AEDAB Topics Relevant to Airpark Homeowners
Jennifer Webb
Braun Mincher
Dear Ms. Webb and Members of the Airport Economic Development Advisory Board,
Thank you for Ms. Webb’s email yesterday, included below, regarding AEDAB’s invitation for community input. In light of that invitation, I am providing the following input directly for the Board’s consideration.
I am writing as an Erie Air Park property owner and directly impacted stakeholder regarding the proposed through-the-fence (“TTF”) fee structure currently under consideration by the Town.
This correspondence is intended to (i) consolidate prior input previously provided to the Town and AEDAB, (ii) incorporate observations based on recent Board discussions, and (iii) respectfully request that this submission be included in the AEDAB meeting packet and entered into the official administrative record as the process moves forward.
I am copying the Town Clerk as well, with the request that this submission be included in the Town’s official administrative record relating to the proposed TTF fee structure.
I recognize that AEDAB’s role is advisory and that final policy decisions, if any, will ultimately rest with Town Council.
For reference, I previously submitted detailed communications to the Town on February 17, 2026 and April 3, 2026 outlining legal, financial, and procedural considerations associated with the proposal. For convenience, I am attaching copies here again, along with a copy of the Airport Update Presentation made by Town staff on February 17, 2026.
Independence of Submission
This submission is provided independently for direct consideration by AEDAB and is not conveyed through or limited by any homeowners association representation.
Additional Material for Awareness (Attached)
For completeness of the record, I am attaching a memorandum that was recently circulated by an anonymous sender under the name “Erie Taxpayers.”
I do not have any knowledge of the author’s identity, and I am not in a position to verify or adopt the specific claims or conclusions contained in that memorandum. However, given that it has been broadly distributed to Town officials and stakeholders and appears to reflect a detailed review of the issue, I wanted to ensure the Board is aware of it and has access to it.
My comments below are independent of that memorandum and are based on my own review of publicly available materials and AEDAB discussions. I am not coordinating with or submitting this correspondence in concert with the sender.
Prior Materials Already Before the Board
As reflected in AEDAB materials, a legal white paper addressing Erie Air Park easement rights has already been provided to the Board. That material raises significant issues, including:
- Enforceability of existing easement rights
- Potential constitutional implications
- FAA-related considerations tied to TTF access
Given that these issues are already part of the record, clarification as to how they are being incorporated into the evaluation of the proposed fee structure would be helpful.
Clarifications Based on April 16 AEDAB Discussion
Based on the April 16 AEDAB meeting, several points appear directly relevant:
- Concerns regarding potential litigation risk and FAA compliance exposure
- Discussion of whether the recommendation should be reconsidered or modified as it applies to Airpark residents
- Acknowledgment that AEDAB relies on Town staff and legal counsel for analysis
- Recognition that certain legal and policy questions remain unresolved
- Variability in financial assumptions, including differing deficit figures
In light of these statements, clarification as to how these issues are being addressed prior to further advancement of the proposal would be appreciated.
Key Issues for Consideration
Based on both prior correspondence and recent discussion, several areas appear to warrant careful evaluation:
1. Financial Model Clarity
- Consistency of deficit figures and underlying assumptions
- Transparency of methodology used to evaluate “revenue neutrality”
Public Town materials, including the February 17, 2026 airport presentation, appear to rely on a specific revenue model and deficit analysis in support of the proposed fee restructuring, which further underscores the importance of transparency regarding assumptions and methodology.
The February 17, 2026 staff presentation reflected a modeled increase in fee and rent revenues from approximately $141,367 to $385,129 and a reduction in the stated annual net impact from approximately $(272,677) to $(28,915); however, as noted in my April 3, 2026 follow-up correspondence, subsequent public discussion appears to reflect a recurring general fund operating subsidy of approximately $168,000, which further underscores the importance of transparency regarding the assumptions and methodology underlying the Town’s financial model.
2. Legal and Property Rights Considerations
- Interaction between proposed fees and existing easement rights
- Potential constitutional considerations
3. FAA / Grant Assurance Considerations
- Whether FAA coordination has occurred
- Potential exposure to Part 13 or related compliance concerns
4. Equity Across Airport Users
- Comparative treatment of residential TTF users versus other airport users
- Interaction with property taxes and existing obligations
5. Enforcement Framework
- Legal authority and mechanism if fees are not paid
The same presentation also reflects that new hangar development was already being actively pursued, which reinforces the importance of incorporating reasonably foreseeable hangar-related revenue into any long-term airport financial analysis.
Relatedly, previously circulated consultant materials appear to contemplate a homeowners/property owners association structure for residential TTF properties, which makes clarity regarding any such governance concept especially important.
Process Transparency and Accessibility
In attempting to review publicly available materials, certain AEDAB resources appear difficult to access, including non-functional links and limited availability of agendas and minutes.
Additionally, AEDAB meetings appear to be conducted in person without remote participation options, despite recordings being made available afterward.
Given the significance of the proposed TTF fee structure and its direct impact on a defined group of stakeholders, improved accessibility, whether through clearer materials or participation options, may support more effective community engagement.
Prudence in Advancement of the Proposal
Given the number of unresolved legal, financial, and procedural questions reflected in both the existing public record and recent AEDAB discussion, it would be prudent for any further advancement of the proposed residential TTF fee structure to await reconciliation of the underlying record and completion of the Town’s legal and regulatory review.
Requested Actions
In the interest of supporting a well-informed process, I respectfully request:
- That this submission, together with the attached memorandum referenced above, be included in the AEDAB meeting packet and entered into the official administrative record for any future Council consideration of this issue;
- Clarification as to how existing legal materials and recent discussion points are being incorporated into the evaluation; and
- Availability, to the extent appropriate, of:
- Financial modeling assumptions
- Legal analysis
- FAA coordination status
- Enforcement framework
Closing
I appreciate the time and consideration of AEDAB, Town Council, and staff on these issues. As a local resident and stakeholder, I am available as a resource if helpful and would be glad to provide any supporting materials referenced above.
Thank you for your continued work on this matter.
Respectfully,
Braun Mincher
2520 Cessna Drive
Braun Mincher
Dear Chair and Members of the Airport Economic Development Advisory Board,
I am writing in advance of the June 18, 2026 AEDAB meeting regarding the continued discussion of the Erie Municipal Airport / Erie Air Park through-the-fence fee proposal and related agenda items.
I am submitting these comments in my individual capacity as an Erie Air Park homeowner, aircraft owner, pilot, and directly affected stakeholder. I am not writing on behalf of the organization styled as the Erie Air Park HOA, the Erie Air Park homeowner group, or any other organization.
Please include this correspondence, together with the attached prior correspondence and supporting materials, in the June 18 AEDAB meeting packet if feasible, and in any event in the permanent meeting record and minutes for the June 18 meeting. I also respectfully request that the minutes reflect receipt of this written submission and identify the attached materials as part of the record. If this submission cannot be included in the packet before the meeting, I respectfully request that it still be circulated to AEDAB members before discussion of the resident TTF fee agenda items, if feasible, and preserved as written public comment for the June 18 meeting.
I am copying the Town Clerk, Town Council, Town staff, and the Erie Air Park homeowner Google Group so that the same comments are available to AEDAB, the affected neighborhood, and the broader public record.
I appreciate that the published June 18 agenda includes several important items, including the agenda item described as the Airpark HOA presentation, Jennifer Webb’s motion to rescind the resident TTF fee recommendation, the 2027 budget request, the annual presentation to Town Council, the draft AEDAB bylaws, and the 2027/2028 work plan. Because these items are interrelated, I respectfully offer the following supplemental comments.
By way of background, I previously submitted detailed correspondence to the Mayor, Town Council, Town staff, and AEDAB members on February 17, 2026, raising legal, financial, FAA, property-rights, and procedural concerns regarding the proposed TTF fee restructuring. I also submitted an April 3, 2026 follow-up regarding the apparent difference between the previously referenced $272,677 airport deficit figure and the materially lower recurring General Fund subsidy figure later discussed publicly. In addition, I submitted written comments in April through the Erie Air Park homeowner Google Group thread after Ms. Webb invited homeowner input regarding AEDAB’s request for an HOA presentation.
This email is intended to consolidate those prior public-record concerns, supplement the record in advance of the June 18 AEDAB meeting, and request that these issues be affirmatively reflected in the Board’s minutes and permanent record.
First, I support AEDAB’s review of Ms. Webb’s motion to rescind the resident TTF fee recommendation, or at minimum to withdraw or defer that portion of the prior recommendation until the Town has completed a clearer legal, financial, FAA, and procedural review.
As stated in my prior correspondence, I do not oppose a financially sustainable airport or fair, lawful, and properly documented user fees. I support Erie Municipal Airport and want it to remain successful. My concern is that the resident TTF fee proposal appears to have advanced before several threshold issues were resolved, including:
- the actual airport funding target the Town is trying to meet;
- whether the claimed deficit is a recurring operating shortfall, a broader enterprise accounting number, a capital-related figure, or something else;
- how future hangar development revenue, ground leases, fuel flowage, FBO revenue, and other airport revenue streams are being incorporated;
- whether property-tax-supported costs are being separated from enterprise-specific airport costs;
- whether affected residential properties have been accurately identified and categorized;
- whether comparable on-airport users have been identified for FAA-consistency purposes;
- how existing recorded easement rights are being evaluated;
- whether the 1987 Easement has been analyzed through a current legal opinion;
- what legal authority and governance structure would support any future taxiway or property-owners association;
- how any fee would actually be billed, collected, disputed, enforced, and administered; and
- whether affected homeowners have received adequate direct notice and opportunity to be heard.
Second, I respectfully request that the Board be careful not to treat the Airpark HOA presentation as a substitute for direct homeowner input.
To avoid misunderstanding, I use “HOA” only as shorthand for the voluntary or informal organization commonly referred to as the “Erie Air Park HOA.” To my knowledge, that entity is not a mandatory Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act homeowner’s association with any authority to bind all Erie Air Park property owners on matters involving individual property rights, easement rights, airport access, municipal fee obligations, or potential future taxiway governance.
I appreciate any neighbor or community representative who is willing to engage with AEDAB and the Town. However, that organization does not speak for me, and I do not believe it should be treated as the sole or binding representative of Erie Air Park property owners on matters affecting individual rights or obligations. Nor should it be treated as an authorized agent for all affected property owners absent clear evidence that those owners have expressly granted it that authority.
I appreciate that Ms. Webb previously posted to the Erie Air Park homeowner Google Group inviting homeowner input regarding AEDAB’s invitation for an HOA presentation. I also responded in that same thread and copied AEDAB, Town Council, Town staff, and other stakeholders with written comments for the Board’s consideration.
That said, the Google Group outreach appears to have had limited reach, and I am not aware of any broader follow-up outreach to affected record owners in advance of the June 18 meeting. Given the significance of the issues being discussed, including residential TTF fees, recorded access rights, potential airport funding assumptions, future budget planning, and future work-plan priorities, I respectfully suggest that AEDAB and the Town not rely solely on Google Group or informal organization-channel communications or an HOA presentation as a substitute for direct notice and meaningful input from affected homeowners.
I also respectfully request that the June 18 meeting record reflect receipt of my April written comments, my prior February 17 and April 3 correspondence, and this supplemental submission, and that these materials be preserved as part of the public record for the resident TTF fee discussion.
Third, the 2012 White Paper now attached to the June 18 agenda reinforces the need for caution. That White Paper addresses historical Erie Air Park through-the-fence easement issues and concludes that the easement remains significant. Whether or not the Town agrees with every conclusion in that document, its inclusion on the agenda confirms that legal uncertainty remains part of the discussion. AEDAB should not treat that uncertainty as resolved unless and until the Town obtains and publicly discloses a current legal analysis addressing the 1987 Easement, the affected properties, and the Town’s authority to impose new or restructured residential access charges.
Fourth, I continue to believe the Town should first define the airport funding target before debating fee mechanics. The February 17 airport presentation referenced a current annual net impact of approximately $272,677, while later public discussion suggested a materially different recurring General Fund subsidy figure. That distinction matters. A fee structure cannot be evaluated fairly unless the Board and the public know what amount is actually being recovered, why that amount is needed, and which costs are included.
Before AEDAB makes or renews any fee recommendation, I respectfully suggest that it request a written staff reconciliation showing:
- recurring airport operating expenses;
- recurring airport operating revenues;
- capital expenses and grant-match obligations separately stated;
- administrative overhead and indirect Town costs separately stated;
- any General Fund transfers or interfund amounts separately stated;
- existing revenue from on-airport tenants, hangars, tie-downs, fuel flowage, FBO operations, commercial users, and residential TTF users;
- anticipated future revenues from hangar development or related airport projects; and
- the specific annual revenue target any new fee structure is intended to achieve.
Fifth, the proposed structure should be evaluated under a transparent cost-of-service and comparability framework. If the Town believes residential TTF users should contribute to airport costs, the Town should clearly identify what costs are being recovered from those users, how those costs were calculated, and how those charges compare to similarly situated on-airport users.
That analysis should account for distinctions among affected properties. Direct runway/taxiway lots, inland deeded-access lots, vacant lots, homes with hangars, homes without aircraft, active aircraft users, and non-aircraft-owning access properties may not all be similarly situated. If they are treated the same, the Town should explain why. If they are treated differently, the Town should explain the basis for those classifications.
Sixth, the proposal should account for property taxes and avoid double recovery. Erie Air Park homeowners already pay property taxes, a portion of which supports the Town. To the extent airport-related administrative, public-safety, infrastructure, or overhead costs are already supported by general revenues, the Town should clearly explain how any new access fee avoids duplicative recovery.
Seventh, the Town should reconcile the affected-property count. Prior materials appear to reference a limited number of residential TTF properties, but my review of plats, easements, and Air Park lot configurations suggests the access-property universe may be more complex. If access-based fees are being structured around property counts, those counts should be documented, publicly verified, and tied to the applicable recorded property rights.
Eighth, the consultant concept of a residential taxiway or property-owners association requires careful legal and practical review. Publicly available prior airport planning materials appear to contemplate a structure under which residential Air Park properties might form an association to collect TTF fees and remit a single payment to the Town. While that may have been intended as an administrative simplification, it raises threshold questions:
- Who would create the association?
- Who would be required to participate?
- What legal authority would compel participation?
- Would the entity be voluntary or mandatory?
- How would directors be selected?
- What authority would the Town retain?
- What statutory framework would govern the entity?
- What enforcement rights would exist if a property owner refused to pay?
- How would existing easements and private taxiway obligations be handled?
- Would such an entity create new CCIOA, municipal-authority, or property-rights issues?
Those questions should be resolved before any recommendation assumes that a homeowner or taxiway association is a workable collection or governance mechanism.
Ninth, I urge AEDAB and the Town to avoid any fee methodology that relies on ADS-B or similar flight-tracking data to impose landing fees, touch-and-go fees, or airspace-radius-based charges.
ADS-B is fundamentally a safety and situational-awareness technology. Using it as an automated billing platform raises separate legal, policy, privacy, implementation, and public-trust concerns that should not be casually folded into the residential TTF discussion. Any proposal using ADS-B, flight-tracking data, or automated aircraft movement data for billing should receive separate legal, policy, FAA, and public review before being considered.
That does not mean the Town cannot consider fair and reasonable airport fees. It means that ADS-B-based billing should be treated as a separate and highly sensitive policy issue.
Tenth, if AEDAB discusses the 2027 budget request, I respectfully request that any assumed revenue from new or increased residential TTF fees be separately identified as provisional and not treated as adopted policy. Budget planning should not create pressure to adopt a fee structure before the legal, financial, FAA, and procedural issues are resolved.
Eleventh, if AEDAB prepares its annual presentation to Town Council, I respectfully request that the presentation include not only the Board’s prior recommendation, but also the unresolved resident concerns that have been raised in writing. Council should be advised that the resident TTF recommendation remains disputed and that affected homeowners have raised issues regarding easement rights, FAA compliance, cost-of-service methodology, access-property counts, HOA representation, public outreach, property-tax overlap, enforcement mechanics, and fee administration.
Twelfth, as AEDAB reviews its draft bylaws and 2027/2028 work plan, I encourage the Board to include a formal community engagement process for airport matters affecting Erie Air Park residents and other affected stakeholders. At minimum, that process should include:
- direct written notice to affected property owners before recommendations affecting access rights or fees are advanced;
- a clear written-comment procedure;
- remote or hybrid participation options where feasible;
- a process for acknowledging written submissions in meeting minutes;
- public posting of materials sufficiently in advance of meetings;
- coordination with the Town Clerk to preserve the administrative record; and
- a standing work-plan item for residential TTF access, airport-neighborhood relations, taxiway coordination, and FAA compliance.
Finally, I am unable to attend the June 18 meeting in person. As I have noted before, it is unfortunate that AEDAB meetings appear to remain in-person only, without a practical remote participation option. These issues directly affect many homeowners, pilots, and property owners, and a remote or hybrid option would likely increase participation by residents who cannot attend in person on a weekday evening. I encourage AEDAB to consider remote participation, written comment procedures, and broader outreach as part of its bylaws, work plan, and community engagement efforts.
Erie Municipal Airport and Erie Air Park have a long and unusual relationship. Residential and commercial through-the-fence access is not an incidental issue at this airport; it is one of the defining features of the airport’s history, planning, and long-term relationship with the surrounding neighborhood. That relationship deserves a deliberate, transparent, and legally defensible process.
I respectfully request that AEDAB rescind or defer the resident TTF fee recommendation unless and until the Town has completed the necessary legal, financial, FAA, and procedural work; broaden resident outreach beyond the HOA presentation; avoid treating any voluntary Air Park organization as the binding representative of all affected property owners; and ensure that all written stakeholder submissions are preserved in the public record.
Respectfully,
Braun A. Mincher
2520 Cessna Drive
Erie, Colorado 80516
Office: (970) 212-7201
E-Fax: (970) 224-4999
Email: Br...@BraunMincher.com
Attachments:
- February 17, 2026 correspondence regarding Erie Airport TTF Increased Fee Proposal #2026-119
- April 3, 2026 follow-up regarding airport deficit clarification
- April 22, 2026 homeowner / AEDAB correspondence regarding TTF fee issues (Below)
- February 17, 2026 Town airport presentation materials
- 2012 Frascona legal opinion / White Paper regarding Erie Air Park through-the-fence access