City council moves ahead with land sale
Saturday, May 3, 2003 10:00 PM PDT
Tami Hart
Argus Observer
ONTARIO
The Ontario City Council reached a decision Thursday night concerning the sale of a parcel of airport property to the Snake River Sportsmen.
Despite opposition from the Airport Committee and airport manager Graydon Russell, the city council approved proceeding with the sale of roughly 35 acres of airport property that currently houses the gun club.
The Snake River Sportsmen, a nonprofit, volunteer organization of more than 400 members, began their efforts to acquire the property in January, when they approached the Airport Commission with a proposal to purchase the land.
The club has leased the property from the city since 1955, for an annual lease payment of $1 per year.
At that time, the Airport Committee, concerned about future use of airport property, protection of runway and take-off areas and the airport's drainage pond, was adamant in their refusal to sell the property. They suggested instead, a long-term lease for the property.
The gun club, which hoped to make improvements to their existing facilities, did not want to invest money to make those improvements without ownership of the property, Charles Oakes, director of the Snake River Sportsmen said.
The club approached the city council with their proposal at the Jan. 21 council meeting, at which time the council tabled the issue until Feb. 3 to allow for more meetings between the interested parties.
At the Feb. 3 meeting, the land purchase issue was tabled indefinitely or at least until August 2003.
The special meeting was called Thursday evening to readdress the purchase.
Oakes reiterated the club's desire to purchase the property. He also explained the club now has the opportunity to purchase salvaged materials from a military indoor shooting range in Florida, which would allow the club to construct a new indoor range at considerable savings to the organization.
According to Oakes, the cost of the salvaged range would be roughly $40,000 plus the cost of shipping the materials from Florida. If the club were to construct a range from new materials, Oakes said the cost would be "hundreds of thousands of dollars."
"This has come available to purchase. We're not interested in purchasing the materials if we don't have a home for it," Oakes said.
Oakes said the range the club hopes to construct would be a 50-foot indoor shooting facility.
"The range would be a positive thing for the city,' Oakes said, stating local law enforcement would also be able to use the range for their weapons qualifications. Currently, the Ontario Police Department has a contract to use the outdoor shooting range at the Snake River Corrections Facility, according to Ontario Police Chief Mike Kee.
'We (the club) wouldn't disappear if we had to move from this site (in Ontario), but we'd have to go to Vale and we don't really want to do that. We want to stay in Ontario," Oakes said.
Airport Manager Graydon Russell weighed in on the issue, calling out a "Mayday" for the airport.
'I'm against selling one square foot of airport property unless I'm convinced it's going to help the airport," Russell said.
The airport is still awaiting funds from a $900,000 grant it was awarded from the Federal Aviation Administration. Russell expressed his concern that sale of the property could jeopardize that grant money. Russell reviewed for the council his concerns about the sale of the airport land, citing the uncertain nature of future development at the airport.
'Ontario Municipal Airport has the potential to do great things for the city,' Russell said.
Dennis Carter spoke on behalf of the Airport Committee.
"The position of the Airport Committee is we need to maintain the land we have and not be too quick to let loose of it," Carter said. "It would be detrimental to the future of the airport if the FAA thought we turned loose of the land."
Carter also said there is something of an unknown as to what the airport might need in the future for expansion.
Councilman John Gaskill said he would have felt more comfortable about making a decision on the sale if the exact value of the property in question was known.
"We're looking at an agreement to sell without knowing exactly what we're selling," Gaskill said.
Councilor Pat Phillips suggested a survey of the land and an appraisal of its value were in order. Oakes had no objection.
Gaskill moved the city council authorize city staff to pursue the sale of the airport property used by the Snake River Sportsmen, conditioned upon approval from the FAA, an appraisal to determine the fair market value, and securing the materials with which to build an operate a firing range, and also include a reversionary clause in the lease. Earl Cheatham seconded the motion.
Mayor LeRoy Cammack proposed amending the motion to use "proceed with the sale" and suggested striking the language referring to the building of the indoor range.
The council voted unanimously to pass the motion as amended.
Russell said he was disappointed by the council's decision.
"My concern is that maybe the proper input into the project didn't come out. I think that everyone on the airport committee and anyone associated with the airport was against it because we've been through this before and it hurt badly," Russell said. "That piece of ground, right at the moment is not in our safety zone, but, we don't know what the future plans are for that airport and until those plans are drawn up my feeling was they should hang on to it until they have that plan redone.
"I feel like that the airport was dictated to and we didn't have a voice in it."
Tami Hart is a reporter for the Argus Observer. She can be contacted at (541) 889-5387, or by e-mail, TamiH@argusobserver.com.
