The Miami Valley Radio Control Club planned its first flights from the new location Saturday after being forced to leave behind a clubhouse and runway off Ohio 741 where its aircraft had soared and dipped for about 40 years, according to Robert Moorman, president of the 100-member club.
“It was heartbreaking for some of the older guys,” Moorman said. “We certainly hope it will work out and we will have a place to fly.”
Heavy equipment is parked in the driveway leading to the clubhouse and runway off Ohio 741 in anticipation of construction on the $16 million, 109-acre sports park to be financed with a 1 percent lodgings tax hike.
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Otterbein Senior Lifestyle Choices donated the sports complex land during negotiations resulting in approval of Union Village, a 1,400 acre planned community to include up to 4,500 residences, the sports park, Otterbein’s main retirement campus and a mix of other development.
“Otterbein and the Miami Valley Radio Control Club had an excellent business relationship for nearly 40 years. The club leased land at the northern end of Otterbein property, maintained it beautifully, invited Otterbein residents and partners to stop in and enjoy the activity, and even staged annual exhibitions in the Otterbein Lebanon multi-purpose room,” said Gary Horning, vice president for marketing and communications for Otterbein.
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With the sports complex donation, Otterbein planned to relocate the club on its property. However efforts failed after the Warren County Airport Board pointed out the model aircraft could be operating in their flight path and no other mutually acceptable locations were identified, officials said.
“It is unfortunate that the development of the sports park and the local airport, and required adherence to federal aviation regulations, created issues with continued operation on Otterbein property. We are pleased the mutually beneficial relationship was able to endure as long as it did, and we wish the club members the very best in the future, hopefully in a new, less restrictive, location,” Horning added in an email.
Warren County offered two locations in its park system rejected by the club “due to tree line and other spacing issues,” Martin Russell, deputy county administrator and director of county economic development and the port authority, said in an email.
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While acknowledging the lease had expired, Moorman questioned why the club was not compensated for loss of the building and runway, in which it invested about $17,000.
When told Moorman expressed disappointment at getting no compensation, Russell said, “I haven’t heard anything since” he referred Moorman to park district officials, who could not be reached.
Russell also indicated the absence of a current lease hurt any claim for compensation and referred the compensation question to Otterbein.
Moorman expressed hope the 60-year-old club would thrive at Red Stewart Airfield.
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Emerson Stewart, grandson of the namesake of the airfield off US 42, south of Ohio 73, said the club would be operating where other remote-control pilots have over the years, on the south edge of the field.
“We’ve flown model airplanes out here for years. It works fine,” Stewart said. “I’m glad to have them.”
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