Grand Prairie tenants urge council to pause airport hangar enforcement, preserve records

Several Grand Prairie airport hangar tenants told the City Council they had been issued 'cure or vacate' letters demanding removal of subtenants within 30 days and said the airport director changed lease terms administratively rather than through council action.

Carl Jenkins, a long-time tenant, said the changes "traced back to 2018" and that he was concerned staff were enforcing new restrictions selectively rather than via an adopted policy. Jenkins asked the council to "halt the current enforcement actions initiated by the airport director until the pending part 16 matter, it's FAA matter, is resolved, and to preserve all communications" related to hangar leasing so they can be reviewed.

Chris Smith, who described himself as a nonresident pilot who pays taxes in Grand Prairie, said the airport supports local mechanics and charitable flights and criticized the manager's "new interpretation of the rules," calling the denial of informal aircraft lending and reimbursed fuel "just asinine, frankly." He warned that forcing tenants out could reduce airport-derived income and harm community services such as angel flights for patients.

Carl Walker and Chance DePasquale expanded the governance concern: both said lease rights have been altered administratively without public process and urged council oversight to avoid conflicts with federal grant obligations and FAA rules. Walker told the council the city attorney acknowledged the changes were made administratively and asked that future lease or policy changes be approved by the governing body.

Tenants repeatedly asked the council to rescind eviction notices for Porta/portable-hangar tenants until the FAA Part 16 complaint is resolved and to preserve records, emails, meeting minutes and lease files for review. City staff responses in the meeting were limited to acknowledgments (for example, the clerk said, "Your point's taken"). No formal council action to pause enforcement or to request records preservation was recorded in the meeting minutes provided.

The transcript uses the terms "Porta Port" and "Port Au Port" interchangeably when referring to the portable hangars; tenants said the letters were selective in distribution. The concerned tenants said the alleged unilateral administrative changes could expose the city to contractual and federal compliance risk without council-approved policy changes.

Next steps were not set on the record. Tenants asked the council to consider rescinding eviction notices and initiating a council-level review; several residents said they had filed or would pursue FAA Part 16 procedures to resolve the dispute.