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JWA Aviation at Clow International Airport

Village of Bolingbrook·Illinois FOIA (5 ILCS 140) ·R027405-042826
filed April 19, 2026 ·partially released ·5 documents, 141 pages
$650 quoted
#clow-international-airport #bolingbrook #jwa-aviation #flight-school #faa #illinois-foia The Village charged nothing. The FAA estimated $650 for the Flight Standards portion and required a narrowed, perfected request plus a fee agreement before searching; that request was withdrawn instead, so no fee was paid.
  1. // 2026
  2. APR 19

    Request submitted to the Village of Bolingbrook

    filed · Village · R027405

    Emailed to the Village's published FOIA address, seeking leases, communications, complaints, financial records and enforcement records concerning JWA at Clow International Airport from January 1, 2021 onward.

  3. APR 19

    Parallel request to the FAA

    filed · FAA · 2026-03294

    Filed under 5 U.S.C. § 552 for records held by the FAA and the Greater Chicago FSDO covering JWA at Clow (FAA LID 1C5) from January 1, 2015. PTRS and SAS surveillance records, enforcement actions, hotline complaints, accident and incident reports, certificates, and correspondence. Fees accepted up to $50.

  4. APR 22

    Acknowledged and split across two FAA offices

    acknowledged · FAA · 2026-03294 · FAA-2026-03294

    Assigned to Flight Standards Service and to the Office of Audit and Evaluation as a multi-assignment, each issuing its own response.

  5. APR 27 – APR 28 · note, acknowledged · Village · R027405
    1. APR 27

      Followed up, no response within the statutory window

      note

      The five-business-day window under 5 ILCS 140/3(d) closed on April 24 with no response, denial, or written extension. Follow-up noted an intent to file a Request for Review with the Public Access Counselor under 5 ILCS 140/9.5 if nothing arrived by May 1.

    2. APR 28

      Acknowledged after re-filing through the portal

      acknowledged · R027405-042826

      The FOIA officer could not locate the emailed request in the Village's GovQA system. The request was re-entered through the portal the same morning and assigned reference R027405-042826.

  6. APR 28

    FAA requires a perfected request and a $650 fee agreement

    fee · FAA · 2026-03294

    Flight Standards placed the request on hold as improperly formatted under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3)(A) and 49 C.F.R. § 7.24, estimated $650 in search time beyond the two free hours in the "all other" fee category, and asked that the period be cut to 2021 onward with tail numbers and FAA personnel named. A response was required by May 1.

  7. APR 29

    FAA request withdrawn

    withdrawn · FAA · 2026-03294

    Withdrawn in full rather than narrowed under the deadline, with the intention of filing a narrower request later. The FAA acknowledged the withdrawal the same morning. No records were released and no fee was paid.

  8. MAY 05

    Village responds, request is voluminous

    asked to narrow · Village · R027405

    The Village treated the request as voluminous and asked for narrowing rather than denying it outright.

    open →
  9. MAY 05

    Request amended, communications category dropped

    amended · Village · R027405

    Amended request supersedes the original in full. The broad communications category was removed, leaving leases and agreements, public complaints, financial records, and inspection and enforcement records.

  10. MAY 11

    Village responds, request is unduly burdensome

    asked to narrow · Village · R027405

    Second narrowing response, this time on unduly-burdensome grounds.

    open →
  11. MAY 12 – MAY 18 · amended, extension, note · Village · R027405
    1. MAY 12

      Request narrowed again, date range cut to 2024 onward

      amended

      Second amendment, superseding the May 5 version. The period was reduced from January 1, 2021 to January 1, 2024 onward, with agreements limited to those currently in effect.

    2. MAY 18

      Extension to May 27, and a question about search scope

      extension

      Five-business-day extension under 5 ILCS 140/3(e), citing subsections (i), (ii), (iv), (v) and (vi). The Village said it maintains over 400 email accounts and could not search all of them, and asked for search parameters.

    3. MAY 18

      Custodian list and search terms supplied

      note

      Reply clarified that no all-account search was sought, and proposed a custodian list, the airport manager, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, the Trustees, the Village Clerk, and any general intake mailbox, with the search terms JWA, JW Aviation, JWA Aviation, JWA Flight School and flyjwa.

  12. MAY 26

    Interim release, Village Board minutes

    interim release · Village · R027405

    Released ahead of the rest of the response as the only located record then identified in which JWA was discussed.

    open →
  13. MAY 28 – JUN 02 · 2 extensions · Village · R027405
    1. MAY 28

      Second extension, to June 3

      extension

      Further five business days under 5 ILCS 140/3(e), subsections (i), (ii), (v) and (vi).

    2. JUN 02

      Third extension, to June 10

      extension

      A further five business days on the same statutory grounds.

  14. JUN 05

    Final response, responsive documents released

    final release · Village · R027405

    Response letter dated June 4, 2026 released with the responsive documents, closing R027405-042826.

    open →
  15. JUN 05

    Receipt confirmed, request closed

    note · Village · R027405

    Receipt of the response letter and documents confirmed; no further action sought.

  16. JUN 05

    Second Village request, J J W Air and conflict-of-interest disclosures

    filed · Village · R028281 · R028281-060526

    A separate request seeking records on J J W Air, LLC; conflict-of-interest and economic-interest disclosures by Joseph DePaulo or Clow International Airport, LLC; Board approval of the January 1, 2023 JWA Flight School lease; business licence applications with ownership disclosures; and certificates of insurance.

  17. JUN 05

    Documents released with redactions

    partial release · Village · R028281

    The Village reported the responsive documents were placed in the request file with redactions applied and explained under the Illinois Public Act. The released documents are not yet mirrored here.

ⓘ Documents are unaltered agency releases. The timelines, titles, descriptions and summaries around them are written by Claude from those records and checked by me.

Records released under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140) by the Village of Bolingbrook, and correspondence with the Federal Aviation Administration under the federal FOIA (5 U.S.C. § 552). Illinois public records carry no copyright claim by the Village; the federal material is a work of the US Government and is not subject to copyright (17 U.S.C. § 105).

Released documents occasionally contain material an agency didn't intend to release, or third-party work that isn't a government record. If something here shouldn't be, tell me and I'll take it down. george.main@gemiv.net

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