a neighbor who is not being a good neighbor, the HOA can be activated by 2/3 of the neighbors votes. This stops a couple of neighbors from just trying to gang up on another one for personality disputes for example. If we need to have the power of the law to enforce a neighbor who is way out of bounds, it can be activated and once the problem is taken care then 2/3 can vote to make the HOA dormant again.
 
I've visited VacaMoo and I definitely considered it, Pilot135Spd is a great guy and I liked the area other than the humidity. Lived in Florida for many years along the coast and have had my fill of humidity.
 
WWhunter said:
I've visited VacaMoo and I definitely considered it, Pilot135Spd is a great guy and I liked the area other than the humidity. Lived in Florida for many years along the coast and have had my fill of humidity.
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Thank you for the kind words, we strive to be the best we can be. We're also continuously improving our facilities for everyone to visit and enjoy at $0 cost. I just bought a Bad Boy 72" Rogue to mow the runway so we don't just depend on the the big tractor and 10' mower which I'm the only one here who knows how to use safely.

Regarding the humidity, we have just enough to keep this part of Texas green yet not have the real humidity they have further south :D
 
Pilot135pd said:
As much as I despise HOAs to the max, they can serve a purpose when run correctly. At my airpark we don't have practically any restrictions but we do have one restricting noisy animals. The last thing you want is for a neighbor to own roosters that wake you up at 4am every day !

We also want to make our HOA approach different. All property owners must be part of it but it's dormant. This way it's not intrusive on anyone and we don't have an HOA president who thinks she's a king, or an "architectural review committee" who thinks their ideas are better than yours. If however we get a neighbor who is not being a good neighbor, the HOA can be activated by 2/3 of the neighbors votes. This stops a couple of neighbors from just trying to gang up on another one for personality disputes for example. If we need to have the power of the law to enforce a neighbor who is way out of bounds, it can be activated and once the problem is taken care then 2/3 can vote to make the HOA dormant again.
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I also despise HOA's, and can see the wisdom in your approach. I'd just suggest inverting the de-activation vote to 1/3. That would make it harder for a few busybodies to keep busy lol.
On another note, being from the mountain west, when I started working with guy's from the south I could not understand their enthusiasm for mowers. They'd bring in pictures to brag about the latest zero turn they bought. As excited as if they had a new motorcycle or side by side hahaha. Now having spent some time in that part of the country I get it! As such Congrats on the new Rogue!!
(Btw I still have the tractor I learned to drive on. But all the fields I farmed as a kid are subdivisions now. So if I ever get over your way I'd be happy to spell ya on the 10' mower.)
 
Unless it is specifically not allowed or is restricted to certain business enterprises in the airpark's covenants or dead restrictions, and the business type is allowed in the zoned area that includes the airpark, you are very likely go to go. speaking from my experience and going on what you have described. Lots of luck.
 
Pilot135pd said:
:D might be a good idea.
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1/3 to de-activate "might" let a few people from preventing the majority from ruling on an issue. If they don't like the issue, then with only 1/3 they de-activate the HOA and the issue goes away. Every time the HOA is activated, they just de-activate it with 1/3 of the votes. IHMO activation/de-activation should be 50% +1, so the majority rules.

My 2cents.. ;)
 
GalinHdz said:
1/3 to de-activate "might" let a few people from preventing the majority from ruling on an issue. If they don't like the issue, then with only 1/3 they de-activate the HOA and the issue goes away. Every time the HOA is activated, they just de-activate it with 1/3 of the votes. IHMO activation/de-activation should be 50% +1, so the majority rules.

My 2cents.. ;)
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Yep I said MIGHT be a good idea but I've been fine tuning my paperwork for many years so there are a few more legal reasons to leave it as-is at 2/3. I considered many other possibilities and 50/50+1 had it's own set of legal issues here in Texas. By using 2/3 it's only used as a last resort after everything else fails.
 
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