The St. George City Council approved the city’s noncommercial hangar-pad licensing policy with amendments intended to balance general aviation demand, financing concerns and airport infrastructure needs.

The policy, crafted after public meetings with the Southern Utah Aviation Association and outside aviation counsel, sets application and deposit requirements, sublicense fees and usage rules needed to open a wait list for hangar pads. Key financial provisions include a $500 nonrefundable application fee, a refundable deposit requirement reduced to $1,000 (down from $3,500), and flat sublease fees of $50 per month for fully enclosed hangars and $25 per month for shade hangars.

Council debate centered on three topics: protecting aeronautical use of hangars without unduly burdening aircraft builders who may take years to construct experimental aircraft; how to fund a 70-foot-wide west taxiway (the city needs additional funds to expand and maintain that infrastructure); and whether the city’s policy language should remain broad or leave some items to the individual license/lease agreements. Legal counsel and outside aviation experts told the council that requiring aircraft airworthiness documentation is within FAA concerns and that a two-year completion standard is industry standard, but the council amended that period.

The approved motion, moved by Steve Kemp and seconded by Jimmy Hughes, included two substantive changes to staff recommendations: extending the completion window from two years to three years (section 3.6.0.1) and specifying that a based aircraft stored in a hangar must occupy it at least 14 days in any 12-month period (section 3.6.0.2); staff also clarified that extensions can be requested. The ordinance passed 4–1.

Supporters said the policy is a necessary administrative framework to start a wait list and to fund long-term taxiway improvements by applying transactional fees rather than dramatically raising annual land-license payments. Opponents and some aviators pressed for simpler language and fewer administrative triggers that could require builders to periodically “check in” with city staff while building aircraft.