AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2014 - 37

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AIRPORT STORIES

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FLORIDA

Venice

WHAT THEY
LEARNED
Build a strong airport
support team. Recognize
that a few people do the
work but they have to be
recognized as speaking for
more.

'Benign neglect'
Venice Airport has a new lease on life

AIRPORT SUPPORTERS Kit McKeon, Venice

City Council; John Collins, AOPA; Chris
Rozansky, aiport manager; and VASI
members Nick Carlucci, Brett Stephens,
and Paul Hollowell on Runway 5/23.

B Y J U L I E S U M M E R S WA L K E R
VENICE MUNICIPAL AIRPORT

in Florida-once a victim of
"benign neglect" according to
its supporters-is in trouble
no more. This historic former
army base on the Gulf Coast
has turned itself around, thanks
in great part to a small cadre of
supporters who never stopped
believing.
Venice Municipal faced opposition in this small resort town
(population 21,000), which welcomes "snowbirds" January
through March, when northerners trek south to Florida's
sunny shores. The airport was
a training base and later an

active general aviation airport,
but when economic belts tightened the airport began to suffer
from "benign neglect," according to Paul Hollowell, a member
of the Venice Airport Society
Inc. (VASI).
And because of the city's
neglect, the airport's detractors started to nibble at the
airport's 835-acre footprint.
They wanted to shorten one
of the airport's two 5,000-foot
runways. They wanted to deny
new business. They wanted to
take airport land. They started
a smear campaign, which called
out the airport for noise, jet

traffic, and being a bad neighbor (one of the 9/11 terrorists
had trained here).
It was a small group of airport
supporters (VASI) working with
local, state, and federal politicians and groups such as AOPA
who eventually turned the
tide for Venice Municipal (see
"What They Learned" at right).
Although Venice's airport today
is thriving, its supporters recognize that saving this airport has
been a battle, but it is part of a
larger war.
EMAIL julie.walker@aopa.org

VENICE MUNICIPAL TODAY
Venice Municipal Airport (VNC)
is self supporting and generates
its own funds. As city council
member Jeanette Gates says,
"Economic development-wise,
the airport is an engine without
wings." The airport generates
more than $22 million in direct
economic impact for the city of
Venice. It has two 5,000-foot
runways, a GPS approach, 184

T hangars, 98 tiedowns, and
new precision approach path
indicators (PAPI) on all runways. Runway 5/23 is a recently
reconstructed noise-mitigation
runway.
There are 220 aircraft based at
the airport, an FBO, avionics shop
(Sarasota Avionics, which has
contributed to AOPA sweepstakes
projects), two flight schools, and

maintenance facilities. The Sarasota County Sheriff's helicopter,
providing law enforcement and
firefighting support, and Agape
Flights, a missonary organization,
are based at the airport.
"Venice Municipal Airport has
gone from the poster child of neglected airports to a business case
in turning one around," says Brett
Stephens, VASI president.

Be professional, don't
get personal. And don't
get emotional. Be careful
what you say and how you
say it.
Know your airport.
Research, research. Who
owns your airport? Is your
airport federally obligated?
Gather all relevant documents. Does your airport
have a master plan? Get it.
What are the airport
economics? Learn how
your airport is operated
financially. Get the airport
budget and understand
it. Know your airport's
financial benefit to the
community.
What are the issues
and why? Find out who
is involved and why-who
doesn't like the airport,
who complains about
noise, who are the developers and the environmentalists.
Build a network. Identify
community groups, join
the Chamber of Commerce, hold airport open
houses and other events.
Contact local, state, and
federal politicians.
Be a good neighbor.
Establish fly friendly procedures, build a website,
clean up your airport.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Venice Municipal Airport
(VNC) Venice, Florida
www.veniceairportsociety.
com
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 37
http://www.veniceairportsociety.com http://www.aopa.org/pilot
AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2014

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