87Y (Wisconsin) Hangar Talk

Folks around the Blackhawk Airport (87Y near Madison, WI) have been curious
as to what the state of the airport is lately.. Especially since the
following has happened in the last 18 months:

The rental planes were sold.
The part time attendant was laid off.
The fuel tank is empty. (No fuel even for people based at the airport who
have a key.)
Moon-lighter A&P/AI quits, no-one else is being recruited to take his place.
Hanger rent payments go to an address in Madison where the owners run
another business. (Is is TOO much trouble to drive to the airport to check
the mail?)
No flight instruction whatsoever, because the CFI insurance was dropped.

The biggest tell tale sign is the sinkhole of development around the airport
property. There is a Blettner Development at the west adjacent parcel,
right up to the fence. It's a retail development. Looks like a bank, and
gas station so far. There is a HUGE pile of dirt at the edge of the
property line right up to RWY 9, looks as if you'd want to displace the
threshold.

Now, the hangar talk is that Mr. Blettner is an ATP, and wouldn't wreck an
airport for the sake of development. I believed that until I googled upon
the following archived article from MidWest flyer magazine:

[Begin Article]
Morey Airport Wins Referendum

MIDDLETON, WIS. - While supporters of Morey Airport in Middleton, Wis. can
breath a sigh of relief, now that a referendum to prohibit airport
improvements was defeated 2 to 1, not all has been rosy. Pilot and
industrial developer, Bob Blettner, is suing Field Morey for selling the
airport to the City of Middleton and not to him. Blettner had an offer to
buy the airport to make it into an industrial park when the City of
Middleton decided that it would be in the best interests of the city to keep
operating the airport.

The referendum was forced on city officials by a petition promoted by a
group referred to as "Citizens To Control Airport Expansion."

The wording of the charter ordinance, which had to be used as the referendum
question, was confusing. In effect, voting yes meant no to the airport.
Voters needed to respond negatively if they agreed with the city's plan to
improve the airport which had been privately owned since 1942. Conversely,
an affirmative vote would have tied the city's hands.
[End Article]

It's been public knowledge that the owners of the airport are interested in
selling it, but they were asking too much when the Village of Cottage Grove
was considering it. I don't see it lasting another year, in my opinion. I
was thinking of writing Mr. Blettner to see if he had plans to make it an
airport associated with his development, but based on the Morey conflict
mentioned above, there's probably no chance of that!

Comments welcome.. Thanks!

--
Ben
C-172 - N13258 @ 87Y