Ogden Regional Airport Assoc Legal-Membership Fund
Donation protected
The Ogden Regional Airport Association (ORAA) was reinstated to provide a recognized organization of airport users, businesses, and hangar owners to facilitate a class action legal effort against the Ogden airport and Ogden City administration.
This legal fund is necessary to prevent Ogden City, owner of the Ogden Hinckley airport from continued issuance of executive orders to conduct legalized theft of property from airport hangar owners and businesses. Ogden City's airport manager's clearly stated goal is to take ownership of over 200 hangars and FBO operations on the airport from the current owners. The City's strategy has been to make exorbitant increases in hangar land use fees. The City has compounded this burden by changing signed leases mid-term allowing the City to "take possession of [anyone's] hangar for any reason at any time.", which has resulted in a massive devaluation of hangar values while shutting down the sales of hangars. After spending a very short amount of time with the airport manager, buyers walk not wanting to invest with such risky and unfavorable lease terms. Not wanting to invest in an expensive legal fight, individual owners are choosing to surrender property instead of fighting the City which is exactly what the City wants. This has resulted in a continued exodus from a once thriving airport and is exactly why ORAA was formed to create strength in numbers.
Ogden City has justified fee increases claiming the airport is losing $300,000 a year which is grossly inaccurate. Through GRAMA requests by airport users and industry financial experts, Ogden airport in fact shows a profit of $1.5M per year. However, Ogden City chooses to ignore the accounting and instead has implemented a 4X increase in hangar lease fees over the past 2 years. The increases are especially inappropriate during a time of financial hardship with the aviation industry suffering an 85% decline. The increases are also inappropriate because the airport has received over $1M in CARES funding (found money) and is set to receive more. Other airports like Flagstaff have used the CARES hardship funding to provide relief to stakeholders not fee increases while devaluing assets.
With financial assistance we are confident our ORAA stakeholders, users and supporters will prevail legally. We have retained a law firm that is very knowledgably in cases involving airports, municipalities, state and federal issues. Tragically Ogden City's actions have cost airport users, businesses and hangar owners hundreds of thousands of dollars in just the past few years and has driven businesses, aircraft and hangar owners to other airports or out of aviation completely.
Thank you to any and all aviation and airport supporters. ORAA
This legal fund is necessary to prevent Ogden City, owner of the Ogden Hinckley airport from continued issuance of executive orders to conduct legalized theft of property from airport hangar owners and businesses. Ogden City's airport manager's clearly stated goal is to take ownership of over 200 hangars and FBO operations on the airport from the current owners. The City's strategy has been to make exorbitant increases in hangar land use fees. The City has compounded this burden by changing signed leases mid-term allowing the City to "take possession of [anyone's] hangar for any reason at any time.", which has resulted in a massive devaluation of hangar values while shutting down the sales of hangars. After spending a very short amount of time with the airport manager, buyers walk not wanting to invest with such risky and unfavorable lease terms. Not wanting to invest in an expensive legal fight, individual owners are choosing to surrender property instead of fighting the City which is exactly what the City wants. This has resulted in a continued exodus from a once thriving airport and is exactly why ORAA was formed to create strength in numbers.
Ogden City has justified fee increases claiming the airport is losing $300,000 a year which is grossly inaccurate. Through GRAMA requests by airport users and industry financial experts, Ogden airport in fact shows a profit of $1.5M per year. However, Ogden City chooses to ignore the accounting and instead has implemented a 4X increase in hangar lease fees over the past 2 years. The increases are especially inappropriate during a time of financial hardship with the aviation industry suffering an 85% decline. The increases are also inappropriate because the airport has received over $1M in CARES funding (found money) and is set to receive more. Other airports like Flagstaff have used the CARES hardship funding to provide relief to stakeholders not fee increases while devaluing assets.
With financial assistance we are confident our ORAA stakeholders, users and supporters will prevail legally. We have retained a law firm that is very knowledgably in cases involving airports, municipalities, state and federal issues. Tragically Ogden City's actions have cost airport users, businesses and hangar owners hundreds of thousands of dollars in just the past few years and has driven businesses, aircraft and hangar owners to other airports or out of aviation completely.
Thank you to any and all aviation and airport supporters. ORAA
Organizer
Ed McKenney-ORAA
Organizer
Eden, UT
