Redlands Airport Association

National Park Service Managers at Death Valley National Park in California are seeking public comment regarding future plans for the Stovepipe Wells Village. Plans include repairs and upgrades to water and sewer systems, and an expansion of the RV campground. They are also proposing to close the Stovepipe Wells airstrip and convert it into a dedicated night sky viewing area.

Death Valley National Park has 3 airfields. The Chicken Strip, Furnace Creek (LO6) and Stovepipe Wells (LO9). None of these airfields have fuel or facilities. Furnace Creek and Stovepipe are both paved but are in serious need of repaving.  The National Park Service says they can’t afford maintaining both paved airstrips. They claim repaving Stovepipe Wells will cost $3,000,000. The Navy Seabees are willing to donate men and equipment to repave Stovepipe Wells airfield, but the materials would be the responsibility of the Park Service. The Park Service says they would still need to come up with $1.5 million and they don’t want to spend that on the airstrip. So, the proposal is to maintain the strip at Furnace Creek and close Stovepipe Wells.

Park managers claim the Stovepipe Wells airstrip is not used very often. Pilots that wish to fly to the park can use the Furnace Creek airfield. But officials also admit there are no rental car agencies or mass transit facilities to get pilots to Stovepipe Wells (approx. 25 road miles away). The park Service says there is a growing interest in attendees that enjoy night-sky astronomy, so with all this in mind they wish to close the airstrip. 

Airports for general aviation in and near national parks have high value. There are plenty of areas in Stovepipe Wells that could be used for a large night-sky viewing area. Stovepipe Wells airfield is already closed to night operations, so the park Service does not need to remove the runway to move forward with the project, they can coexist. There were billions of federal $ approved for infrastructure projects this year and perhaps Park Service officials are not making the necessary effort to get the funds.

We are encouraging members and all interested aviators to take the time to make public comment by the on the proposed closure of Stovepipe Wells airstrip. You can do so until the February 28,2022 at this link:  https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=297&projectID=72747&documentID=118017 You can also mail your comments to: Death Valley National Park, ATTN: Stovepipe Wells Plan, P.O. Box 579, Death Valley, CA 92328.

We encourage all to take part in the public comment process. Please make sure your voice is heard! If you have questions, please send an email to redlands.airport.association@gmail.com

5-4-21

Good Evening Mayor and Members of the Council. 

My name is Eric Paul

I’m president of the Redlands Hangar Owners Association.  We built and own 37 hangars on airport land we lease from the City.  I’ve kept an airplane at Redlands Airport for 54 years.

I think a little airport history is in order. 

The City bought Redlands Airport from private owners in stages from 1962 to 1966.  The City wanted no part in developing the airport and solicited private investors to lease land and construct hangars.  In 1968 Lou Stolp answered the call and leased the majority of the available land and built the lobby and 28 hangars.  By 1974 he had built 59 hangars.   Lou’s lease has been re-sold to new investors three times since and each has added more hangars which now number over 200.  The City has never built a single building on our airport.  Every building on Redlands airport was built by private investors.

Without private investors, Redlands Airport would be a vacant lot with a runway.

From the day the City purchased the airport until 2003 the airport was managed by Public Works.  They were a friendly bunch, eager to help.  If you missed a payment or a deadline you received a courtesy call from City hall.

In 2003 the airport was transferred to Municipal Utilities and everything changed.  No more courtesy calls.  In 2005 the City rescinded the land lease held by Aerodynamics Inc. on Parcel 5 over a payment dispute forcing them to sell their hangars to the City for 60 cents on the dollar. 

Now Coyote Aviation is facing a new battle.  Everyone knows Coyote had every intention of exercising their lease option.  There was confusion over when the notification should take place.  The notification deadline passed with no courtesy call from City hall.

The City feels the airport land lease rates are below market value.  The City sets the rates and ties them to CPI to keep up with inflation.  If they’re too low it isn’t the lease holders fault.

Since 2006 all the City departments have been given new names.  Give the airport back to Public Works or a department with the same kindness and restore the once friendly and helpful atmosphere.  A simple courtesy call to Coyote would have solved this entire fiasco.

Coyote assumed all the financial risk and built a first class hangar complex with a perfect payment history.  Rescinding their lease for an oversight was mean spirited and a step in the wrong direction.  You’ve killed future development at our airport.  Who would chance developing more hangars or bringing a business to Redlands Airport knowing you could lose everything over a technicality.

It’s time for the City to take the moral high ground.   Send Coyote to bed with no supper but restore their lease and give them their lease extension. 

Thank you.

I write this on March 29, “National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day.”  I find significant irony that the City of Redlands’ Instagram page is promoting that fact. Here’s why:

Along with George and Eva Saliba, my wife Carol and I own Coyote Aviation. For twenty years, we’ve been the managers of a single-building hangar facility we constructed at Redlands Municipal Airport. For that management, we charge $4-$6 per hangar per month.

Carol and I are lifelong Redlands residents, both with careers in education.  I taught 5^th and 6^th grade here for thirty-five years.  As a teacher, my mantra to my students was “Do your homework.”  It did not pertain to assignments.  It meant, “Understand a problem thoroughly before you attempt to solve it. Do your research before making important decisions.” Coyote Aviation’s supporters, your constituents, believe your homework may not have been done, or perhaps it was done by someone else.

On March 18, 2021 Coyote Aviation received notification of the termination of our lease. This was accomplished without the City’s ever reaching out to us.  One of the reasons cited for lease termination was that Coyote did not renegotiate a lease while in a month-to-month tenancy. The fact is that I did not receive any City notification regarding our lease status until August 31, 2020. It came in a phone call from Airport Supervisor Bruce Shaffer. Although section 25 of our land lease stipulates that notices (such as a change from long-term to month-to-month) be “served by deposit in the United States mail,” Coyote has never received such written confirmation of the “late” designation and change to month-to-month tenancy.

Tired of waiting for official confirmation after Mr. Shaffer’s phone call, I contacted City attorney Dan McHugh on September 21, asking simply the City accept our renewal request.  It was after my e-mail that I finally received e-mail confirmation from him about our change in status. This was 31 weeks after February 13, the date the City contends our renewal request was due.  Our simple request to continue our relationship, our first step in negotiations, was not seen by City Council until the October 20 meeting. To that request, we never received an answer.  No dialogue between parties ever took place because of the City’s inaction. Apparently, the City’s counter-offer was the March 18, 2021 lease termination. So much for “negotiations.”

We disagree with the “late” designation, but that particular matter will be addressed through legal channels.  This message is about the City of Redlands’ refusal to respond to our request of September 21 in a timely manner, nor to respond to any of our efforts to get answers.  I must charitably assume that as council members, you may have not been aware of the facts or of our own efforts to achieve a resolution before your decision in March to terminate our lease.  

You might not know, for instance, that between September 21 and October 23, I tried six times to begin negotiations, get an answer, or start a dialogue. On October 23, Chris Boatman told me to wait, that the City Council would not take up the matter until after the new year. Between January 5, 2021 and March 10, 2021, I made ten more attempts to get a response.   In over a year, from Feb 13 (the date the City says our renewal request was due) until March 18, 2021, Coyote received no initial notification of late designation, no City Council response or requests, no counter offers, nor any invitations to have a dialogue as I requested many times.  We were trying, but efforts apparently fell on deaf ears.  (I have e-mail evidence to support all claims here.)

Coyote Aviation is a ‘good deal’ for Redlands. In 2000, when we signed our agreement with the City of Redlands, City Council members were thrilled to have a 1-acre parcel of vacant land finally produce revenue.  Since then, the City has collected from tiny Coyote nearly $250,000 in construction fees and land lease payments, not including revenue from property taxes and municipal utilities. The current profit to the City is the highest per square foot of the three fixed base operators (FBO’s) by a wide margin. Coyote’s Consumer Price Index adjustment occurs every three years while the other FBO’s are adjusted every five years. Coyote has been an excellent tenant, never a violation, never behind on rent.

Your constituents and I might reasonably assume that you were unaware of these facts, that someone else did your homework for you. If you knew all this information, however, and you still decided to terminate Coyote’s lease for other reasons, an explanation to the public would be illuminating.  There is, however, a big difference between a reason and an excuse.  To anyone aware of the facts, the use of  “late written renewal request” simply looks like an excuse to take the property of others who’ve worked to create and sustain it, especially when the City knew we were going to renew our lease as far back as January of 2020 (verified in e-mail exchanges.)

As a teacher, if ever I discovered a student had relied on someone else’s answers to complete homework, I’d say patiently, “Do it again, and this time do it yourself. You’ll learn far more that way.”  Then I’d lower the grade on the submission as a consequence.  I suspect someone else may have been doing your homework, representing Coyote’sinterests, but not to the benefit of Coyote. I imagine you are experiencing some consequences right now.  

I respectfully ask the City Council members to reexamine Coyote Aviation’s position, and well as the council’s reasons, motives, and excuses for terminating Coyote Aviation’s lease. In doing so, then you can actually say “I did my homework.”