Update: Controversial airstrip near Stanley can stay. Opponents find ‘silver linings’
UPDATE: (Aug. 31, 2021): The Custer County Commission voted on Wednesday to uphold a conditional use permit for a controversial airstrip near Stanley. The airstrip, owned by Clearwater Analytics co-founder Michael Boren, was first approved in May.
For months the airstrip has been a source of tension between Boren and his neighbors, who say Boren’s frequent helicopter and airplane flights from the property are disruptive and violate the rules of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area where his Hell Roaring Ranch property is located.
The three-person commission voted unanimously to uphold the permit. Todd Cranney, spokesperson for the Boren family, thanked the commission in a statement emailed to the Idaho Statesman. Cranney also thanked community members and organizations like the Idaho Farm Bureau, Idaho Aviation Association and Idaho Recreation Council for supporting Boren.
“This process has reaffirmed our faith in the good judgment of the people of Custer County and the belief in private property rights and our Idaho way of life,” Cranney said.
A group of Stanley-area residents who appealed the permit in July said in a statement that they were “deeply disappointed” by the decision. The group initially called itself Friends of the SNRA but had to change names to Advocates for the Sawtooth NRA after Boren registered the Friends of the SNRA moniker with the Idaho Secretary of State, according to the Daily Beast.
In a statement, Advocates said they saw two silver linings in the decision on the permit.
“The first is that Boren now knows — without a doubt — that his flights have been disruptive to his neighbors,” the group said. “Boren testified repeatedly at the hearing that he wants to be a good neighbor and that he is a good person from a good family. His nearby neighbors plan to reach out to him so he can make good on his word and keep his airstrip as low impact as possible.”
The group also said it’s pleased that the Forest Service requested Boren provide “all federal permitting documentation relating to his property and airport.” The group has alleged that Boren flouted Federal Aviation Administration and Environmental Protection Agency regulations with the airstrip.
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A group of Custer County residents has filed an appeal with the county, asking officials to reconsider the approval of a controversial airstrip on a property near Stanley owned by one of the co-owners of Boise-based Clearwater Analytics.
The newly formed group, Friends of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, filed a petition in mid-June asking Custer County Planning and Zoning and county commissioners to review a conditional use permit approved in May for a private airstrip on a ranch owned by Michael Boren. The group alleges that Boren did not comply with rules and regulations on the local, state and federal level.
Boren’s permit application drew some criticism this spring, with neighbors at odds with his characterization of the airstrip.
Boren told Custer County officials that he uses a pasture on his property to fly small personal aircraft for ranching tasks at properties around Idaho. In his application, he said his use of the airstrip constitutes only a few flights per week. Todd Cranney, a spokesperson for Boren, told the Idaho Statesman that Boren wanted the area to be designated an official airstrip so other pilots could use it in the event of an emergency.
But neighbors and local emergency responders pushed back, saying Boren’s flights are far more frequent and disruptive than he indicated, and don’t appear to be ranch-related in nature. His property, located 15 miles south of Stanley, is also not an ideal place for air ambulance, search and rescue or other emergency landings, first responders said.
The appeal again raises concerns that the planning and zoning committee did not consider the impact of Boren’s flights on neighbors. It also alleges that Boren did not have a proper FAA aeronautical study conducted for the site, that fuel storage at the ranch does not comply with Clean Water Act rules and that Boren does not comply with the Forest Service’s scenic easement on the property.
Hell Roaring Ranch, along with much of Stanley, is within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and is subject to Forest Service regulations as such. A scenic easement was placed on Boren’s property in the 1970s and extended in perpetuity.
The appeal also claims that Boren’s conditional use permit does not comply with Custer County Planning and Zoning codes or the county’s comprehensive plan for private property.
“(The airstrip permitting) opened up some real concerns as far as how is the county being accountable to themselves. They should be following their own ordinances and regulations,” said Stewart Wilder, a Stanley resident, in an interview. Wilder is part of Friends of the SNRA on behalf of the family of Idaho’s first nurse practitioner, Marie Osborn.
Cranney, Boren’s spokesperson, said in an emailed statement that the appeal retreads concerns that have already been addressed or disproved.
“The Custer County Planning and Zoning Commission has already reviewed the application thoroughly and rightly approved it, and there is no basis for an appeal,” Cranney wrote. “The appeal contains no new information that Custer County hasn’t already reviewed, and in fact, most of the appeal contains the same inaccurate and outright false information that has previously been proven to be wrong.”
Wilder said Friends of the SNRA would like to see the permit approval walked back entirely, but the appeal also outlines possible “meaningful safeguards and conditions” on Boren’s flights if another permit is approved in the future. Those include a moratorium on flights before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m., a limit of no more than two personal flights per week, and a requirement that flights of neighboring wilderness areas be at least 2,000 feet above ground level.
Michael Pogue, the attorney representing the group, said in a phone interview that he expects the planning and zoning commission will address the appeal at its next meeting, slated for Aug. 5.
Wilder said Friends of the SNRA will continue to be involved in other issues as the area is developed.
“It’s a long play,” Wilder said. “The landscape in the Sawtooth Valley is changing.”
Read the full appeal here:
This story was originally published July 13, 2021 at 5:19 PM.
