Addison Town Council seeking attorney general’s opinion

ADDISON    -  A resolution has been approved by the Addison Town Council to seek an Alabama Attorney General’s opinion on the proper way to proceed with possibly selling the town’s airport.
Addison Mayor Marsha Pigg addressed the council  at its regular July meeting, reporting that the town has been approached with an interest by individuals she did not name in the meeting to purchase the airport from the town, but a procedure needed to first be followed.
Town Attorney Shane Cook, who was present at the meeting, informed Pigg he needed permission from the town in order to present a question on behalf of the town’s airport.
Addison has a municipal airport located off Sardis Airport Road that consists mainly of a grass strip and markings for small aircraft, according to Cook.
“(The town) decided that the liability of owning the airport basically overrides the public use of the airport,” Cook pointed out.
“They want to sell the airport or get rid of the liability of the airport,” Cook added.
Residents who live in the area of the airport use it for parking smaller aircraft often near their homes, but in the general vicinity of the airport, town officials stated.
The Town of Addison acquired approximately 32 acres for the airport back in the 1970s.  It was officially named the Addison Municipal Airport in 1986, recalled council member Randy Powell, who houses a small plane he has flown in and out of the airport.
The town purchased the land for the airport with some grant money, but only could develop a certain portion of it due to the limited amount of funding, town officials recalled.
The airport’s grass strip is about 3,200 feet long and 120 feet wide.  The airport has been known through the years to have fly-ins, according to Powell.
The airport currently houses five small aircraft, mainly single engine,  in hangars which are on adjoining private property, town officials said.  The town also owns the grass strip area, they noted.
Meanwhile, what Cook described as a “contingent” was interested in purchasing the airport, but certain procedures must be followed to sell public property, he explained.
“If we want to sell it for the airport to continue under another entity, say if they want to form an LLC (limited liability company), can  we do that without jumping through a bunch of hoops that we usually would by selling unneeded property?” Cook asked.
“We were hoping to maybe have an authority created and just have a board (for the airport),” Cook added. “I don’t think funding was there. I think it was something where we were going to have to donate or have to give the property or assign it over to the authority.
“The question is,” Cook continued, “the people who wanted to purchase this, if we’ve had our appraisal done, first of all, do we have to say it’s unneeded property, because if we say it’s unneeded, we have to close it down.
“There won’t be any continued use of it,” he added. “We’re hoping we don’t have to say it’s unneeded. We want to  leave it open.”
The Attorney General’s opinion would hopefully clarify if the town chooses to sell the airport, if they have an entity formed by citizens to oversee the airport and they wish to purchase the airport, would the property need to go through the process of being declared unused or put out for bids, Cook explained.
Also, if the town sells the airport to a group or an organization, if the town places into language where they have to use the property for a public airport for a certain period of time, would it account for the town not having to put out bids, Cook continued.