Over the past 20 years, Dr. David Edelson has completed nearly 100 charity missions, from transporting young children with tumors to appointments to flying terminally ill patients to be with their families before they die. I have been flying.
Travel with Angel Flight, a nonprofit organization that arranges free transportation for patients in need, may be canceled if the small plane can no longer be stored in a private hangar next to Ronkonkoma’s Long Island MacArthur Airport. No, he said.
Fred Coste of Holbrook, who owns the hangar through his company, November Romeo LLC, sued the town of Islip after it suddenly closed. Airport access fees increased more than 1,500 percent from $1,795 to $29,514 per month, according to court records.
The fee increase has raised concerns among pilots who use the hangar and taxiway, including Andreas Niens, commander of the Civil Air Patrol’s Long Island Group.Credit: James Carbone
Price increases have prompted pilots who use hangars and taxiways (including the Congressional-chartered Civil Air Patrol, which accesses MacArthur through the Holbrook property) to sell their planes amid a nationwide shortage of hangars. There are growing concerns that people may be forced to do so and may be forced to evacuate. space.
What you need to know
- Private hangar owner The City of Holbrook has sued the Town of Islip for increasing the monthly fee for access to Long Island MacArthur Airport by more than 1,500%.
- Pilots using the hangar Taxiways connecting the site to MacArthur, including the Civil Air Patrol, are concerned that the toll increase could cause hangars to close and planes to be relocated.
- Due to a nationwide shortage of hangar space, Many tenants say losing their positions at Holbrook could force them to sell their aircraft.
The suit says an agreement giving him unlimited access to the airport was signed in 1990 by the airport manager and the hangar’s previous owner, and Mr. Coste has been pushing for a more formal agreement ever since.
The complaint also says the town threatened to barricade access to the taxiway that the hangar tenants have used for 53 years. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Central Islip.
Court records filed by Islip say that despite the city’s obligation to the federal government to “severely limit” its negotiating flexibility, Coste has no legal right to access the airport and is calling the lawsuit a fee. They call it a “negotiation tactic” for lowering the price.
A spokesperson for the Town of Islip, which owns MacArthur Airport, declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
Coste is concerned that the fee dispute could lead to the facility being shut down.
“We’d have to double the rent, and then all these people would have to relocate and we’d have to sell the planes, and there would be no planes,” he said. “I’ve been flying since I was 17. I’m 72 now, and it’s not in my blood to leave aviation in that way.”
Coste, who owns Holbrook Insurance Agency, said tenants pay $800 a month for each of the 34 units in the hangar, adding that he does not receive a salary from the hangar.
At a lease price of 62 cents per square foot, Coste has already paid at least five similar leases in the area, averaging about 44 cents per square foot, according to the complaint.
In an amended complaint filed in May, Coste also requested that the town rebuild the taxiway connecting the town property to the airport at an estimated cost of $150,000, with an alternative option of resurfacing the road for about $60,000. He said he refused.
Edelson, 65, who has worked at the hangar for more than 30 years, said the conflict is making it difficult for him to participate in future Angel flights.
“This is one of the few private facilities in existence that is easily accessible and affordable,” said Edelson, of Hampton Bays, one of 48 pilots using the facility. Ta.
At the Islip Town Board meeting in November, several of Coste’s tenants appealed to the board to resolve the dispute. Among them was Peter Lombardo, 67, of Deer Park, who flies for the U.S. Coast Guard and the Pilot Airlift Service, which coordinates transportation of patients in need.
“lots of My duties in the Coast Guard and PALS involve very little warning or lead time. I got calls from both at 6 a.m. and was up in the air by 6:30 a.m.,” he said.
He added, noting that his plane’s engines are sensitive to cold. “If I lose access to November Romeo’s heated hangar, I will be forced to move the plane to outdoor storage… It would be convenient if there was no electricity to maintain my plane leaving soon. We are ready. We ask the City Commission to consider the impact of cutting off access. to [the taxiway]. ”
Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter thanked the speakers but otherwise did not respond to their remarks.
Coste said Thursday he believes the town is trying to buy the land “almost for nothing.”
He said in the lawsuit that the town has indicated it may be interested in purchasing the land for less than $2 million.
The town could try to “take property through legal means” such as eminent domain or condemnation proceedings, but instead “seeks to apply pressure.” [Coste] Get out,” Coste’s attorney Cory Morris said.
Coste, who wants to retire, tentatively sold the property to Hicksville-based investment group Good Deeds Development in 2018 for $4.25 million, with the condition that it continue as an aviation facility. said. However, the agreement cannot be finalized without a new access agreement from the town.
Lt. Col. Andrew Balistreri, deputy commander of the Long Island Civil Air Patrol, said civilian auxiliary forces could be moved in if they lose access to the taxiway through Coste’s hangar.
“If we close the taxiway as the town is threatening, we will become a victim of circumstance,” he said. “Typically, our aircraft are stored here and we conduct search and rescue and other operations throughout the Northeast from this airport.”
Other tenants similarly said they would be evicted if the hangar were to close and they were forced to sell their aircraft.
Randy Sachs, who has been flying for 15 years and uses his planes to transport rescue animals to no-kill facilities, said he likes to fly twice a week for fun. Concerned about the future of the Holbrook Hangar, he applied for a facility in Pennsylvania, but said the waiting list was six years.
“I’ve always had a back-up plan,” said Sachs, 67, of Huntington. “In this particular case, there is no backup plan. If the fence is put up, I don’t know what to do with my plane.”
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, an aviation group representing more than 300,000 members nationwide, issued a letter to the town, noting that a 2021 AOPA survey found 71% of airports had problems. He urged them to “act quickly” to reach an agreement. There is a waiting list for hangars, indicating a “severe” shortage of aircraft hangar storage space across the country.
Mr. Coste purchased the 4.77-acre Holbrook facility southeast of MacArthur Airport in 2003. Mr. Coste’s tenant accounts for 21% of MacArthur’s small general aviation aircraft activity, according to the AOPA letter.
Since 1969, owners of light aircraft, or planes weighing less than 12,500 pounds, have accessed the airport through a taxiway connecting the property to MacArthur.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates civil aviation, He declined to comment, citing pending litigation.