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FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2015
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Helicopter business to take flight at airport BY ROBERT WHALE rwhale@auburn-reporter.com
Michael Kopp wanted to sell Auburn Flight Service. Sparrow Tang hoped to buy Kopp’s building at Auburn
Municipal Airport and move his business there. For the sake of financing his purchase, however, Tang needed a longer lease option than the 30-year option specified in the 40-year lease the original owner
signed with former Auburn Mayor Stan Kersey in February of 1978. Extending the lease option was in the power of the City of Auburn to do – indeed, it owns the land under the building, and the
agreement says it must first grant the owner permission to sell – so on May 4 the Auburn City Council made it a 50-year-lease option. The half-century clock begins to tick in May of 2018. The upshot is that sometime
after August, when the sale is complete, Tang, owner of Cascade Helicopter Services at Boeing Field in Seattle, will start to call Auburn’s airport home. [ more HELICOPTERS page 11 ]
Big plans to develop junction fizzle out BY ROBERT WHALE rwhale@auburn-reporter.com
Plans described an ambitious, mixed-use, urban village linked by underground parking, walkways and open spaces, offering groundfloor retail and restaurant facilities on the four blocks between the Sound Transit Station, West Main Street and A Street Southeast. Yes, Albert International’s Auburn Junction project generated considerable buzz when Spencer Albert first proposed it in 2008. “If the City adopts (the agreement), we are ready to roll up our sleeves and do our part to make a major contribution, with the City’s assistance, over the next few years in the redevelopment of downtown Auburn and its establishment as a vital urban center,” Alpert said at the time. The City adopted that development agreement. But Auburn Junction never happened. And on Monday, the City Council scrapped the design guidelines Auburn’s former downtown development committee worked out to apply to the project, making official [ more JUNCTION page 6 ]
Veterans Alfredo ‘Tito’ Medina, left, and Scot Pondelick have been busy promoting the May 30 ‘all everything’ veterans fair. COURTESY PHOTO
Local veterans extend a helping hand with fair BY MARK KLAAS mklaas@auburn-reporter.com
DOG DAY
more photos online… auburn-reporter.com
JD Platt of the K9 Kings Flying Dog Show performs a trick with Icicle during Petpalooza at Game Farm Park last Saturday. The pet festival attracted thousands of animal lovers to a day of entertainment, activities and prizes. Story, more photos, page 21. RACHEL CIAMPI, Auburn Reporter
War beat up Scot Pondelick inside and out. From his ligament-torn ankles to his separated shoulders, he hurts all the time. He has degenerative disc disease, and walks gingerly with a cane. In three long, separate tours of duty in Iraq, the Auburn man, a member of a strategic U.S. Army bomb squad, the 731st EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Company, [ more VETERANS page 10 ]
Auburn Community Players Present 9 to 5 The Musical June 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 & 20 AT 7:30 PM | June 14 AT 2:00 PM Auburn Ave Theater, 10 Auburn Ave, Auburn
1205159
$15/$13 pre pre-sale; $20/$18 at the door | 253-931-3043 or auburnwa.gov/arts