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Another approval, another appeal in long-running fight over private airstrip in Lincoln

A 900-foot airstrip at the home of BETA founder Kyle Clark in Lincoln seen on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

By Tierney FlavinPublished Oct 21, 2026, 5:29 PMUpdated Oct 22, 20264 min read

A grassy field with wooden fences on both sides, bordered by trees, with mountains and a cloudy sky in the background.

A 900-foot airstrip at the home of BETA founder Kyle Clark in Lincoln seen on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

" data-large-file="https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/airstrip-1-20260729-1200x798.jpg" /> A 900-foot airstrip at the home of BETA founder Kyle Clark in Lincoln seen on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

LINCOLN — A controversial private airstrip got the stamp of approval from the Vermont Transportation Board this month in what could have been one of the final steps in a years-long process.

But two Lincoln residents are pushing back — as they have for years.

Residents Marilyn Ganahl and Sarah Laird filed an appeal Monday to the Vermont Supreme Court, asking the body to review the Vermont Transportation Board’s approval of a personal landing strip on Beta Technologies CEO Kyle Clark’s property on Orchard Road North in Lincoln.

“The Clarks are disappointed, but unsurprised by new attempts by a small group of opponents to sue, appeal and usurp the official processes to take away the Clarks’ rights to enjoy their private property as allowed by the town, state and FAA,” a spokesperson for the Clark family wrote Wednesday.

The transportation board’s approval, dated Oct. 8, follows four years of opposition from Lincoln residents who are concerned about aesthetics, noise and safety, according to Ganahl and Laird’s lawyer Roy Goldberg.

The airstrip opponents are also asking a federal circuit court to review the Federal Aviation Administration’s July 28 denial of an appeal they had submitted opposing a conditional determination the FAA granted Clark in June 2025, according to court documents.

The determination concluded that the airstrip is safe to operate, so long as Clark abides by the agency’s specified conditions. The conditions limited the airstrip to daytime private use that doesn’t conflict with “neighboring flight paths, municipal structures, or existing visual flight rules,” according to the documents.

The FAA’s appeal denial said that concerns raised by Ganahl and Laird were “assessed” in its 2025 determination, but Goldberg said he and his clients still believe that the FAA did not consider a safety assessment filed by national aviation consultant Lee Moak, which was submitted to the agency with the June appeal.

Moak said in an interview Tuesday that his assessment observed the topography of the area and the 900-foot runway. He found that the runway “may be incompatible” with surrounding land and roads, and recommended nine further steps by the FAA before approval.

“I pretty much have done all flying, and this particular runway, I wouldn’t fly into or out of,” Moak said, noting over 50 years of commercial, personal and military aviation experience. “It doesn’t mean somebody else couldn’t. But if you look at my report and the science behind it, you would understand it really comes down to safety.”

Ganahl and Laird are asking the Vermont Transportation Board not to grant Clark a certificate of operation while they await a decision from the state’s Supreme Court, according to a motion for stay filed Monday.

The town zoning administrator initially approved Clark’s 2022 proposal, but Ganahl appealed it. The town’s zoning board of adjustment then denied the application following several public hearings. Lincoln’s Development Review Board also voted against the proposal in 2023.

Clark then challenged the zoning board’s decision in Vermont’s environmental court, which approved the land-use portion of his application, referring noise, safety and public interest concerns to the FAA and the Vermont Transportation Board in 2025.

The FAA granted its conditional determination in June 2025.

The transportation board found that public hearings were not necessary, per state law, and used email communications from residents, including Ganahl, as public comment during its decision-making process, according to its Oct. 8 approval.

The lack of a public hearing remains a concern for the project’s opponents.

“There’s a lot of interested parties,” Goldberg said. “Most have been completely, you know, closed off for getting their views provided.”

The Clark family’s spokesperson maintains that the landing strip is “a permissible use of their private land,” she wrote, which is why the family has found success “at every step of the way.”

“Unfortunately, as long as Vermont land use laws allow for individuals and groups with unlimited time and financial resources opposed to a project to engage in endless appeals and lawsuits, this will continue on,” the spokesperson wrote.

The airstrip is not yet operational, as Clark still awaits a Certificate of Operation from the Transportation Board, Goldberg said. Clark must complete conditions set out by the FAA and Agency of Transportation before the board will award him the certificate.

“For the sake of landowners across Vermont who have experienced similar opposition to legally permissible private land use, the Clarks hope there will be resolution soon,” the Clark family’s spokesperson wrote.

The Vermont Transportation Board declined to comment.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Another approval, another appeal in long-running fight over private airstrip in Lincoln.

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Another approval, another appeal in long-running fight over private airstrip in Lincoln

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