Wolf Air Park asks Manville to pursue de‑annexation to ease hangar permitting

Representatives of Wolf Air Park asked the City of Manville to explore de‑annexing the neighborhood, arguing the community effectively self‑operates private water, private roads and many services and that recent city building-code updates (notably a 5,000-sq-ft sprinkler/monitoring threshold) make hangar and home construction costlier and more complex.

Chad Toomin, Brian Jones and other air park leaders told council that the neighborhood straddles city limits and county ETJ lines, which produces inconsistencies within short distances. They said the community has invested in a regional detention pond (about $400,000) and maintains its own roads and water system but faces permitting obstacles for new hangars because the city’s fire-code thresholds are lower than neighboring jurisdictions.

City staff and the fire marshal explained the public-safety rationale for the current commercial-building thresholds and noted that existing unpermitted structures and recent work had generated code‑enforcement activity. The city attorney also explained state law implications: de‑annexation can trigger refunds of taxes paid while the area was in the city unless the city and property owners document that municipal expenditures met or exceeded those payments.

Council did not take a final vote to de‑annex but directed staff to pursue outreach and to return within 90 days with a status report on owner consent; staff and council noted that parallel paths — such as property-by-property variances or a targeted zoning/PUD amendment — are available while de‑annexation is pursued.