Thursday, 10 January 2008 04:30
Westover Field Airplane Hangars
Westover Field got the go-ahead to lease vacant county-owned
airplane hangars, even
though they do not meet current building and fire codes. One of the hangars,
built in the late 1960s, can house 6 airplanes, and the other, built in
1986, can accommodate 12 airplanes. New leases have been held up in the two
community hangars, because of possible liability claims resulting from the code
violations. Over the years, tenants have made modifications to the individual
hangars, which the Building Dept. says do not meet current codes. Fire resistant partition walls,
paved floors, and adequate electrical systems are the main items lacking in the
large metal hangars.
Airport Advisory Committee member Charles
Huffman said that airport users were willing to volunteer their time to bring
the hangars up to code. “We can do it ourselves and pay off what’s spent on
materials in rent – now, the airport is losing rent money and there’s a waiting
list of people just wishing to get a hangar.” Former airport manager Dave
Richards, disputed the need to make improvements to the hangars, saying work on
them had been OK’d by the county all along and they were functioning just fine.
The supervisors seemed both anxious to get the hangars modernized and up to
code, and also unwilling to keep the leasing ban in force. With the caveat that
leases include an assumption by the renter of any risk due to existing code
violations, the Supervisors
voted to allow the airport to lease the vacant hangars and use volunteers to
perform the needed improvements – with a deadline of 90 days.
