Rediscovering home: Airport growth takes off

Planes buzz over our ranch just west of town as they glide into an airport that has soared to new heights.

The airport moved to its current location just across the Clark Fork River from the east tip of our land when I was a preschooler. The old county airport bordered our ranch to the west. Interstate 90, the hospital, and the Pioneer Council’s new garage now occupy the old airport land. 

For years after the airport moved to its new location, it housed only one or two lonely hangars.  No fence protected it from the occasional drag race. Now the Airport boasts a fence, 12 hangar bays and three more on the way.  (See article by Monte Turner in last week’s Independent). Seven or eight folks are on a waiting list. 

The airport’s growth demonstrates that the largely untamed charm of the place continues to ensnare folks. County Planner Andy Short says the real estate market here might have cooled a bit, but his office has “something going on every day.”

Naturally, I wondered who are the folks tucking their planes away in those hangars. One was familiar – Gary Bullock, son of longtime family friends, Jerrie (Hood) and Larry Bullock. He is a pilot and current board chair. His brother, Dale, and my eldest brother, Guy, became friends and once traveled to Costa Rica via pickup truck.

Peggy Temple, board vice chair, told me most of the planes belong to local pilots. There are also out-of-county folks, escaping the hassle and higher fees at larger airports, such as Missoula. One pilot from Polson awaits a hangar spot.  

The airport was supported by a county tax levy until a campaign to make it self-supporting started about 15 years ago.   

“People wondered why we should keep funding the airport for a few elite pilots,” Temple recalled. 

The campaign was spearheaded by her late husband, Steve, who served as airport manager from 2007 to 2024. An FAA grant funded the first three-bay hangar, launching the airport’s ascendancy. The airport collects rent on the hangars and a fuel service provides revenue. Six of the 12 current hangars are privately owned and lease the ground from the airport. A second, three-bay hangar was funded by another FAA grant, as is the third currently being built.  

Firefighting agencies pay a daily fee to use the airport in the summer.  The amount, of course, depends on the fire season. The agencies hire the local firefighters to have a truck at the airport in case of a crash or other calamity. 

Private planes land here, carrying folks to local vacation rentals, or to fishing or hunting excursions. The airport offers “a good stopping point” between, say, Billings and Spokane or Seattle. Temple did not have any financial records/reports detailing the revenue generated as none were “kept of landings, reason for trips etc.”

The surrounding mountains and tall trees limit “night hops,” quick stops at the airport.  

“You can’t see anything and it’s scary,” Temple said. “You obviously want to see where you are landing.”  

The airport has lights, but the FAA restricts their use to emergencies. A code is required to turn on the lights. 

The mountains and trees prevent the use of landing patterns, i.e., circling the airport. Pilots have to come straight at the airport from the east or west.  

The Temples are an example of “newcomers” who brought energy and expertise. Steve had administrative and aviation experience as the manager of a city in California with an airport. Peggy served on the airport board in Riverside, California.

They were drawn here by the “premium outdoors activities” that County Planner Short sees as the county’s magnet. He points to the county’s “number one whitewater” experience (Alberton Gorge), a snowy ski hill and mountain trails and lakes offering scenery second to none, he says.  

Most of the folks who moved here since 2020 are mostly retirees, Short observed, who sold homes where the market was high and built homes here where land and construction prices were lower.   

“I feel like people are coming from everywhere,” he said.

Short and I were struck by the Census finding 500 vacant homes in the county. Not sure how that is determined. Seems high.

Real estate prices here have largely caught up, and Short says some folks are looking for cheaper alternatives. A nice house here now costs around $650,000 minimum to build, and most going for at least $850,000, he says. There are also many million-plus homes. 

Short was unsure of the number of “vacation” or second homes in the county. The new law charging different property tax assessments for second homes should provide that information next year. He has not seen corporation buying single family homes here to offer as short-term rentals, as has been reported elsewhere.

The Shyrock RV resort represents the “biggest growth” in the county.  The resort, where residents generally stay only during the warmer months, has completed four construction phases and is planning four more.  

The plans for the most recent addition of 46 lots sat on Short’s desk. Short credits individual treatment for the growth. “They are good about saying how do you want your lot.”  

The mini-homes popular at Shyrock offer a cheaper alternative. Also, they are taxed as personal property at a rate lower than real property.

A natural tension exists between growth and the risk that it will diminish the very reason people live in a place. The debate dominated many of the meetings I attended as a reporter or attorney. One side contends a community grows or it dies, and the other arguing too much growth will spoil the place. Each community must find the balance for itself.   Disagreements often divide, and neither side wins.