Published
Stanford Field by the numbers: St. Anthony’s own airport, counted
One mile southeast, next to the county road
St. Anthony owns an airport. The comprehensive plan’s list of key public buildings records it plainly: “Airport: County Road 2400 East and Airport Road South of St. Anthony” — the inventory table places it one mile southeast of town, open to the public, with the identifier U12. The rules that follow from that fact — height limits, overlay review — live in the airport overlay chapter we broke out earlier; this page is the airfield itself, counted.
The inventory, line by line
The comprehensive plan reprints the airfield inventory as its Figure 9, carrying forward a table first published in the county’s 2006 transportation plan. Read as a table, here is everything it records about Stanford Field:
| Item | Figure 9 value |
|---|---|
| FAA identifier | U12 |
| Location | 1 mile SE of St. Anthony |
| Use | Open to the public |
| Runway | 4,500 × 50 ft, asphalt |
| Based aircraft | 18 — 12 single-engine, 1 helicopter, 5 ultralights |
| Average operations | 61 per week |
| Operations mix | 78% transient general aviation, 19% local general aviation, 3% air taxi |
| Attendance / control | Unattended; no control tower |
| Lighting | Medium-intensity edge lighting; runway edge markings; no runway-end identifier lights (REIL) |
| Parking | Tiedowns |
Two numbers deserve a second look. 78% transient means most traffic is passing through, not based there — consistent with a farm-strip profile rather than a commuter field. And 18 based aircraft on a 50-foot-wide strip tells you the ramp is real: hangar and tiedown demand exists even where no tower does.
Jinks and Margaret Stanford
The field’s name is a memorial, and the plan says so in one compact paragraph:
“Stanford Airfield, The City’s airport, serves primarily as an agricultural landing facility. Recent ITD funds will seal coat the taxiway and landing strip and install a visual guide slope. Pilots and lifelong St. Anthony residents, Leland W. “Jinks” and Margaret Stanford, started building the airport shortly after World War II. It was designated as “Stanford Field” during the 1980s in their memory.”
— City of St. Anthony Comprehensive Plan (2023), ch. 9, quoting the 2006 Fremont County transportation plan. Retrieved 5 October 2026
Every clause is load-bearing for a builder. Agricultural landing facility is the plan’s own functional description — crop dusters and small GA, not scheduled service. Recent ITD funds for seal coat and a visual guide slope mean the pavement and approach aids have a maintenance pipeline funded at the state transportation level. And the founding pair — two pilots who started moving dirt shortly after World War II, honored by name in the 1980s — are why the airport carries the Stanford name into every planning document the city publishes.
What the plan promises to protect
Airports appear in the comprehensive plan twice more, both times as promises. The goals chapter adopts the state’s wording verbatim:
“(m) To protect public airports as essential community facilities that provide safe transportation alternatives and contribute to the economy of the state.”
— City of St. Anthony Comprehensive Plan (2023), adopted airport-protection goal. Retrieved 5 October 2026
And the land-use policies translate that goal into the tool that reaches private lots next door:
“Require functional but attractive buffers such as fences and shrubbery between industrial complexes and dissimilar uses.”
— City of St. Anthony Comprehensive Plan (2023), land-use implementation policy. Retrieved 5 October 2026
That buffer sentence is airport-adjacent in practice: industrial-scale development near the field is exactly where fences-and-shrubbery screening gets discussed, and a new industrial building east of town can find itself in that conversation.
Why a home builder reads an airport table
- Check the overlay first. The inventory numbers are context; the rules that reach your permit are in the airport overlay zone — height, use, and review triggers keyed to distance from the runway.
- Treat the operations count as a noise fact. 61 operations a week, 78% of them transient, is modest traffic — but it is not zero, and it happens a mile from the southeast edge of town.
- Read the ITD maintenance line as stability. A field attracting state seal-coat money and new approach aids is a field the state expects to keep operating.
- Place the airport on the same map as everything else — the street grid it sits southeast of, the area of city impact that wraps the city’s planning reach, and the hazards map for the river side of town.
- If a parcel you are weighing sits east or southeast of town, bring the address: (208) 656-1745.
One runway, eighteen aircraft, two founders, and a state-level promise to protect it — that is Stanford Field. The zoning map decides what you may build near it; the plan stamp decides who signs the drawings; and the overlay decides whether either is enough.
Common questions
Does St. Anthony have an airport?
Yes. Stanford Field, FAA identifier U12, is owned by the City of St. Anthony and sits one mile southeast of town at County Road 2400 East and Airport Road. The comprehensive plan describes it as serving primarily as an agricultural landing facility, open to the public.
How long is the runway at Stanford Field?
4,500 feet by 50 feet, asphalt. The inventory also records medium-intensity edge lighting, runway edge markings, no runway-end identifier lights (REIL), tiedowns for parking, and no control tower - the field is unattended.
Who built Stanford Field?
Pilots and lifelong St. Anthony residents Leland W. "Jinks" and Margaret Stanford started building the airport shortly after World War II. It was designated as "Stanford Field" during the 1980s in their memory, per the city's comprehensive plan.
How busy is Stanford Field?
The plan's Figure 9 records an average of 61 operations per week, with a mix of 78% transient general aviation, 19% local general aviation, and 3% air taxi. Eighteen aircraft are based there: 12 single-engine, 1 helicopter, and 5 ultralights.
Is Stanford Field getting any upgrades?
The comprehensive plan states that recent Idaho Transportation Department funds will seal coat the taxiway and landing strip and install a visual guide slope. That is state money maintaining the pavement and approach aids on a city-owned field.
What rules apply if I build near the airport?
St. Anthony's airport overlay zone carries the height and use rules near the field, and the comprehensive plan adopts a state goal to protect public airports as essential community facilities. Check any parcel east or southeast of town against the overlay before you buy.