GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY: Acme Skyport seeks OK as public airport

Peter Kobs, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
Updated ·2 min read

May 14—TRAVERSE CITY — The owner of a small airfield in Acme Township has applied to change its status from a private airport to a public airport, according to documents from the Michigan Department of Transportation, Office of Aeronautics.

MDOT is requesting a response from the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners no later than May 22.

The property is southeast of the intersection of Lautner Road and M-72, about one-quarter mile west of Meijer.

Some of the property, which has been offered for sale in recent years, features a 2,100-foot unpaved runway and some old hangar buildings that have been used for boat and RV storage.

The Acme Skyport was recently owned by Lewis Griffith, of Williamsburg, according to Federal Aviation Administration records reported on SkyVector.com last month. It sits just 5.1 miles east of Cherry Capital Airport, also known as TVC.

The new owner is Eric Nuffer of Traverse City.

Officials note that Acme Skyport is not designed — nor intended — to compete with TVC for commercial airline services. If approved for public use, the grass strip would more likely be used by small private prop planes.

Michigan currently has 235 airports open to public use, of which 129 are publicly owned and 106 are privately owned. Only 19 of those airports have regularly scheduled passenger service.

According to history researcher Marc Boudreau, a couple named Willard and Isabelle Ritter developed an airport at the back of their farm property in 1969 that was known as the Acme Skyport.

The earliest description of the skyport was in a 1983 topographical map by the U.S. Geological Survey. It was described as having two perpendicular unpaved runways with a few outbuildings on the southwest and south sides.

The only aeronautical chart depiction that has been located of Acme Skyport was on the 1993 Michigan Aeronautical Chart, Boudreau added.

Acme Skyport was evidently closed for reasons unknown at some point between 1993-97, Boudreau wrote in his brief history of the facility. As of 2016, Acme Skyport was no longer depicted on aeronautical charts.

UPDATE: This story was updated on 5/14/24 to reflect the skyport's new ownership by Eric Nuffer of Traverse City.