A story that's replicated at Canberra airport. Sell an airport to a property developer and what does he see? A vast, undeveloped piece of land with a few inconvenient strips of bitumen on it. Now we have ever growing office complexes, buildings that are on the minimums for clearance/height from the runways, a massive "factory outlet" shopping centre, fees and charges that are ever rising, and traffic that stuffs up the surrounding semi-arterial roads. All done with only the "consent" of the Commonwealth, exempt from the planning regime of the ACT (for what that's worth).
Even our (Canberra Gliding Club) "summer base" at Temora is subject to development pressures as the Council pushes the "aviation park" theme - which is all very well until it starts to threaten the continued existence of a very handy cross runway. Oh, and the good old caravan park, right on the edge of the airfield, is now seen by some as an "eyesore" when the flash new houses start to overlook it. Although it seems the threat is held at bay for the time being at least. And the not insignificant presence of the Aviation Museum would suggest it will remain an active airfield in the foreseeable future. Fortunately, due to forward thinking by the members of 30 years ago, we own our own piece of ground freehold (Bunyan, near Cooma). Although the "rural residential" development is slowly pushing out from Cooma and we need to be more aware of the noise aspects of our operation, I guess by the time it becomes a real issue our airfield will be subdividable and we will be sitting on an extremely valuable asset - and the members in the future will be in a position to cash in, and find a new (probably less convenient) site. Allan Armistead ph (02) 6249 6470, mobile 0413 013 911 PO Box 908, Dickson ACT 2602, Australia "When once you have tasted flight, you will always walk with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you always will be." Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Bob Thomas Sent: Friday, 1 December 2006 19:52 To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Airfield tenure. I think that the MacQuarie Bank, Manchester Airport and the crowd that runs the Adelaide buses Servco? own PF and quite a few others. They are a greedy lot and anything goes just so it is their way! I had an office showroom complex at PF and had a devils own job transferring the title to the new owner when I sold it. They reckon that an airfield is just a nuisance and that they can make a lot more money in other ventures ----- Original Message ----- From: "Texler, Michael" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia." <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 11:46 AM Subject: RE: [Aus-soaring] Airfield tenure. > See what is happening to Parafield in Adelaide. > > The trees (that spell "Parafield") have been cut down and more retail is > going to be built along Main North Road > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring > _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
