c_speed3108
Apr 3, 2008, 1:02 PM
This is a neat idea. Having your own hanger connected to the taxi-way
http://www.wcd.ca/
Airpark development in position for takeoff
As soon as the snow melts, developers plan to start work on Tailwind Estates near the Carp Airport, reports Carolyn Kuipers.
Carolyn Kuipers, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, April 03, 2008
Imagine getting out of bed in your home just west of Ottawa, spending a leisurely afternoon on Toronto Island and returning in time for dinner.
This is what developers have in mind for future residents of Tailwind Estates.
West Capital Developments is gearing up for a spring start for construction of the fly-in community at the Carp Airport, a short drive from Scotiabank Place.
The 1,000-acre project will be completed in three phases, the first of them beginning when the snow melts. The land will be graded and roads will be roughed-in, with asphalt hopefully following in August, West Capital vice-president James McDermott said.
Construction of the first homes is expected to begin in the fall, president John Phillips said, with the first occupancy permits scheduled for spring 2009.
"The approval process was a lot more cumbersome than I expected," Mr. Phillips said, but the project is moving forward as scheduled.
The company is accepting deposits on the lots and about 30 per cent have been claimed already.
Chad Wilton will be one of the first residents at the airpark, having already placed a $5,000 deposit on a taxiway lot. The owner of three The Bulk Barn stores comes from a family of pilots.
"My father and grandfather are both long-term pilots and I'm a student myself," Mr. Wilton said. About 10 hours from completing his licence, he plans to fly mainly for recreation, visiting his father and grandfather in the Muskoka area.
"There's a certain culture that comes with aviation. It's a close-knit group," said Mr. Wilton, who remembers flying as a child with his father into little-known airports.
"There was always someone offering to drive us into town for a hamburger."
He hopes to do the same for others from his eventual home in the airpark.
The lots available for traditional homes in the airpark range from 50 to 70 feet wide, while the estate lots, one of which Mr. Wilton will have, are 100-150 feet wide. In the initial phase, there will be about 30 estate lots.
There are more than 500 communities built around airplanes so far, mostly in the United States.
Mr. Phillips says a trip from Ottawa to Toronto by airplane with a 125-horsepower engine uses more fuel per hour, but takes less time than driving a car. "The carbon footprint is about the same," he said.
Living next to an airport wasn't always popular because of noise concerns, but that may be changing. Mr. McDermott said Tailwind Estates was capitalizing on the convenience of not having to wait for hours in commercial airports and the sense of security from living in a gated community.
The development will eventually total 329 houses or townhomes. Some will have communal airplane hangars, while the larger estate lots will allow for the construction of private hangars with taxiway access.
There will also be roads and garages for cars. The traditional homes will be built on cul-de-sacs, while the estate lots will line the taxiway.
Mr. McDermott is not a pilot and has no intentions of obtaining a licence, but has purchased a taxiway lot after seeing a similar upscale community near Daytona Beach, Florida.
"People were outside at their barbecue, waving at the pilot of a plane coming down the taxiway," he said.
Mr. Phillips is an aviation enthusiast. He grew up near the airpark in Florida that Mr. McDermott would later visit and says he knew at a young age he would one day live in a fly-in community.
When the City of Ottawa requested proposals to determine the future of the Carp Airport, Mr. Phillips acted.
The airpark development will also include business and aerospace operations in a business park.
It is being marketed to aviation enthusiasts and frequent-flyer business people as a means of connecting Ottawa with major commercial hubs, including Toronto, Boston and Chicago.
Others are skeptical. One pilot questions the resale value of a $500,000 home at an airport.
"There's not a lot of money being made in the aviation industry; it's got to be something you really enjoy to be involved," said Robert Burns, owner of Westair Aviation flight training at Carp Airport.
The development was originally expected to cost $50 million, but Mr. McDermott estimates the total project is now at $30 million after changes to the water and sewer systems.
Instead of having city water and sewer lines, the airpark system will be financed, designed, built, operated and owned by Corix Utilities, which has an office in London, Ont.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008
http://www.wcd.ca/
Airpark development in position for takeoff
As soon as the snow melts, developers plan to start work on Tailwind Estates near the Carp Airport, reports Carolyn Kuipers.
Carolyn Kuipers, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, April 03, 2008
Imagine getting out of bed in your home just west of Ottawa, spending a leisurely afternoon on Toronto Island and returning in time for dinner.
This is what developers have in mind for future residents of Tailwind Estates.
West Capital Developments is gearing up for a spring start for construction of the fly-in community at the Carp Airport, a short drive from Scotiabank Place.
The 1,000-acre project will be completed in three phases, the first of them beginning when the snow melts. The land will be graded and roads will be roughed-in, with asphalt hopefully following in August, West Capital vice-president James McDermott said.
Construction of the first homes is expected to begin in the fall, president John Phillips said, with the first occupancy permits scheduled for spring 2009.
"The approval process was a lot more cumbersome than I expected," Mr. Phillips said, but the project is moving forward as scheduled.
The company is accepting deposits on the lots and about 30 per cent have been claimed already.
Chad Wilton will be one of the first residents at the airpark, having already placed a $5,000 deposit on a taxiway lot. The owner of three The Bulk Barn stores comes from a family of pilots.
"My father and grandfather are both long-term pilots and I'm a student myself," Mr. Wilton said. About 10 hours from completing his licence, he plans to fly mainly for recreation, visiting his father and grandfather in the Muskoka area.
"There's a certain culture that comes with aviation. It's a close-knit group," said Mr. Wilton, who remembers flying as a child with his father into little-known airports.
"There was always someone offering to drive us into town for a hamburger."
He hopes to do the same for others from his eventual home in the airpark.
The lots available for traditional homes in the airpark range from 50 to 70 feet wide, while the estate lots, one of which Mr. Wilton will have, are 100-150 feet wide. In the initial phase, there will be about 30 estate lots.
There are more than 500 communities built around airplanes so far, mostly in the United States.
Mr. Phillips says a trip from Ottawa to Toronto by airplane with a 125-horsepower engine uses more fuel per hour, but takes less time than driving a car. "The carbon footprint is about the same," he said.
Living next to an airport wasn't always popular because of noise concerns, but that may be changing. Mr. McDermott said Tailwind Estates was capitalizing on the convenience of not having to wait for hours in commercial airports and the sense of security from living in a gated community.
The development will eventually total 329 houses or townhomes. Some will have communal airplane hangars, while the larger estate lots will allow for the construction of private hangars with taxiway access.
There will also be roads and garages for cars. The traditional homes will be built on cul-de-sacs, while the estate lots will line the taxiway.
Mr. McDermott is not a pilot and has no intentions of obtaining a licence, but has purchased a taxiway lot after seeing a similar upscale community near Daytona Beach, Florida.
"People were outside at their barbecue, waving at the pilot of a plane coming down the taxiway," he said.
Mr. Phillips is an aviation enthusiast. He grew up near the airpark in Florida that Mr. McDermott would later visit and says he knew at a young age he would one day live in a fly-in community.
When the City of Ottawa requested proposals to determine the future of the Carp Airport, Mr. Phillips acted.
The airpark development will also include business and aerospace operations in a business park.
It is being marketed to aviation enthusiasts and frequent-flyer business people as a means of connecting Ottawa with major commercial hubs, including Toronto, Boston and Chicago.
Others are skeptical. One pilot questions the resale value of a $500,000 home at an airport.
"There's not a lot of money being made in the aviation industry; it's got to be something you really enjoy to be involved," said Robert Burns, owner of Westair Aviation flight training at Carp Airport.
The development was originally expected to cost $50 million, but Mr. McDermott estimates the total project is now at $30 million after changes to the water and sewer systems.
Instead of having city water and sewer lines, the airpark system will be financed, designed, built, operated and owned by Corix Utilities, which has an office in London, Ont.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008