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Winnebago County approves 50-year ground lease with Valari for aviation business park
Summary
The Winnebago County Board authorized a 50-year ground lease with Valari Hangers for 47 acres at the county aviation business park after a presentation from Valari describing plans for hangars and mixed-use development and questions from supervisors about document timing, environmental protections and local hiring.
The Winnebago County Board on June 10 authorized a 50-year ground lease with Valari Hangers at Ashkosh LLC for 47 acres in the county's aviation business park, following a multi-hour presentation and board questions about timing, environmental protections and local economic impacts.
County Executive Hints introduced Valari and summarized the county's long-term investments to create the aviation business park, including a 2013 land purchase and later taxiway and engineering funding to make the site attractive to aviation-related development.
John Panfills, a Valari principal, described the company's mixed-use plan for the park — a combination of larger business hangars and smaller individual hangars — and said Valari aims to pre-sell or pre-lease roughly 80% of units before breaking ground. When asked about scale, Panfills said private investment for the overall project would be "right around $100 million." He described an approach that prioritizes local contractors where practical and noted an intent to align marketing and key announcements with the EAA AirVenture event.
Supervisors pressed Valari and county staff on details. Supervisor Buck asked how the project would employ local contractors; Panfills said the team intends to work with local engineers and builders "that already understand the environment." Supervisor Powers asked how new rents would compare to current hangar rates; Panfills said rents would be market-driven and likely materially higher than some older tin hangars, citing typical ranges from comparable projects. Supervisor Hansen and others raised governance concerns about the volume of lease documents (noting roughly 544 pages were provided on short notice) and said a 50-year lease is a weighty, long-term commitment; Hansen said the short review window made him uncomfortable but did not oppose the project.
Airport Director Jim Shell and GOEDC representative Trisha explained infrastructure issues: an existing taxiway connector and stormwater pond were installed when the park was developed and could be tied to future apron and taxiway work the developer would build inside its leased area. Shell noted the county spent about $500,000 on the taxiway connector in 2020 under a reimbursable agreement with state and federal aviation grant programs and that developers may be eligible for grant reimbursement once development occurs.
Board action: Supervisor Bender moved to authorize Winnebago County to enter into the ground lease with Valari; the motion was seconded and the board voted to approve the authorization (vote recorded as carried). County staff noted potential lease-revenue scenarios (the transcript referenced $717,000 in lease revenue to the county if the site achieves 80% leased, per the terms discussed), the city's tax-increment district (TID) remains in place to reimburse earlier infrastructure investment, and the TID is scheduled to close in 2032.
Next steps: With board authorization complete, county and developer teams will finalize lease execution and implementation tasks; supervisors and staff flagged follow-up items including environmental assessments, local-hire commitments and timing for construction and marketing.
