Kershaw County adopts revised airport hangar rules, adds tax and economic-development conditions for abatements

Kershaw County Council voted March 25 to adopt revisions to the county airport’s hangar leasing ordinance, formalizing lease rates, adding a requirement that aircraft housed in new private hangars be registered and taxed in Kershaw County, and creating a limited rent-abatement path for projects tied to economic development.

Council members said the changes are intended to modernize an informal, aging set of arrangements at the airport, to protect the county against liability and to create incentives that could attract corporate users. The ordinance passed third reading as amended; one council member abstained on the second amendment during the meeting.

The ordinance package included two amendments the council approved before final passage. The first amendment requires aircraft that are stored in owner-built hangars on county property to be registered in Kershaw County and to have property taxes paid here; the sponsor said this ensures the county receives local tax revenue when it grants long ground leases. The second amendment reduced the proposed per-square-foot lease rate for a specific wooden hangar class to $0.14 per square foot and added two new subsections that permit case-by-case rent abatements for (1) incoming economic-development prospects meeting stated criteria and (2) existing private hangar tenants who meet economic-development requirements. Both abatements require that any qualifying aircraft be taxed in Kershaw County and set a $500,000 assessed-value threshold for aircraft to qualify for the larger abatements.

County staff explained the measure formalizes a practice in which private individuals built hangars and entered 20-year ground leases; historically, some of those agreements left gaps where lease payments were not collected after contracts expired. Under the adopted language, those legacy sites will be converted into explicit lease relationships and billed according to the new rates unless the council approves an economic-development abatement for a particular tenant.

Officials also discussed implementation details: siting and construction of owner-built hangars must meet planning, building and FAA requirements and be reviewed by county planning; the county said there are at least three discrete locations on the airfield that could accommodate multiple corporate-type hangars, with a rough estimate of 9–10 potential hangars across the sites. Lease-rate abatements, the ordinance says, are discretionary and to be applied by council on a case-by-case basis when a prospect demonstrates local economic benefits such as job creation.

During debate some council members asked about tenants who had previously built hangars and believed they had remaining abatement periods; staff and counsel said some tenants have already received multiple years of effective abatement, and that the ordinance clarifies future expectations while leaving the council authority to address individual hardship or transition cases.

The final ordinance passed on third reading as amended. Council directed staff to implement the lease forms and to work with the airport and planning staff on permitting and siting requirements.

Ending: Council members said they view the changes as a necessary modernization to protect the county, encourage airport activity and provide clearer rules for builders and tenants going forward.