Start Skydiving settlement again not on Middletown City Council agenda

John Hart II ‘optimistic’ legislation will be before Middletown council in two weeks.
The city of Middletown, Start Skydiving and its owners are hoping to settlement four lawsuits. The legislation is not on Tuesday's City Council agenda, though John Hart II, one of those involved in the lawsuits, is confident it will be voted on at the Nov. 15 meeting. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

The city of Middletown, Start Skydiving and its owners are hoping to settlement four lawsuits. The legislation is not on Tuesday's City Council agenda, though John Hart II, one of those involved in the lawsuits, is confident it will be voted on at the Nov. 15 meeting. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

The settlement between the city and a skydiving company at the Middletown Regional Airport is still waiting for clearance to take off.

There are 31 pieces of legislation on the agenda for Tuesday night’s Middletown City Council meeting, but one of the most disputed issues isn’t one of them.

The emergency legislation that would authorize City Manager Paul Lolli to enter into an agreement with John Hart II, his son, John Hart III, and Start Skydiving to end two years of lawsuits between the Hart family and the city of Middletown has been listed on the last two city council agendas.

But each time, at the last minute, the legislation was pulled because the city was working on the contract, city officials said.

It was expected the legislation would be before City Council today.

Missy Knight, communications manager for the city, said “there is nothing for council to act upon at this time.”

Hart II wrote in a text message to the Journal-News: “We are finalizing the language in the settlement agreement this week and are optimistic about having this before City Council in two weeks.”

The second City Council meeting this month is set for 5:30 p.m. Nov. 15 in council chambers.

After the legislation was pulled Oct. 18, Hart II told the Journal-News the dispute will be “resolved and it will be good for the city. Start Skydiving loves the Middletown community.”

When the emergency legislation is eventually presented, Mayor Nicole Condrey will abstain because of her affiliation with Start Skydiving and Team Fastrax, the Middletown-based professional skydiving team. That means the resolution must pass 4-0. The other four council members, Vice Mayor Monica Nenni, Zack Ferrell, Tal Moon and Rodney Muterspaw haven’t indicated publicly whether they support the settlement.

At the Oct. 18 meeting, Dennis Meade, a Middletown resident, said he was against the settlement. He was the only person who spoke during the citizens comment portion of the meeting.

“Approval of this ordinance is not in the best interest of the city of Middletown,” Meade wrote in his prepared speech that too lengthy to be delivered in the allotted four minutes. “It is in the best interest of the mayor, John Hart Jr., John Hart Sr. and Start Skydiving. The city residents are getting the short end of the stick – evidently because the city wants us to.”

The settlement agreement would resolve the four outstanding lawsuits and provide a new lease for the spaces occupied by Start, according to city documents. The new lease starts once the certificate of occupancy is issued and lasts for eight years renewable for four times. So the lease could last 32 years.

In exchange to dismiss the four lawsuits, the city will pay for the construction of the $1.4 million, 10,000-sqaure-foot hangar at 1711 Run Way at Middletown Regional Airport/Hook Field. Start will continue to pay $1,395 a month for the spaces occupied until the certificate of occupancy is issued, according to the original contract.

After that, the rent increases to $4,500.

But the new contract that was included in the Oct. 18 agenda called for the initial rent to be $795 per month.

The Oct. 4 version of the contract said Start Skydiving could sublease a portion of its space to a restaurant. The revised contract said the company could bring “a number of enterprises” to its airport space, including “new ones after the execution of this lease.”

In addition, Start Skydiving, which has operated at the airport since 2009, will be a self-service fueling entity and may purchase its fuel from its source of preference, according to documents. The fuel can be delivered and stored in its 10,000-20,000 gallon containers located adjacent to the city’s existing gas storage location.

Within two weeks after the agreement is signed, the city and Start Skydiving must file a joint notice of dismissal with prejudice, and take any other steps legally required to dismiss the lawsuits and without further costs or attorneys’ fees to any party.

“I believe it is in the best interest of the city to completely resolve these matters with such an important partner of ours at the airport and we’ve been working diligently to get this completed,” Lolli has told the Journal-News.

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