CHICAGO – With street signs carrying names like “Cessna Lane,” and “attached” meaning an airplane hangar instead of a car garage, it’s a safe bet that Brookeridge Aero Estates isn’t a typical subdivision.

For Arnie Zimmerman and other residents of this unusual community in unincorporated Downers Grove, Ill., the days when a trip to the airport could easily chew up a day are largely gone, along with security checks.

Give Zimmerman 30 minutes and he can taxi his twin-engine Piper-Aztec from a hangar that looks more like an oversized garage and take off from a private runway.

“I can pull my plane out and fly to (nearby city) Schaumburg just for lunch if I want to,” said Zimmerman, 74, who owns two other planes he also keeps near his home at Brookeridge Aero Estates.

Also known as air parks, or, as in the case of Zimmerman’s community, aero estates, these runway communities can range from two modest-sized farm houses connected to a dirt landing strip to large exclusive, resort-style properties.

Nationally, there are about 625 of them. Popular for nearly six decades, they have enjoyed a modest growth rate even though skyrocketing gas prices and a recession have hampered the ability of some residents to fly as often as they might like, said Ben Sclair, publisher of Washington state-based General Aviation News.

At least 10 new airparks are at various stages of development throughout the country, said Sclair, who also runs the Web site livingwithyourplane.com, which carries a directory of airparks.

“It’s a very appealing lifestyle,” he said. “These communities might not be robust, but the ones that are there are doing pretty well for the most part.”

Once located mainly in rural areas, they were popular with airline pilots who wanted to save money on maintaining their private planes. Now they are often encircled by suburban sprawl, frequently bumping up against new subdivisions. And perhaps surprisingly, these airparks also attract people who don’t fly at all but enjoy being near planes.

At most airparks, the homeowners pay fees and share ownership of the runway. Like residents of other so-called lifestyle communities, fees often pay for the maintenance of common areas – in this case a small airport and land strip.

The benefits for plane owners who live in these communities are many, Sclair said.

Shareholders have direct access to the airport. They can save on monthly expenses by not having to store their aircraft elsewhere. Planes are also more safe in private hangars, as opposed to being tied down outside, he said.

With its drive-through streets, upscale homes and neatly trimmed lawns set on mostly half-acre lots, Brookeridge Aero Estates feels something like a golf course or country club community. About 360 homes are in the subdivision.

But take a closer look and you notice those unusual street signs and taxiways where alleys normally would be – but used exclusively by single- and double-engine private planes.

The paved roadways lead to an 800-yard-long air strip. About 100 properties have direct access to the airport.

Airparks must follow state regulations regarding the length of runway, clearances and setback requirements. The owners also have to get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The subdivisions in more rural surroundings often are in unrestricted airspace, which theoretically means they can fly out at any time, though many are bound by concerns of neighborliness, Sclair said.

For many residents, it seems these communities are only mentioned in public when there has been an accident – as has happened at least twice in the past year.

Last month, a businessman who stored his Cessna T210, at Brookeridge was killed and a passenger seriously injured after the plane crashed near Romeoville, Ill., shortly after takeoff. The plane hit trees and a power line during a forced landing, following a loss of engine power, a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report shows.

Friends of the pilot, Victor Pantaleo, 68, described him as adventurous, joyful and hardworking. Pantaleo lived in a nearby Darien subdivision, but paid rent to store his plane at Brookeridge.

The NTSB is investigating the cause of the June 26 crash near Lewis University Airport.

In October, a couple flying a plane out of the Naper Aero Club Airport crashed into the roof of a nearby Naperville, Ill., gym.

The pilot, Lloyd McKee, and his wife, Maureen McKee, of Naperville, had taken off around noon from the small airstrip. The couple was headed for Pittsburgh, but their Piper PA-32R-300, failed to gain enough elevation and slammed shortly after takeoff into a raised tower on the southwest corner of the fitness center, officials said. The McKees were seriously injured, an official said. The NTSB is investigating the cause of the crash.

The airport where the plane took off is managed by the Naperville Aero Estates Association. The McKees live in the subdivision next to the airfield.

Such crashes are uncommon, said Guy Tridgell, a spokesman with the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Division of Aeronautics, which inspects these airports.

People who like living right by a runway tend to be current and retired commercial airline pilots, engineers, mechanics and small business owners.

Jeff Starr, 55, an airline pilot who lives in the Naper Aero subdivision in unincorporated Naperville, flies his single-engine aircraft a couple of days a week when weather permits.

The small plane, he said, is a welcomed change of pace from his full-time commercial job.

“I couldn’t take a triple-7 (Boeing 777) upside down,” or fly in for breakfast, Starr said moments after landing from making a short practice run.

Originally a privately owned landing strip, the Brookeridge airport was purchased in the 1960s and residences were developed. Now neighborhoods from Darien, Ill., surround the unincorporated subdivision.

Bob Siegfried, president of the Brookeridge Aero Association, is a retired airline pilot who is now an FAA-licensed aviation safety inspector.

Twenty-six Brookeridge residents own shares in the small airport, Siegfried said.

Zimmerman, who worked with his father to run a Chicago liquor store before selling it in the late 1990s, now spends much of his time giving young people rides. He learned to fly in 1959 on an Aeronca Champion single-engine airplane. Now he owns one, as well as his Piper and an experimental two-seater, which he recently used to participate in a Fourth of July show in Bolingbrook.

What does he like best about the aviation lifestyle?

“It’s a new lesson every time I fly,” he said.

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