Williams Soaring Ctr.

Airstrip plans to move if homes glide in
By Howard Yune/Appeal-Democrat

April 16, 2007 - 11:55PM


For 14 years, aircraft have taken off and landed just to the east of
Williams, all without a sound. But a developer's plan for 900 houses
off Husted Road has the owner of a local glider airstrip pondering a
move west and preparing to have homes built on his land to pay for the
move.

Brett "Rex" Mayes announced Monday he is seeking a new home for the
Williams Soaring Center, which he opened in 1993.

"It could be looked at two different ways - me trying to stay here if
this was an ideal place for gliderport," Mayes said. "But this is an
ideal place for houses, not a gliderport."

The news comes two weeks after a pair of applications to absorb more
land into the city of 5,000 - one from The Mission Peak Co. of Fremont
to build the Cortina Glen subdivision, the other from Mayes to seed
homes on his 22-acre glider center.

Cortina Glen's 281 acres near the Husted Road-E Street crossing would
place it directly south of the Soaring Center's 2,500-foot runway,
intruding into the air corridor for the 65 or so vehicle-towed gliders
kept there. Because of the housing plans - and also to take advantage
of stronger, glider-friendly winds - Mayes is seeking a site 5 to 8
miles closer to the Coast Range.

"We'd really rather be located closer to the mountains," said Mayes,
who opened his airstrip after rapid development forced his business
from a site near Vacaville. "So there's a real reason to move out to
the west. This was available at the time (in 1993), but it has not
been an ideal location for a glider facility. It's a good place to
move from."

The options appear limited for the Soaring Center, which requires open
space not restricted to agricultural use and not too far from its
customers in the Bay Area and greater Sacramento.

The state's Williamson Act has encouraged some rural landowners to
agree to barring industrial uses on parcels in exchange for property-
tax reductions, and removing the restrictions requires a series of
public notices and county approvals - a system Colusa County lacks.

Another Williams project, a plant to turn corn into fuel ethanol, has
stalled in recent weeks over the same land-use limits.

"If I go south 10 miles, it is a much different picture for being able
to use the lift," said Mayes. "If it's 10 miles north, it's a similar
problem, and then the access becomes an issue too."

Groundbreaking for the Cortina Glen homes is not expected for at least
two years, City Manager Jim Manning said last week. Both that
subdivision and the one planned for the current airstrip require
annexing county land into the city, a step the county's Local Agency
Formation Commission must approve for work to begin.