NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The final hoop to be jumped through for the sale of the Obee school property was dealt with by the Hutchinson City Council at its meeting Tuesday, as they leased the portion of the school property that they were not allowed to sell to the entity that bought the school from USD 313.
"When it was expanded in the late 1970s, early 80s, they built right up along the property line between the Hutchinson Airport and the property owned by USD 313," said Airport Manager Pieter Miller. "Quite literally, when walking out the back door, they were walking on to airport property. That was where the playgrounds were, there were some outbuildings out there and different things that they had. When they stopped using the school, they marketed the school for sale. To make that school more marketable for somebody that wanted to potentially buy it, they asked if there was any way they could include portions of that playground, so that they weren't walking on to an airport, technically, when they walk out the back door."
Like anything related to federal regulations, that isn't as simple as it might seem.
"There's a section of that portion that is part of what is called a Runway Protection Zone," Miller said. "That's property that is set aside off of all of our runways to protect, basically protect people on the ground. The FAA has a lot of pretty specific rules about what can and can't take place in the Runway Protection Zones. We weren't allowed to sell that, kind of obviously, since we already owned it, or even sell a portion of the property that is adjacent to it. That means we had to take a section of that area that we wanted to originally sell and actually just come up with a lease."
The Hutchinson City Council approved the land lease between Reno County Property LLC and the City of Hutchinson for $450 per year for the first five years, with $50 per year escalators if the lease is renewed for up to two additional five year terms.
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