Some fear site by field may hinder exercises
Erin Zlomek
The Arizona Republic
May. 12, 2008 12:00 AM
An out-of-state developer wants to build a community of million-dollar homes surrounding a private airpark that would be used for recreation and business travel by its northwest Valley residents.
But the proposed airpark, which could be annexed by Surprise within five years, is close to a Luke Air Force Base auxiliary field and could hinder military-training exercises unless an agreement is reached.
Unless the private airpark accommodates Luke, the project will not be endorsed by city staff, said Surprise spokesman Ken Lynch.
Real-estate developer Bill Wiemann of Wyoming plans to build a community similar to Chandler's Stellar Airpark on 480 acres in the unincorporated northwest Valley, near the confluence of U.S. 60 and Arizona 74, the Morristown-New River Highway.
The property, called the Surprise Airpark, already houses a mile-long, Federal Aviation Administration-approved runway near 243rd Avenue, said Wiemann's attorney, Jim Bullis. But the runway is rarely used.
Developers want a change in the property's agricultural zoning so that it can be fully developed as a residential community whose property owners would use the airport for general-aviation purposes.
The site is not far from Wickenburg Municipal Airport, which operates near Vulture Mine Road and Wickenburg Way. In addition to affluent private users, some of whom live in or travel to Surprise and surrounding communities, the Wickenburg facility caters to area businesses and to firefighting aircraft during Arizona's forest-fire season.
Wiemann's idea is that his proposed community's affluent homeowners would pay a yearly fee to use the neighborhood runway. Most residents would own their own planes or jets, and have hangars attached to their homes, Bullis said.
The airpark is in the unincorporated community of Morristown, in Surprise's 300-square-mile general-planning area. But assuming Surprise successfully annexes swaths of state trust land in between, the airpark could end up within city limits. For that reason, Wiemann and Bullis submitted a General Plan amendment to the city this year, requesting an airport land-use classification for the property.
"They want to make sure they get in there and have the area reserved so that there are no conflicts with people, and so that Maricopa County and the city don't start planning subdivisions around the area," said city planner Janice See.
But for some northwest Valley residents, the primary potential conflict is with Luke Air Force Base.
Though Luke pilots do not land at the nearby auxiliary field at Crozier and Jomax roads, they do use the airspace above it for training.
Bullis said the proposed airpark would create minimal air traffic and is unlikely to conflict with Luke. But Luke officials said they have had little contact with Bullis and until notified, are being cautious about the proposal.
"We are really working in a vacuum, in that we don't know what the scope of their operations will be, so it's hard to predict the impact it will have on us," said Rusty Mitchell, director of Luke's Community Initiatives Team.
Bullis said he expected to start meeting with Luke officials in the next 40 days to iron out any complications.
He said other airparks operate in the area and have little impact on Luke, and that the Surprise Airpark would likely be the same.
The Thunder Ridge Airpark operates in Morristown and is used by area homeowners for business and recreation travel.
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