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Commission to hold hearing on amendment restricting private heliports in R‑1 residential zone after neighbor complaints
Summary
Following neighbor complaints and test helicopter landings near My Farm Road, the Planning Commission voted to forward amendments that would remove private heliports as a permitted use in R‑1 and require special exception in A‑2.
The Lancaster County Planning Commission voted in October 2025 to forward proposed zoning changes to a November public hearing that would remove private heliports as a permitted use in the R‑1 residential district and make private heliports permissible only in A‑2 agricultural districts with a special exception.
County planner Crystal Hall told commissioners the changes respond to complaints presented to the Board of Supervisors about a commercial helicopter company conducting test landings on private property off My Farm Road. Hall said the owner of the property was not a helicopter pilot and that the operation was a commercial service that had considered using residential property as a pickup point. Neighbors complained repeatedly after the test landings.
Hall said the proposed ordinance language clarifies an ambiguity in the current code by changing wording from “operated by the property owner” to “piloted by the property owner” and by removing private heliports from the R‑1 list of permissible uses so they would only be allowed in A‑2 with a special exception. She told the commission that those changes follow the Board of Supervisors’ request to reevaluate the code.
Commissioners described the proposed change as a straightforward tightening of language to prevent commercial helicopter operations in residential districts. Commissioners also discussed that an appeal of an administrator’s notice of violation in the matter is pending; Hall said the notice of violation has been appealed to the Board of Zoning Appeals and that how that appeal proceeds would be subject to the county attorney’s guidance.
Commissioners voted to forward the proposed amendments to the November meeting for a public hearing. Commissioners clarified that the amendment would not affect emergency medical helicopter landings.
What’s next: staff will present the amended definition and R‑1 language at the November public hearing and return a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors.
