Commissioners Approve New Flagler Airport Business

There will be a stronger military presence at the Flagler Executive Airport soon, but the county is not being invaded.

Earlier this month county commissioners approved a ground lease agreement with Van Damme Helicopters, a company that provides specialized maintenance to commercial and military helicopters. According to a county staff report, Van Damme is a Federal Aviation Administration certified repair station currently located in Pompano Beach. With the ground lease agreement, the company is relocating to Flagler County.

“Van Damme Helicopters is a company that takes military aircraft no longer utilized and converts them into use for civilians,” said Airport Director Roy Sieger. “They are going to build a metal hangar facility to work on those helicopters.”

The company is expected to invest $1.5 million to $2 million to build the facility and will pay the county a monthly rate of $1,089 per acre.

Sieger said the company is not a flight school but there will be some flight training and flight testing at the facility. The company is expected to bring 30 jobs to the county and aims to double its current production capacity of 10 to 12 aircraft annually.

The agreement was initially part of the Commission’s consent agenda, where items are usually voted on as a group with little or no debate. The Van Damme item was pulled from the agenda by Commissioner Kim Carney, who ultimately voted against the ground lease agreement.

“I pulled this because I’m really concerned that an item this large should not be on the consent agenda,” she said. Carney added the 23-page lease agreement might be too much for residents to digest.

“The average citizen in Flagler County is not going to read 23 pages to get to the same resolution that you want us to get to,” she said. “It is just going to help the (public relations) at the airport if we disclose to the general public what we are doing.”

Commission Chair Andy Dance agreed with Carney about consent agenda items like the ground lease agreement.

“We can always have further discussions about agendas and consent items and expectations so we are all on the same page,” he said.

Several residents at the meeting expressed concerns about the potential increase in noise with the helicopter facility at the airport as well as issues with leasing space for businesses.

“We don’t know who these people are,” said resident Jane Gentile Youd. “The airport should be strictly for Flagler County. We should not be leasing anything.”

Greg Blose, former president of the Palm Coast/Flagler Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the agreement with Van Damme was good for the airport and the county.

“I think this is exactly what we’ve been asking for from the airport,” he said.

Sieger said he was “very familiar” with the company when they passed through the county to and from the Pompano Beach location.

“They always came to our airport to get fuel and lunch,” he said. “This is the kind of business we want there. We want aviation businesses at the airport.”