The owners of Solberg airport, on October 31, 2025, filed a lawsuit against Readington Township alleging the recently passed Ordinance 19-2025 which creates a Solberg-Hunterdon Airport Zone District is improper and should be struck down. Additional information is provided in a news article available from Tap Into at this link. This site expects to have additional information after reviewing the issue more thoroughly, check back frequently.
Updated - November 7, 2025
The Ordinance establishes The Solberg-Hunterdon Airport Zone District which includes both a standard zoning district known as the “Solberg-Hunterdon Airport Zone” and an overlay zone known as the “Airport Safety Zone”. The Solberg-Hunterdon Airport Zone affords the municipality zoning authority in accordance with NJSA 40:55D-1, Municipal Land Use Law and the Airport Safety Zone overlay provides compliance with New Jersey’s Airport Safety and Zoning Act, N.J.A.C. 16:62, in proximity to the runways.
Unfortunately, the naming similarities quickly establish confusion over the name of the zone and the two subzones which are established within the zone itself. Hopefully the above clarifies the naming.
As to runway length, it is foolish for the airport owners to argue that because the FAA “documents” a 5,598 ft. length that is it! They fail to state that the same FAA record documenting the 5,598 ft. length describes the turf displaced thresholds at either end of Runway 04/22 as UNUSABLE based on inspection. Those unusable displaced thresholds, 544 ft. and 1,319 ft., when removed leave a 3,735 ft. effective runway length. Ed Nagle, an airport advocate quoted in the article, states, incorrectly, that the displaced thresholds are “turf extensions”. The terminology has very different meanings with displaced thresholds being prohibited from landing aircraft on. This language is intended to mislead, just as “improve and modernize” is soft-speak for expansion.
Finally, the article casts the impression that the nearby pharmaceutical companies are hobbled without access to an expanded Solberg airport. Both Trenton Mercer Airport and Morristown Municipal Airport are within a 30 minute drive and offer all of the facilities Solberg seeks to offer. They DO NOT, however, cite examples to justify their claimed demand.
Overall, the issue of Solberg-Hunterdon’s Planning and expansion efforts is extremely complex and our review is based on close association and opposition to the past planning efforts going back over 30 years.
Updated - November 29, 2025
The FAA AC 150/5300-13B Chg 1 – Airport Design, in paragraph 1.11 Local Government Role, states, “Local government units may have regulations and ordinances affecting airport development and operation.“ It goes on to “spin” that into being beneficial to airspace surrounding an airport BUT neglects to acknowledge that such rules and ordinances may also be beneficial to the local community.
Readington’s ordinance seems to acknowledge the state’s mandatory airspace protection with the “Airport Safety Zone” overlay while seeking to preserve the comminity’s rural and residential character with the “Solberg-Hunterdon Airport Zone”.