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A local aircraft museum says the Port of Bellingham is forcing it out, and port officials say they’re baffled by the claim.
In a news release, officials of the Heritage Flight Museum, which displays and flies vintage warplanes from a facility at Bellingham International Airport, say the port has rescinded the favorable land lease terms that attracted them to the airport in 2001 and they may have to leave.
But Port Aviation Director Daniel Zenk says that’s not true.
He says the parties last spoke in August about moving the museum to a new facility, but terms of its lease have not been changed.
He says any sweetheart deal that might be given to a renter would have to be subsidized by taxpayers, and the port has been working to keep taxes from going up.
In a news release, officials of the Heritage Flight Museum, which displays and flies vintage warplanes from a facility at Bellingham International Airport, say the port has rescinded the favorable land lease terms that attracted them to the airport in 2001 and they may have to leave.
But Port Aviation Director Daniel Zenk says that’s not true.
He says the parties last spoke in August about moving the museum to a new facility, but terms of its lease have not been changed.
He says any sweetheart deal that might be given to a renter would have to be subsidized by taxpayers, and the port has been working to keep taxes from going up.
Zenk adds that FAA rules require the port to lease its facilities at fair market value.
