Residential air park owners sue owners of Bermuda Dunes Airport

PALM SPRINGS — A group of Bermuda Dunes residents who own property in a residential area adjacent to the Bermuda Dunes Airport have filed a lawsuit against the company that owns the airport, according to Marra News Service.

The plaintiffs in the case live in an area called Bermuda Dunes Airpark. An airpark is an officially designated community purpose-built around an airport with residences built on land adjacent to the airport’s runway or taxiway. There are many such air parks in the United States. Residences, along the north side of Jamaica Sands Drive, typically include an attached hangar to allow owners to store their aircraft and access the airport. Owners access the airport runway or taxiway directly from their hangar. Airports with residential air parks, such as Bermuda Dunes, are generally privately owned with public access.

Since the first home and hangar were built at Bermuda Dunes Airpark over 40 years ago, Bermuda Dunes Airport has expressly encouraged and permitted Airpark residents, including applicants in this trial, to use and access Bermuda Dunes Airport from their properties. For many years, Bermuda Dunes Airport has also provided airpark residents with the security code to access a separate entrance gate to the airport property. Bermuda Dunes Airport has also, on several occasions over the past several decades, confirmed in writing applicants’ rights to use and access airport property from their airpark residences.

According to the News Service, plaintiffs Peter Bedford, Rodger LaRue, Hassan Al Kabbani, Robert Wilson and DOBO Investments, LLC claim that representatives of Crown Aero, LLC, (Crown Aero), the entity that operates the airport, harassed , intimidated, and threatened them and engaged in an aggressive effort to obstruct and deny them use of and access to the airport and interfered with their use and enjoyment of their properties. CPF BDA, LLC owns the airport after purchasing it in July 2021.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that for the past few months, Crown Aero has threatened them with arrest if they gain access to airport property, as they have for decades, even for simply opening the doors. from their shed. The plaintiffs also state in the lawsuit that Crown Aero denied their requests for access to remove vehicles from their hangars and recently announced that they would erect a fence along the property line which would completely block their access to the airport property. The plaintiffs seek compensation for damages as well as a declaratory judgment and an injunction so that they can once again enjoy the properties they owned and lawfully used based on still-existing agreements that are in place. for decades.

“Based on the express promises and representations of Bermuda Dunes Airport and the way the parties have dealt for decades based on written agreements, the residents of the airpark have collectively invested millions of dollars in their real and personal property to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the airpark,” Shaun Murphy, a partner at SBEMP Attorneys of Palm Springs, which represents the plaintiffs, said in a prepared statement. “My customers have filed this lawsuit to preserve their right to use and enjoy their properties, their right to access the airport and to end Crown Aero’s obstruction of the use of their easement of access.”

Murphy, according to the News Service, added that his customers believe the motivation for Crown Aero to violate the airpark’s long-standing agreements is the company’s desire to shut them down so they can redevelop that land with their own sheds which they can sell or rent. to other private jet owners and operators.