The Town of Huntsville is the new owner of 12 Yonge Street North, a small waterfront property with an airplane hangar it purchased for $260,000 from Tom and Sandy Hammond.
Huntsville Council instructed municipal staff to negotiate the purchase of the property located between the beach area and docks at Avery Beach.
The Hammonds approached the Town first to see if the municipality would be interested in purchasing the property.
“It’s the only piece of property we actually don’t own on the water between, basically, Centre Street and Orchard Park. There would’ve been somebody else interested in buying it and there was concern about what they might want to do with it,” explained Huntsville Mayor Karin Terziano.
Terziano said council has made a commitment to secure as much public water access as possible. “It’s also right next to the boat launch down there and we have issues with how many boat launches we have, so there may be a possibility to expand the boat launch area,” she said of the newly acquired property.
It was just a piece of property that we really felt we had to have for public access. It’s not a large piece, but it’s right in the middle of everything else we own.
~Huntsville Mayor Karin Terziano
The property had been in Tom Hammond’s family since 1963 when his father purchased it from Sid Avery who owned Huntsville Fuels. At the time, most houses were heated with coal and as a young boy Hammond, now 72, remembered a big barn in that location.
“It had a big blue coal sign on it. A lot of people in town burned coal in those years so there was a big coal depot there, on the land side of where the hangar is now,” he noted.
Hammond recalled Texaco and White Rose also had fuel tanks there. “At that time, the trains went by and they unloaded the fuel and diesel fuel and what not in the big tanks there and that’s where it was distributed from in those years. It was a fairly active place then but this lot was vacant, and coal business was falling off so Sid Avery was selling some of his stuff off so my dad bought the lot from him,” said Hammond.
A year later, in 1964, his dad, Frank Hammond, built the hangar for his personal airplane. Young Hammond shared his father’s enthusiasm for flying and learned to fly at the age of 14. “But I didn’t get my licence until I was 17 because you weren’t allowed to hold a licence,” said Hammond.
Since 1964, at least four planes have been housed in the hangar. The last one was a Piper PA-12. “It was red and yellow, many people knew it,” said Hammond. “People used to come over who lived around the bay and they would say how much they liked watching it land—they were kind of enthralled with it because they were interested in aviation that way.”
Over the years, Hammond met a lot of people who would stop in and have questions for him about the plane. “It was interesting that way for sure,” said Hammond of the people he got to meet. “I miss it already.”
Hammond said various factors played into his decision to sell the plane and hangar. Not only is he getting older but the engine of the plane required a major overhaul. “These airplanes are very expensive to maintain. They have to be overhauled every 2,000 hours and it was going to cost $40,000 to zero-time it, as they call it, or overhaul it.”
The increasing amount of boat traffic at the public boat launch also played a role in his decision to give up the hobby. “You try to fly out of there and it’s super frustrating, especially on the weekends, because it’s just nothing but boat traffic—and no one ever looks up.”
He said on occasion he’d try to land the plane several times but a boat would come out of nowhere, oblivious to the fact that there was an airplane trying to land from above. “So you make three or four tries and then you end up having to fly over to Vernon Lake and land and then taxi all the way back in,” said Hammond. “The boats also set up a terrific cross-chop in the bay because there’s so many of them and if you land in the cross-chop, it’s just going to flip you over. It just was an annoyance.”
Sometimes, people parked right in front of his hangar with their big trucks and trailers and he’d be unable to get in or out.
Then finally, the flooding last spring sealed the deal for Hammond. “We had a super big flood, as you’re well aware I’m sure, and the hangar flooded. I was in there on a dock with chest waders on and it was right up to my neck the water inside the hangar. It floated the airplane up and almost crushed it in the ceiling, and I had to sink it down and it almost got covered in water the other way, the water just went down in the nick of time,” he recalled. “It almost got wrecked and I think that’s going to become another big issue down the road because I think we’re going to see more and more of that flooding because of global warming.”
Hammond also said that he’s ready to pursue some other interests and by selling the hangar and airplane it frees up some funds to do that. He said he’s going to miss flying and the curious people he’s met through the years who’ve stopped in at the hangar to talk to him. The good news is if he gets an itch to fly, he’ll just have to drive a bit further. The new owner of the plane, who keeps it at Three Mile Lake over the summer, has added Hammond on the insurance so he can fly it when he wants.
The sale of Hammond’s hangar and property to the Town closed in late November.
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Linda Riley says
Sounds like the town made a great decision! Money well spent!!
Dorothy Hopson says
The sale price of $260,000 seems extremely low to me.
Jean wagg says
I don’t agree with the ideal of another place for boats…we have an apartment complex and a lot of us Westenders who enjoy going for a quick swim or just enjoying being down by the water on a little green space.How about one of those fancy docks so kids can be kids and jump into a lake ….? I agree not enough boat space but the launch over by the summit Center could be refurbished…it worked for years and a LOT more parking space.
Laura Beacom says
The plane belonged to my Dad Keith Beacom before he sold it to Hammonds several years before he passed away.
wendy j brown says
Him so glad the town bought this piece of property, I remember when it was vacant land when I was a small child. It’s a good addition to the other land the town owns , but I just wish they would do some work on the actual beach part where the small children swim. We tried to talk to previous administrations about it when I lived down in that end of town, but got a resounding no.
Rob Millman says
The price seems fair to me; considering that it’s on a flood plain, and that an environmental assessment SHOULD be required to check for the presence of the inevitable spilled pollutants.
Although the Town’s current policy is to divest itself of real estate, this is an obvious exception. Now, if only the beach could be improved: Many children grow up in the west end TOO.
James Wagg says
I have to agree with my wife. I am a life time westender and proud of it Mac Avery was my neighbor and his family in his name donated that area which has been a swimming area from before my time. The addition of the boat ramp and now the paid dock slips next to it has increased boat traffic as well as car traffic. This has increased the danger of using the park and beach. The addition of boat slips right next to the beach will further increase the boat traffic near where kids are enjoying the water in the summer time. Not to mention the extra pollution coming from those boats. This is another ill thought out purchase by the town that was made without looking at the impact( Remember the the piece plastic junk that put in the river by the town dock, then took it out). I would like to thank the town for ruining what was a nice swimming area enjoyed by many. It was great yet again seeing them waste my tax dollars
Tom and Sandy Hammond says
We totally agree with Jean Wagg that it is already too congested for any more boat launches at this site and there is absolutely no more parking available for boat trailers and trucks ! On busy weekends Yonge street is lined with vehicles with hardly room to get to the water.
When the hanger is removed, there is well over 1000 square feet of professionally constructed decking [by Mr. Art Groomes and company] and in our humble opinion it would be a perfect base to erect a large gazebo to match the existing one further west on the trail ! The addition of a few picnic tables and you have created the perfect spot to rest ,eat your lunch or go for a swim!
It would be wonderful to see the rest left as green space with nothing but beach, grass and a shade tree or two. I think that if enough people convey to the town that “less is more” in this instance, we will avoid “wasting the tax payers dollars and ruining a nice swimming area”
Wendy Stuthers says
Its low but its very small
Gail Orr says
I agree with some of the posters here. Public swimming is what we need. Not more boat slips. Let’s make sure that the people who can’t afford boats have access to the water too.
Liz Duffy says
I agree with Sandy Hammond… a lovely gazebo on the decking area would be a perfect place for folks to sit near the water while their kids are swimming, or while waiting to launch a boat. It would be a nice shady, public area for all the citizens and visitors to Huntsville to enjoy.