AMA News Flying Site Assistance - 2010/04

April 2010 133
I WORKED with John Hunton, president
of the Culpeper Model Barnstormers, and
John outlined his experience developing the
club’s new flying field.
“A new RC flying field has been
developed near Culpeper, Virginia. The
field is on land that was donated by the
Lenn brothers to the County of Culpeper.
The Culpeper County Board of Supervisors
owns the land and it is administered by the
Culpeper County Parks and Recreation
Department.
“A new club called the Culpeper Model
Barnstormers (CMB) has been formed to
handle day-to-day operation of the field.
You are welcome to become a member of
the Barnstormers and to use our new Lenn
Model Airpark facility. The location of
Lenn Model Airpark is roughly five miles
south of Culpeper.
“There are two existing RC model clubs
near Culpeper, Virginia, and both have
flying fields on private land. As we know,
flying sites on private land must be
considered tenuous for many reasons.
“One of our local modelers was in
regular contact with the Culpeper County
Board of Supervisors and the County Staff.
Seeing the long-term fragility of our local
fields, he made sure that when any land
became available to the county for use as a
park, the possibility of using it as a model
flying field was regularly considered and,
after several years, a site was offered.
“It has taken us seven years to get to this
point. The key requirement is to establish a
relationship with the local government that
shows that the group of modelers is a
creative, responsible group who are
prepared to help the community improve the
quality of life in the area. Some of the ways
that we proved ourselves to the county were
participation in their annual air show and
inviting officials to local events and flying
sessions.
“A site was offered for consideration for
our use. It was to be developed mainly for
ball fields, but there was a narrow area of
the property deemed unsuitable for other
uses because it was in flood plain and it was
nearly a mile off the main road in an
undeveloped area and surrounded by
farmland. This was known as the Lenn
tract.
“We surveyed the area and found it to be
perfectly suited for an RC field and our use
would be compatible with the planned ball
fields. The Lenn brothers, donors of the
land to the county, were full-scale fliers and
were supportive of our proposed use of the
land.
“We presented our layout to the
Culpeper County Board of Supervisors and
they were encouraging. The Director of
Parks and Recreation was authorized to
have a civil engineering company engineer
the site with ball fields and our RC site.
“We told the county that we would
prepare the site and install everything, but
we needed them to improve the nearly
mile-long access road. We organized a
model club, the CMB, to administer the
field for the county, drew up agreements
with forms and help from the AMA, and
had them signed off. We were all set to go.
“Then something happened. The
recession hit the county full force.
Construction of the ball fields and access
road were tabled for the foreseeable future.
We knew that we had to go it alone and
develop the site access with no additional
help from the county.
“While the field was accessible over an
unimproved farm path, we did not want the
access road to become denuded and cause
silt to flow into an adjacent creek. We
decided to limit club membership to 15
people until we could improve the access
roadway. This would also give us an
opportunity to try the field out to see if any
problems developed with the neighbors.
None did because there are no neighbors.
“During the first summer the field and
roadway were well maintained, mainly by
one dedicated club member with occasional
help from some others, and a few members
enjoyed flying there.
“With this occasional use of the field it
was noted that the access road was no
worse for the wear. In fact it is well drained
and is composed of firm soil. The concept
surfaced that perhaps we could actually
improve the roadway enough to open the
club up for full membership and thereby
collect enough dues to keep the road
maintained.
“We held a meeting with the Park Chief
and the county environmental officer,
proposing that with our limited funds we
would fill the three major crossroad
drainage areas with filter type gravel and
keep a gravel pile on hand for quick
repairs. This concept was approved by all
and the work was done within two weeks.
In addition, the concept of
building a shelter there was
also approved.
“The Culpeper Model
Barnstormers club and our
new site are now open for
full membership and use.
The Lenn Park Airfield will
be a great flying site for
years to come.
“Joe, we thank you, Bliss
Teague, and the AMA very
much for providing support
during the formative months
of this project and for
helping with solutions on the
layout. We owe a big debt of
gratitude to the Culpeper
County Board of Supervisors
and County Administration
for their enlightened attitude
on the use of a piece of land
that would be of no value as
it lay in a flood plain. They
have been a pleasure to deal
with.”
Joe Beshar
Coordinator
Eastern Region
AMA Districts I - VII
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MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC,
NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN,
VA, VT, WI, WV
198 Merritt Dr.
Oradell NJ 07649
Tel.: (201) 261-1281; E-mail:
[email protected]
Wes De Cou
Coordinator
Western Region
AMA Districts VIII - XI
AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, KS, LA,
MT, ND, NE, NM, NV, OK, OR, SD, TX,
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202 W. Desert Flower Ln.
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Voice: (480) 460-9466;
Cell: (480) 296-9515
Fax: (480) 460-9434
E-mail: [email protected]
Finding—Preserving—Maintaining
Flying Site Assistance Joe Beshar | [email protected]
The key requirement is to establish a relationship ...
Nic Burhans and Bill McMullen (with transmitter)
demonstrated typical RC flying for members of the Culpeper
County Park Authority who were very supportive of our field
development proposal.
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