Farewell El Toro Flying Field

[madmax]

Well guys, December 31st was the last day of flying at our home field, OCMA El Toro. While the weather was a bit crappy, folks were still out in force, and it was a bummer to see the place go. Hopefully 2006 will bring us a new site here in Orange County. There are definately possibilities in the horizon.

To all our OCMA buds, welcome back.

MD

[GremlinX]

Noise kill the place? Thats sad, I looked forward to coming over and watching this year, but I guess I'll do something else in OC...

[Judge]

Nope, not noise. Greed. Lennar Homes bought out the entire former MCAS El Toro. They lost interest in keeping us there past the end of our current lease, which ended 12/31. I guess the $18K per year ($1,500/month) we were paying wasn't enough to interest them.

FWIW I also heard that they terminated the horse stable lease as well. At least it wasn't just us. Sad part is that it will be years before they start to do anything that would have required us to vacate. Oh well.

[gforce]

Max,I hope you guy's get a new site soon.Good Luck.

[The Kid]

That place was fun while it lasted

[GremlinX]

Wow, thats bad news.

[AirMcNair]

18K a year?????? surly you can get a new site with that kind of funding... Bummer to hear this, hope all works out ok. Later Chris

[Shortman]

Yeah but then again, 18K in California won't even buy you a 1/4 of an acre now.

[Judge]

	Quote: Originally Posted by airmcn_3
	18K a year?????? surly you can get a new site with that kind of funding... Bummer to hear this, hope all works out ok. Later Chris

As Shortman said, not EVEN close. Lennar Homes bought it for an average of $175,500 per acre. Figure you need a 600 foot strip with 1500 feet to either end for overfly and 2000 feet deep (165 acres). That leaves no buffer zone either. Works out to "only" $29,008,264.00. Let's see, with 450 members works to just about $64,500 each. Where do I send my check??

That assumes Lennar sells the land for NO PROFIT. Land just outside the base can go for nearly a MILLION per acre, so land here really is out of reach for any kind of club to buy. It could cost as much a 150 MILLION DOLLARS to buy the land needed here for a good site!!!

[G limit]

Scary, Ain't it???
I guess you guys will have to stage a coup at Prado...

Old Dawg,
Long Live Team Vegas!

[TManiaci]

	Quote: Originally Posted by G limit
	Scary, Ain't it??? I guess you guys will have to stage a coup at Prado...

I thought I heard Prado was close to shut down with restrictions too?! Anyone no the scoop there?

[Reza]

Jets are shut down in Prado but planes are fine. It's a nice field, clean and wide open. Any news on any progress with regards to OCMA replacement? For now I think Prado and Riverside are the better options.