Town Level

Landing areas can slide under the zoning radar in towns with inadequate regulation, which is most. In these cases, neighbors and towns are handed an airstrip or helipad, with no oversight or input, and once a landing area is in place they have no way to control how it is used. Impacts on domestic or farm animals, wildlife or conservation areas, privacy, peace, quality of life, the character of a town, or property values… are not usually considered as part of a narrow land use decision-making process.

Very few towns have voted on whether to allow or prohibit private landing areas, or have zoned for landing areas. Small, rural communities could be littered with private landing areas with no logic, other than a property owner wished to have one.

In towns across the state, citizens have taken matters into their own hands – they have expressed concerns, and some have voted to control or prohibit these private uses that benefit a very few at the expense of many. Following are some steps that towns can take to get ahead of this issue:

• Require a town-wide vote before air commons are handed to private parties in the form of private landing areas. Citizens can petition their town and request a town-wide vote as was done in North Hero.

• If private landing areas are approved, towns should zone for appropriate areas that have support from abutters and neighbors, minimally impact wildlife and the environment, and are approved by town-wide vote.

• Towns should not permit private landing areas unless at least 75% of abutters vote to approve it. These are not public airports or facilities – they are private uses of airspace that benefit a few individuals. Abutters should not be forced to change how they live to accommodate a neighbor’s idea of enjoyment and convenience.

• Towns must view their airspace within a geographic region. For example, private air travel should be channeled to nearby airports, often well under an hour away.

• If the town votes to allow private landing areas, then a process should be set up to zone appropriate areas. In those zones where private landing areas will be allowed, all residents of those areas should vote whether to approve or not – private landing areas should not be forced on any town, or any neighborhood within a town, and they should be located where the majority welcome them.