For the past three days, airport officials at Bend Municipal Airport (OR) have been conducting inspections of their hangars to ensure space is being used as intended…for all things aviation.
In the recent past, however, city officials have found some airport tenants storing everything from office supplies to cars in their hangars, despite the fact that both city and county rules stipulate these hangars are intended for aviation storage only.
According to The Bend Bulletin, which covers local news of Bend and Central Oregon, Bend Municipal Airport Manager Gary Judd has addressed the problem head-on this week, scheduling city officials to inspect all of the hangars (which store roughly 70 planes), and look for maintenance problems, potential hazards and non-aviation items in violation of the hangars rules.
Although Judd stated that he does not anticipate any major problems as a result of the inspections, he wants to be certain the city knows what is going on behind the closed doors of the hangars. After all, airports that condone misuse of these hangars can potentially forfeit funding from the Federal Aviation Administration, which has provided money for Bend Municipal Airport projects (including the construction of new taxiways), in recent years.
"For any airport that takes federal improvement money, we have strings attached, certain stipulations. ... Buildings you lease must be solely used for aviation purposes only," said Mike Fergus, an FAA spokesman.
The Bend facility has nearly 200 tenants who either own their own hangars and lease the land from the city, or lease the entire hangar from the city. In 2008, the city generated over $600,000 in revenue from hangar and ground leases.
The hangar issue arose in 2008, when former Airport Manager Susan Palmeri told the Bend City Council an investigation of non-aviation storage and activities was necessary; at that time, Palmeri reported that a tenant had been living in one of the hangars for several years.
"I’m not aware of anybody actually living full-time in a hangar," said Judd, who assumed the Airport Manager position March. "I have…let it be known that the airport is not zoned for residential (use). It is an airport issue, but also a county zoning issue."
Fergus also said he had heard of other airports with tenants living in or running private businesses in hangars, which can result in FAA intervention.