Horrace is right that money more than noise loses flying sites. Modelers as an entire group are cheapskates when it comes to putting out money for a place to fly. That is one of the reasons that other activities and housing take over flying sites. they are willing to pay a bunch more for the privelege of being there.
As for purchasing your flying site, that is a state by state and case by case situation. Here in Texas smaller cities have annexed land as much as twenty miles from their current city limits. When the land is sold the new owner can be liable for several years back property taxes based on the city not the county rates. For a housing developer or a golf course developer this is not a big deal as they become pass through costs.
I am a member of one club that has purchased their flying site a few years back. It has gone from being in the middle of open ranchland to now having a house on one side and powerlines erected across the flight path on the other side. Last year we had to negotiate with the phone company as to where they would plow the communication cable and put up the distribution box which now resides on our property.
No easy answers as some of the home owners are finding out when the gas well drill rigs set up within 150' of their new home. What they get in compensation is a joke compared to the lowering of values by having a gas well head in your side yard with the revenues going to some group that has held the mineral rights on your property for the last 50 years..
ORIGINAL: Hossfly
k3 valley flyer:
Hossfly I think you hit the nail on the head, the future of RC depends on clubs owning their own fields. We spend thousands on equipment but complain about a few dollars for club dues. All my planes are worthless if I don't have a place to fly them.
A few years ago there was an article in AMA about a few guys in Georgia that formed an LLC and purchased their own field. I know of another club owned field in central Ill that did it working with a farmer and the USDA on some conservation property.
//snip//
There are a fair number of such facilities in this area. The pictures in the post are of my main club which owns that property. In the 10 years that the club has owned the property, the acreage price in that area has almost doubled. With the current appraisals the Club now has a very good financial basis. There is a system of membership months for those that remain in the club and pay their dues by Jan. 31 each year. Easier to keep track of than stocks and if a guy leaves the club, then so be it. Plan was copied from another local club that owns its property.
archerry:
I knew how to play golf before I knew how to fly..... They have no problem spending big money for dues and spending big money on equipment. They've got heros like Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods, etc..... And they put just enough money back into communities and charities to keep them looking good. Who are our heros...?
The question here is what can we and AMA do together to change our outlook?......
Because Golfers do spend money, they can afford to obtain the publicity to have heroes. As long as you people refuse to elect AMA officers with vision and the focus on making this sport well known throughout the media and government to establish the FAI programs as our first heroes, then you will continue just where you are. The current AMA elected officers have other directions. Read their 'minutes' for the past 10 years. [:'(]
Joe Beshar, staff flying field person, has made some inroads into obtaining fields on the garbage dump lands, but other than that nothing has been accomplished from AMA.
It all boils down to getting rid of this "hobbyist" crap and making yourself a sportsman, doing things yourself, and paying your way.
edited to correct D-A mistOOK!