December 30, 2006

Griswold Airport in Ct

December 30, 2006

MADISON, Conn. --Griswold Airport will shut down this weekend, ending a 75-year run for the tiny shoreline airfield where hundreds of pilots have earned their wings. "It's the end of an era," said Loren Baker, the airport manager for the last decade. The 42-acre shoreline airfield, which closes at midnight Sunday, is being sold to a developer who wants to build a 127-unit housing complex for residents ages 55 and older.

The airport is one of 13 privately owned, public-use airports in Connecticut. Local garage owner Jack Griswold opened the airport in 1931 and later turned over operations to his son, Sherman. Sherman Griswold's wife, MaryAnn Griswold, is the current owner. By the 1970s, the airport was home to at least 60 aircraft and visitors could book charter flights, sightseeing flights or flying lessons.

In anticipation of this weekend's closure, aircraft stored in its aging hangars -- from general aviation planes to experimental craft and ultralights -- already have been moved elsewhere. Several pilots have flown into the airport over the past week, gliding onto its single paved runway to stop at the small clubhouse nearby to say goodbye.

Privately owned, public-use airports like the Griswold Airport are closing at the rate of about one every two weeks nationwide, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
Connecticut officials have been exploring ways to help the state's remaining small airports stay in business through low-income loans, tax relief and other proposals. Some other states already have taken steps to preserve the nation's small private airports, which number about 950. Texas land owners, for instance, are exempted from property taxes for the portion of their land used as a publicly accessible air strip.

Connecticut transportation officials are also exploring ways to let towns or the state purchase development rights to the land, which would let them preserve it as open space if the airports close. New Jersey already has such a program. Before Griswold Airport's closure, about 450 small planes were based at Connecticut's 13 privately owned airports open for public use in Connecticut. That does not include planes based at the six state-owned airports and the four municipally owned facilities.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's sad news.