- November 17, 2024
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Flagler County may soon get a new runway on Old Kings Road South. But no need to worry about noisy jet engines: The only planes using it will be remote-controlled model airplanes.
The project, which has not yet been approved by the County Commission, would cost about $199,145 and relocate the Radio Aero Modelers club runway from its current spot at 1100 Old Kings Road South to the household hazardous waste collection site at 1700 Old Kings Road South.
On the new site, the county could create a multi-faceted remote-controlled vehicle park that could include ponds for remote-controlled boats, two pads for remote controlled helicopters and a dirt course for remote-controlled cars, County Administrator Craig Coffey told county commissioners at a May 4 County Commission workshop.
“Think of this as a tourism aspect — what we can do for niche-type tourism that we can be very competitive in. We can compete with the big guys out there,” Coffey said. “Our horseshoe pit — though it was a much smaller scale, much cheaper scale — that, we were able to just host the state tournament at last week.”
The new site would have a paved 600-by-60-foot runway, replacing the club’s current cloth runway, and would also have restrooms. The current site does not.
The money for the project would come from landfill ownership reserves, Coffey said.
Commissioner Barbara Revels said she was concerned about the county spending money for a park that would be used primarily by a private club.
“I think we should be sending a message loud and clear that the county doesn’t spend a great deal of money that we have in reserves for private clubs,” she said.
She asked if other people or groups would be able to use the space, and Coffey replied that they would, with restrictions.
Commissioner Nate McLaughlin noted that the county had spent money on horseshoe pits at Ralph Carter park.
“But that’s wide open to the public,” Revels replied. “I don’t know if this will be wide open.”
Coffey said the facility will not be restricted to the RAMs club, which has about 120 members, but that there will be rules for the facility to prevent “inappropriate use.”
Commissioner Frank Meeker said that the site would need some restrictions. “What you don’t want is somebody from the public coming onto the site and using a radio frequency that’s already in use by somebody from the facility, and their radio frequency overrides the other guy’s and causes both of the vehicles to crash,” he said.
RAMs member Michael Randazzo said club members are members of a national areo modelers club and covered by its insurance plan, and that the current site requires remote controlled pilots to have insurance coverage or join if they’re going to use the site frequently.
But, he said, the hobby is still easy to get into: Even big-box stores like Walmart sell remote controlled planes, which start as low as $200 or so, and passersby at the current site often become interested.
“Many times we get members of the public coming in for the dump, and they stay and watch us fly,” he said. “I totally understand Commissioner Revels concerns: It looks like you’re giving a lot of money to one club. You’re not, you’re improving the town.”
McLaughlin said that spending money on the radio-controlled vehicle park wouldn’t be hat different from spending money on boat ramps or horseshoe pits, which are also used by only a portion of the community.
“I think as a whole, if you look at our park system, at each park we’re trying to accommodate someone or some group or something that they’d like to do,” he said. “We’ve invested, even in the soccer fields in Palm Coast, we’ve invested TDC dollars. We’re looking at the skate park at Wadsworth Park. We’ve got the ball fields. … I think overall the whole park system’s available; folks can go to the park that provides the enjoyment that they want. This will just be a park that for the most part is going to be enjoyed by the RC folks.”
