While Casey Johnson is “engaged” to publicity-loving Tila Tequila, her relatives aren’t exactly flying under the radar. Fellow Johnson & Johnson heir James L. Johnson is embroiled in a bitter battle over his plan to land helicopters on his farm.
Johnson has neighbors in a spin over a heliport he wants to build on his cattle farm in Tewksbury Township, NJ. Residents in the 31-square-mile town an hour from Manhattan say the proposed chopper pad will create a massive headache, complete with deafening takeoffs and landings and spooked horses and livestock.
Adding insult to injury, there’s an airport just 11 miles away. But Johnson, 64, and his son, Tucker, 45, want their own heliport so they can bring potential cattle buyers to the family’s Cedar Lane Farm, one of the country’s top cattle operations.
Johnson’s opponents — who include lawyers, environmentalists and corporate CEOs — noted that a recent demonstration of Johnson’s chopper shook their homes on takeoff. “The beauty, serenity and peacefulness of our town are under serious threat,” a group of neighbors wrote in a flier circulated around the area. “The loud noise, vibrations and sight of helicopters whizzing by and circling overhead are inconsistent with the life we’ve come to treasure.”
In a letter to Tucker Johnson seen by Page Six, a half-dozen neighbors said they also worried that the copter traffic would frighten the area’s many horses, posing a threat to both animals and riders. The locals begged him to use the airport instead.
But Johnson and his lawyers argue “there will be no substantial detriment to the public good” if it’s built. The pad would be a safe distance from neighbors’ land and be used for only one roundtrip a day, they added. A town official said no date has yet been set for a hearing. Johnson could not be reached.