FAIRFIELD, Utah — A Utah County airport is back in business after winning an appeal that reversed the town of Fairfield’s decision to deny its business license renewal.
Leaders in the small community of Fairfield in the Cedar Valley area had denied a business license renewal to the West Desert Airpark, and they’ve put other permits on hold that combine to threaten the future of the remote runway.
For about a quarter century, aviators in Cedar Valley have been cleared for takeoff on the lonely strip south of Fairfield’s main street.
Co-founder Mark Pringle said the 40-acre plot was bought before the tiny town was even incorporated in 2004.
Years of growth followed, the airport went public in 2018 and Pringle says it filled a significant gap in service for general aviation.
“All the airports in Northern Utah are just way overloaded,” said Pringle.
But Fairfield leaders said in recent years, people have felt the effects of more planes landing on their local strip. So in December, the town denied the airpark’s business license renewal and stopped its development plans in its tracks.
“That was a little bit of a shock,” said airpark co-owner Alina Pringle. “The town has mentioned that everything needed to come through the front door - and that’s what we’ve always done.”
That development included plans for a cafe and a hangar home community, which is where Steven Shafer entered the picture in 2024.
“I have a good friend who exposed me to air travel and I caught the bug,” said Shafer, who’s now a part of the airpark’s board.
Aviation has become a vehicle for his construction software business - and it all started in Fairfield.
“I got my pilot's license out here at West Desert through West Desert Flight,” Shafer said.
He specifically chose to fly at the West Desert Airpark because he hoped it could become his home base.
“We were intrigued by the idea of building our own home with a hangar attached to it, and we were told we couldn’t do that because of some of the issues happening in the city,” said Shafer.
So he and dozens of other aviators patiently waited as the Pringle’s appealed the town’s decision, noting that many had helped support paying for the legal fees, the new runway and more.
“It’s somewhere we’ve all invested in,” Shafer said. “If things go another way, we lose all of that.”
In a 13-page decision, a hearing officer says the town lacked legal justification to deny their license. Shafer felt it wasn’t so much a victory as it was a relief.
“I’m glad to see that justice is still out there,” said Mark.
The Pringles say they still have hurdles to clear. Licenses with the city for their Rocky Mountain Kitplanes shop and their flight school remain on hold.
The cafe and hangar-home community isn’t a done deal yet either. But with this decision behind them, they hope the tension in the air around the runway and their community will lift before long.
“We want to work together to make West Desert Airpark a long-term asset for the town, for the county, for the state and for airport users nationwide,” said Alina Pringle.
