Sunset Air Strip


Sunset Air Strip is a private airport located one mile southwest of North Plains in Washington County, Oregon, United States. It is managed by Roth Development Corp., which is owned by the neighbors. The Oregon Department of Aviation limits the number of aircraft based at the strip to 50; as of 2013 there were 16, with some of the 17 neighbors having hangars on their property.

History

Sunset Air Strip was built in 1968. Many of the 17 homes around the strip were constructed in the 1970s. In 2003, Washington County created an overlay district covering the strip and adjoining properties that prohibited commercial aviation activities such as flight instruction.
In 2013, it was proposed that an airpark district be created at the landing strip, which would allow for additional homes to be built on adjoining land that could house aircraft. Washington County approved the new district in October 2013, but two groups challenged the decision. Despite the challenges, the residential airpark overlay district was implemented, leading to new residential development around the airstrip. In 2017, Garrette Custom Homes completed construction of Falcons Landing, a development of 16 homes on approximately 4-acre sites. Additionally, the Sunset Orchards Estates HOA was developed with 4 homes on 4-acre sites, with construction completed between 2017 and 2023.
In the decades following the creation of Sunset Airpark, there was considerable aviation growth within the area. Hillsborough Airport significantly grew from its main runway to reach by 2013, and its annual operations grew by more than a factor of two since 1971. This was due mostly to an increase in flight training activity brought about by Hillsboro Aviation's flight school.
The proliferation of aviation facilities within Washington County since Sunset Airpark came into being has changed the character of the airspace over the area. The addition to Stark's Twin Oaks, Skyport, North Plains Gliderport, and Apple Valley Airstrip have crisscrossed the air over the countryside with an increasingly busy flying environment. This expansion has heightened the safety concerns that the Port authorities first noted in the late 1960s with potential implications for Sunset Airpark and other residential areas near these flight paths.