Help Us Save Sussex Airport

The future of the Sussex Airport is in danger as long as Mr. Gennaro is allowed to operate an illegal storage company next to the airport. The business is being operated in violation of the township’s zoning laws.

 

On April 22nd Mr. Gennaro will appear before the Wantage Land Use Board for the fourth time, seeking a zoning change to allow him to operate a self-storage business out of his airplane hangars. If he is permitted to continue operating the storage company, it will likely mean the end of the airport and all that it contributes to residents, aeronautical enthusiasts, skydivers and the local economy.

 

THE BACKGROUND

 

Gennaro purchased the land adjacent to the airport 25 years ago under a written agreement with the previous owner of Sussex Airport. That agreement states that Mr. Gennaro was to buy the land, and build the airport’s hangar facility for the “mutual benefit” of both Sussex Airport and Mr. Gennaro. Mr. Gennaro agreed to rent out hangar space to aircraft and was given access to Sussex Airport so the aircraft can use the runway. Mr. Gennaro also agreed to pay Sussex Airport for that access to the airport. After the hangars were built however, Mr. Gennaro saw an easier and more lucrative way to make money: he rented the hangar space to anyone who wanted space, and for any purpose, regardless of the fact that his zoning approvals only permitted him to rent to individuals who stored aircraft in the hangars.

 

Despite repeated complaints and lawsuits, the town has done little but slap the wrist of its owner, Bill Gennaro, who continues to violate the law. Comments made in Township Land Use Board Resolutions going back to 2006 state that Gennaro was using the hangars for general storage purposes in violation of Township zoning twenty years ago and that illegal use is still going on today. During the course of a deposition Township Administrator, Michael Restel, testified that during an inspection in 2021 only 15 to 20 of the 52 hangars on site had airplanes in them. According to Craigslist advertisements, Mr. Gennaro was marketing the hangars for storage at a rate of $700 per month per hangar in 2021. If thirty-five hangars are being used for general storage purposes (Mr. Restel testified only 15-20 of the 52 Hangars had airplanes) then Mr. Gennaro was earning $294,000 per year on those illegally used hangars!

 

The illegal use of the hangars and the breach of the original agreement with the Airport has hurt the airport financially as well as making the airport unsafe. And because Mr. Gennaro refuses to cooperate with Sussex Airport, the airport is ineligible to receive Federal Aviation Administration Airport Improvement Program grants. Sussex Airport is the only public use airport in New Jersey that is ineligible to receive FAA Airport Improvement Program grants. The Airport’s new owner Alan Antaki has missed out on the opportunity to receive over $5 million dollars in grants from the FAA in the last 10 years. Those grants would have been used to fully repave the runway, fully repave the taxiway, create drainage for the whole airport lot (including the landing area for the skydivers), build a new terminal, and install new airport approach lighting. All that work would have meant jobs for people living in the community.

 

SAFETY IS COMPROMISED

 

Mr. Gennaro apparently has little regard for the safety of people using the airport. Here are just a few examples of his indifference to the people who use the airport for its intended purpose:

 

1. A Motorcycle repair business currently renting a building from Gennaro adjacent to Sussex Airport, tests the repaired motorcycles by drag racing them on Sussex Airport’s active runway at all hours of the day and night.

 

2. Snowmobiles we believe are being stored in Mr. Gennaro’s hangars are taken for rides by their owners over paved and unpaved areas of the airport. In the process they often run over the delicate laser guidance systems pilots use for instrument landings, knocking them out of alignment and rendering them unusable. This is a huge safety issue!

 

3. A vehicle that accessed the runway from Mr. Gennaro’s lot drag raced down the runway one night and crashed into the back side of the guard rail of route 639 on the north side of the airport. The driver was drunk and fortunately the back of the guard rail kept the driver from hitting innocent drivers on Route 639.

 

4. Gennaro’s property is considered an aircraft movement area. Families using and visiting Mr. Gennaro’s storage facility are unaware of the dangers to their children being in close proximity to running airplanes with propellers spinning.

 

5. Tenants keep toy drones and model airplanes in Gennaro’s hangars. Gennaro has tried to argue that this satisfies his agreement to rent to aviation tenants. The Wantage Township Municipal Court, New Jersey Superior Court and New Jersey Appellate Division rejected this argument. According to a 2020 Appellate Court decision "...there is no question that the storage of the drones or toy airplanes here was entirely accessory to and subsumed by the hangars' use for general storage." The municipal court also found, WPF (When Pigs Fly) "[e]ffectively made a 'farce' of the zoning ordinances …by 'arranging' to have unboxed . . . drones or other model aircrafts stored amongst . . . the clutter."

 

These and dozens of similar safety issues and antics by Mr. Gennaro and his tenants have made it inconceivable for the current owner of Sussex Airport to bring back the annual Sussex Air Show.

 

THE EASTER BUNNY JUMP

 

Because of Mr. Gennaro’s disregard for safety and Township zoning laws Mr. Antaki cancelled the annual Easter Bunny Jump at the airport for the past several years.

 

At the event in the past, the Easter Bunny parachutes onto the airport to kick off an egg hunt where over 6,000 eggs are put out for children of all ages. The event is funded entirely by Mr. Antaki, and opened free of charge to the public. For obvious safety reasons, the airport is closed during the event and the NJ State Police are hired for security.

 

However, the day before the 2019 Easter Bunny event (while Mr. Antaki was setting up the egg hunt location), a tenant and guest of Mr. Gennaro’s storage facility drove 2 pickup trucks and a trailer from their hangar, past 2 warning signs and onto the runway. They then proceeded to drive almost 1,000 feet down the active runway before exiting the runway onto the airport’s ramp. Mr. Antaki approached the trucks while contacting the NJ State Police asking them to come and investigate why these drivers chose to break the rules and endanger the flying public. The drivers refused to wait, and one of them assaulted Mr. Antaki by hitting Mr. Antaki numerous times with his truck until Antaki had to jump out of the way for fear of being run over by the pickup truck!

 

The entire incident was captured on video. Antaki pressed charges. In court however, the driver was let go.

 

What Can YOU do to Help Sussex Airport Survive?

 

On April 22nd at the Wantage Zoning Committee meeting, Mr. Gennaro and his attorney George Daggett will try for the FOURTH time to obtain a variance to legalize his self-storage operation. If the Land Use Board grants Mr. Gennaro’s wish, the public will be at significant risk as there should never be a circumstance where individual renters and potentially children are in the same vicinity of moving aircraft. Moreover, the airport will become permanently financially restrained, as it will forever lose eligibility for grants from the FAA, along with the revenue that it is supposed to receive from airplane users renting the hangars. Without those FAA grants and revenue the airport will no longer be commercially viable and may have to close orbe developed for some other purpose.

 

We hope you will come to the Land Use Board meeting and ask that the Land Use Board deny Mr. Gennaro’s zoning variance application. We also urge you to communicate your concerns about the safety issues Mr. Gennaro has created at the airport and demand that Wantage Township work immediately to aggressively correct them.

 

Having an airport in Wantage that serves the community and all of Sussex County is a unique asset. Let’s work together to keep that asset here to help it grow and prosper. After all – there are several storage facilities in Wantage Township – But only ONE airport.