Model plane pilots lobby for a place in the sky above parks

With few options, owners of model planes want a share of a major park. The odds are uncertain.

By DYLAN PEERS MCCOY  Special to the Star Tribune

It was a neighbor who sparked Loren Temple's love of radio-controlled airplanes. A few years ago, that neighbor gave Temple a model plane kit. Ever since, the 17-year-old Shakopee native has been an enthusiast, spending his free time building and flying radio-controlled planes. But the field where he used to fly closed last year, and his flying club needs a new home.

"We have no place to fly that's close," said Temple.

After a site near Valleyfair slipped away as an option, he and others began lobbying for a new field at Cleary Lake Region Park. But the group is waging an uphill battle.

Cleary Lake is owned by the Three Rivers Parks District, which bans radio-controlled airplanes. And the Three Rivers staff has recommended against the flying field.

The pilots did recently win the support of the Scott County Parks Advisory Commission, however. And they still hope to persuade the board of the Three Rivers district, based in Hennepin County, to allow the field.

Temple is a member of the Minnesota Valley Radio Control Club. Until this year, the club was allowed to maintain a flying field at a privately owned site across the street from Valleyfair in Shakopee. But when the property was sold, the new owners said the club could no longer use the field.

"This year because I don't have the Shakopee field, I haven't done half the flying I did being able to fly down by Valleyfair," said Temple. "I just hope that we're able to work something out and have a park here."

Since the Shakopee field closed last year, the closest field for most members of the Minnesota Valley R/C Club — which has fliers from across the southwest metro — is in Jordan. Many members consider that too far for regular use. And, pilots say, the Jordan field often closes because it's prone to flooding.

On a recent evening, dozens of men bearing model airplanes crowded around the entrance of the Scott County Government Center. They were there in force to show the county's Parks Advisory Commission their support for a flying field at Cleary Lake.

The meeting did not look promising at first.

"The mission of Three Rivers Park District is to promote environmental stewardship through recreation and education in a natural resources-based park system," McDowell said. "We are different from municipal park systems. As we continue to discuss this, things that are entirely appropriate in a municipal park system might not be determined to be as appropriate in a special park district."

Cleary Lake allows other recreational activities that are not obviously suited to a natural resource-based park — like golf, and limited snowmobiling.

But McDowell said the park district works hard to ensure that those activities also promote environmental stewardship.

For example, there is modeling going on for maintaining an environmentally friendly golf course.

Three Rivers staff also raised concerns about the impact the planes might have on nesting birds in the area, McDowell said. They were particularly concerned that birds might perceive the planes as predators.

"Over the years I've seen so many cases of birds ignoring the airplanes that it's never been a concern at all," Redig said.

Smaller, more vulnerable birds tend to nest in the center of the trees. When it comes to canopy nesters, such as red-tailed hawks, he added, "the only thing they really react to is direct incursions into the nest, something climbing the tree and getting into the nest, like a raccoon."

As the meeting with the Scott County Parks Advisory Commission continued, model plane pilots stood up one by one to talk about how they got into radio-controlled planes and why they believe the field would benefit the park as well as the fliers.

"We have a strong demand for land in our area and clubs are unable to secure replacement parks," said Joe Niedermayr, who noted that in addition to the Shakopee field, the field in Rosemount was recently forced to close.

Over the past many years, the Minnesota Valley R/C Club has made several attempts to purchase land. But the group has been rebuffed. Flying fields typically require several acres of land in an undeveloped area and a special permit from the municipal government.

Other model plane pilots said that building a flying field would attract new visitors to the park, and that the hobby helps young people develop design, engineering and flying skills.

Bill Douglas, a retired pilot who flew with the Navy and as a commercial pilot for Northwest Airlines, said he first got into flying when he flew model airplanes as a boy.

"From an educational standpoint alone for the young people in our community, this flying field deserves a lot of consideration," said Douglas, who lives in Lakeville. "Introducing them to a field they might be interested in as a career would benefit the whole community financially in the future."

The crowd of supporters made an impression on the Parks Advisory Commission.

"This is certainly the most passionate group and largest group I've seen of any recreational sport come here," said Commissioner Kristin French. Although the flying field may only be used by a small group of people, she said, "I do want to give recognition that it's a passionate group that would be using parks."

"I see a need for mentoring, for young people to be introduced to math, to physics, to design to engineering, and I just see a super opportunity out here to do that with your group and involve them outside at the park," said Commissioner Kathy Gerlach. "If some of them wander away from the airplanes and head over to look at turtles and snakes and that sort of thing, that's good too."

Winning the support of the Scott County group was just one step in a long process the model plane pilots must pursue.

Cleary Lake is owned by the Hennepin-based park district and jointly operated with Scott County. Because Three Rivers owns the park, the Three Rivers Board of Commissioners will ultimately decide whether to build a model airplane flying field there.

Before the Three Rivers board reviews the proposal, the park staff will develop a more detailed analysis of the site, said Scott County parks manager Mark Themig. They will also investigate other potential sites.

"If for some reason Cleary doesn't appear to be the best site, we would provide the Parks Advisory Commission an update on alternative sites," Themig said.

The Three Rivers board will consider the proposal this winter. If it approves the flying field, the earliest it would open would be in the spring of 2015.

For now, Loran Temple, who started mowing neighborhood lawns to help pay for his model planes, may have to focus on his landscaping business while his club looks for a new flying field.

"Spring of this year, we registered the business with the state of Minnesota because he's mowing so many lawns right now," said his father, Tom Temple. "So Scott County and the state of Minnesota got a business out of it. I've got an ambitious young son. And I can't even tell you how many grandpas he's gotten out of the deal."

Dylan Peers McCoy is a Twin Cities freelance writer.