County extends airport leases with Color Spot

Two new leases with Color Spot Nurseries, Inc. will extend Color Spot’s leasehold on Fallbrook Community Airpark land.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 September 23 to authorize two new leases to Color Spot which cover 110.04 acres. Both leases will expire on September 30, 2029.

“It basically gives stability to a company that’s already there to allow them to continue their operations,” said County airports supervising real property agent Lee Ann Lardy.

Fallbrook Community Airpark totals approximately 290 acres, and approximately 33 acres on the northwest portion of the property are used for aviation-related purposes.

If airport land is not needed for aviation, non-aviation use can provide a buffer between the aviation activities and the surrounding community.

Between 1968 and 1997 the county leased the airpark to Fallbrook Community Airpark, Inc., which entered into a sublease with Cal-Western Vine Corporation in 1977. That sublease was later assigned to Subtropical Fruit Company.

The county took over control of the airport in 1997 and converted the sublease into a primary lease under the same terms.

In December 1998 the county approved two leases with Color Spot Nurseries, Inc. for an area adjacent to the Subtropical Fruit Company land.

The leases with Color Spot and Subtropical Fruit Company included both aviation and non-aviation land with a condition that the nurseries return any or all aviation land needed for public or private aviation development.

The lease with Subtropical Fruit Company for 72.84 acres had a previous expiration date of May 7, 2014, while the lease with Color Spot for 37.20 acres was due to expire on June 30, 2011.

Color Spot had been subleasing the Subtropical Fruit Company leasehold, and Subtropical Fruit Company desired to assign its interest in the property to Color Spot.

Color Spot requested two new leases for the combined property, one covering the 44.47 acres of aviation land and the other addressing 65.67 acres of non-aviation area.

“It’s a compatible use for the airport and an important part of the Fallbrook community,” Lardy said.

The new leases, which retain the requirement that aviation land be returned if needed for aviation development or requested by the Federal Aviation Administration, took effect on October 1, 2009, and will be in effect for 20 years unless amended or terminated.

The 20-year lease term is considered typical for agricultural ground leases on airport property. The Fallbrook Airpark Advisory Committee unanimously recommended the new lease agreements at the committee’s August 3 meeting.

The monthly rent for the Subtropical Fruit Company area under the previous lease was $8,414 while the previous Color Spot lease included a monthly rent of $3,297 for the aviation area and $3,594 for the non-aviation land.

The new lease has a base monthly rent of $9,602 for the aviation area and $13,915 for the non-aviation area, which is based on an August 2006 market value appraisal of the airpark’s nursery use land and subsequent Consumer Price Index adjustments.

The new base monthly rent for the total area is $8,212 higher than the previous monthly rent.

The base monthly rent will be subject to annual cost-of-living increases based on the Consumer Price Index, and the new leases also call for rental rate negotiations every five years based on market value.

The new lease agreements also include updated language.