Woodstock

[silverwings]

Pilots, one of our most used local flying sites, Woodstock, does not have a secure landing zone. We lost access to the the old primary on Moose Road when the Fishburn property was sold and the new owners forbid us landing there a few years ago. Over the years we have been landing at the Bridge Field (North side of Woodstock Tower Rd) generally without permission when crops were not present. The Bridge Field and the far out grass field on the South side of Woodstock Tower Road is being sold at Auction. We really need to rectify that problem and we have a chance to purchase the Bridge Field through Auction on November 6. This field is valuable for both hang gliding and paragliding. We can only bid on it if we have ample commitments from the flying community and friends to provide the necessary funds. We believe that it will sell at Auction between 200-350K. Only if we win the auction are the funds needed for closing near the end of November. Some pilots and friends have pledged amounts from $100 to 25K but we need a lot more commitments to go to Auction with the hopes of winning. Most of you may have received a surveymonkey email on 10/22 with only 4 questions about this potential purchase. Please help by responding to that email pledging some financial support toward this. If you deleted that email, you will probably receive another in a couple of days or you can go https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GFWJQX7 which has a few additional identifying questions. Thank you to those pilots/friends that have pledged toward this.

p.s. Note that the first surveymonkey questionnaire in mid November was only to gauge interest and was anonymous so we have no idea who answered.

[markc]

I was out of town when the latest survey went up, will reply tonight!

Although the "bridge field" is not ideal (think of new pilots, low-perf wings, or a marginally soarable day), it would at least be *something* that was guaranteed. At the moment, we are totally dependent on landowner largesse (or lack thereof).

Possibly, the old HG primary might become available in the future, perhaps lease if not outright purchase... But even if so, we're unlikely to have _lost_ anything by buying the bridge field : It can always be resold.

I think we should make a move now (if we have the numbers to do so), and then also pursue who ever buys the old primary HG field. They can't develop it after all, given the conservation easement...

[markc]

Finally responded to the survey, like, two days after my last post. Sorry about that!
One thing that we could use some clarification on is the possible ownership model of any field that gets purchased. For example, if we're lucky enough to have 10-15 people who can kick in a decent chunk of cash.... Will they each have a direct equity stake in the property? How would taxes be managed? If someone wants "out", could they be 'bought out' by someone else? Etc, etc, etc.
While I can/will kick in a decent amount, it wouldn't be as an outright donation, to CHGPA or to FreeFlight or USHPA. I can't just gift that much as a no-strings contribution, wish I could...

[silverwings]

Mark, there was no feasible way in the time constraint to have a joint ownership situation. Also a joint ownership would have created a real difficult situation in managing the property and ownership. The current surveymonkey questionnaire is asking for pledges to the club to provide the funds so that we can go to the auction and bid on the property. Only if we win the auction will those individuals that pledged be required to provide the funds to the club which is a charitable organization. If we win the auction and more money was pledged than is required at closing, each person pledge amount will be proportionally to the needed amount. The club will be the sole owner. We are trying to have a secure LZ for the site. If we do not win, we will try to lease some or all of the Bridge field or other property as a LZ but who knows if the owner will agree. Any lease agreement or other purchase would be a new fund raiser.

[markc]

Thanks for the details John!

[Dave Proctor]

Does the club still hold 501-C3 status? I thought that lapsed years ago.

[silverwings]

Yes we do have 501-C3 status! There are some inquiries that don't list it, but we do have the appropriate tax number or what ever the term is.

[markc]

It's an EIN number, I think?

[silverwings]

First, thank you very much for those that pledged toward the auction. We did not win the auction for the Bridge Field (Tract 2). An individual (Keith Stevens) who bid on both tracts together later won for $670,000 + 5%. John McAllister was able to buy the Bridge Field from Keith with intentions to plant trees on part of it for his landscaping business but leave a good size area for a HG/PG LZ! The club will need to work details with him for potentially leasing and/or providing financial support for the LZ. The Bridge Field is not ideal for HG/PG because of it's distance from launch, we will in the future be pursuing other potential LZ's.

[markc]

Wow. ~700k is an impressive figure (even if for both of the fields).

Fantastic to hear that John McA was then able to purchase the bridge field portion, that is incredible!

One idea that comes to mind is that we could try to cover the expenses (ie, taxes) that John will have. Maybe a per pilot flying fee? Maybe an arrangement with CHGPA? Maybe both?

Having a foothold/secure field would certainly be a huge improvement, even given the distance from launch.... Major Kudos to John!!!!