MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — For the second time this month, the city of Middletown has pulled a proposed legal settlement from the council’s agenda that could end two years of litigation with a skydiving company where Mayor Nicole Condrey once worked.
Start Skydiving would have secured a long-term lease in the deal, with a $1.4 million city-funded hangar expansion and the right to operate its own fuel farm at the airport. Critics told the WCPO 9 I-Team that the deal could cost the city a chance to partner with CVG Airport on a management contract that improves the airport’s long-term viability.
“It would kill that opportunity,” said Dennis Meade, a Middletown resident who was planning to speak in opposition to the deal before it was pulled from the Oct. 18 agenda. “Bringing CVG in to either manage or operate the airport — or even if the city keeps it and partners with CVG to become part of a regional hub in the area, makes a lot of sense.”
City officials declined to comment on whether the settlement could impact negotiations with CVG Airport, which confirmed it has discussed “various arrangements” with Middletown.
“We are interested in optimizing the local system of airports,” CVG Airport spokeswoman Mindy Kershner said via email. “At this time, Middletown is deciding what they want and how to move forward.”
The I-Team has been looking into the proposed settlement since Oct. 4, when City Manager Paul Lolli announced at a council meeting that he wanted to spend more time on the deal.
“I want to make sure we do this right (so) we don’t set ourselves up for any further litigation,” Lolli told the council.
Start Skydiving's owners have filed three lawsuits since 2020, while the city sued to evict the company in 2021. In one case, the company alleged the city breached its 2009 lease for an airport hangar and violated the company’s constitutional rights by “engaging in corporate espionage through the hacking and stealing of Start’s business data.” The city denied the allegations in a 2021 court filing that said the Harts were upset about “losing the ability to run free” at the city-owned airport.
“The city defendants have engaged in no unlawful or vindictive behavior at all,” said the filing. “Instead, the city has simply begun regaining control of the airport to use it as an economic driver for the region.”
Start Skydiving co-owner John Hart declined to comment for this story.
Lolli told the I-Team in an Oct. 4 email: “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. The parties appear to be very close to a settlement but are working to finalize a few outstanding issues.”
Last Friday, a revised version of Start Skydiving’s proposed lease was included in the agenda for tonight’s meeting. It included lower rent for the company and an expanded version of a self-service fuel farm that a new lease would allow the company to operate.
Here is a summary of the changes:
- The Oct. 4 version called for Start Skydiving to pay $1,395 per month until the city completes a 10,000-square-foot hangar expansion at a cost of up to $1.4 million. After that, rent increases to $4,500. The Oct. 18 version reduced the initial rent to $795 per month, equal to the rent in its original 2009 lease for airport space.
- The Oct. 4 version allowed Start Skydiving to install a jet-fuel storage tank of 10,000 to 20,000 gallons. Two weeks later, the lease allowed “two separate” tanks of that same size.
- The previous version also said Start Skydiving could sublease a portion of its space to a restaurant that has common ownership with the company. The new language says the company can bring "a number of enterprises" to its airport space, including "new ones (formed) after the execution of this lease."
Those clauses and others that did not change between lease versions are troubling to Meade, who has followed the city’s feud with Hart’s companies by listening to airport tenants and pilots who don’t understand how a skydiving company calls the shots.
“There are tenants of the airport who don’t like dealing with him, don’t like talking to him, but he’s the one you have to go through to get anything done,” Meade said. “Even though he’s a tenant, he’s still a de facto airport manager because he’s in with the mayor.”
Mayor Condrey did not respond to the I-Team’s call seeking comment. She worked as general manager of the company before she was elected mayor in 2019 and is a member of Team Fastrax, the company’s skydiving team.
The Ohio Ethics Commission told Condery in 2020 she is prohibited from voting on Start Skydiving lease arrangements or influencing city decisions about the lease. She did not attend the Oct. 4 meeting when the settlement was initially proposed. And she is not expected to vote if and when the final agreement comes back to council.
Hart, a former airport manager for the city, has battled the city over multiple issues, including the drop zones where his skydiving customers can land. The city tried to move it for safety reasons. He argued the new zones were more dangerous. The drop zone triggered one of four lawsuits pending between the city and the company since 2020.
The proposed settlement incorporates the company’s current drop zone into the lease with language that allows the city to move it if the Federal Aviation Administration orders it. It also gives Hart a right of first refusal if the city decides to sell airport property.
“Eventually, this is going to be a skydiving-only airport,” Meade complained. “And if that’s the city’s intention, then I wish they would come out and publicly say that. They keep coming up with new ways to hamper the airport’s operations.”
The I-Team sent several questions about the contract to Lolli.
“We would be happy to answer your questions our regarding the settlement once it has been approved by city council,” spokeswoman Missy Knight responded.
Here are the questions that remain unanswered:
- How will this settlement benefit Middletown residents and taxpayers?
- Why are you settling the case now?
- Why was the proposed lease revised since Oct. 4 to reduce Start Skydiving’s initial rent from $1,395 per month to $795 per month?
- After the new hangar is constructed, monthly rent will be $4,500, which means it will take 25 years for the city to recover its $1.4 million investment. Is that an acceptable return?
- CVG Airport says it has discussed “various arrangements” relating to future management of Middletown Regional Airport, adding: “Middletown is deciding what they want and how to move forward.” Is Middletown still considering a business arrangement with CVG?
- Section 9 (D) of the proposed lease gives Start Skydiving “rights of first refusal over the sale, in whole or in parts, of the property constituting the Airport.” Would that make a deal with CVG less likely? Would it keep the city from attracting Aerospace tenants or an expansion by Butler Tech?
- Section 2 (12) allows Start Skydiving to be a “Self-Service Fueling” entity that “may purchase its own fuel from its own source or preference.” There is no provision that says it cannot sell that fuel to other airport users. Could the company compete against the airport’s FBO operation? What impact would that have on airport revenue?
