A crowd of Peach Point and Fickle Fen Road residents filed out of Mathews County’s historic courthouse Tuesday night amid widespread rumblings of displeasure and a couple of shouts of “shame on you” and “corruption” following approval by the Mathews Board of Supervisors of a conditional use permit for a private airstrip on 29 acres near the 28 homes in the neighborhood.
The vote for approval of the CUP, granted to Port Haywood resident Joe Perdue, was split 3-2, with supervisors Tom Bowen and Dave Jones casting the dissenting votes. The decision followed a joint public hearing with the Mathews Planning Commission, which had earlier voted against recommending that supervisors approve the application. That vote was split, as well, 4-3, with commission members Donald Morgan, Byron Rauch, Doug Wilton and Harry Meeks voting against the airstrip.
Perdue explained, as he had during two prior public hearings on the same issue, that the current airstrip he has, which is just 1,800 feet from the proposed site, is going to be developed into wetlands as part of his commercial wetlands mitigation bank. He said he was otherwise happy with the existing site and would have preferred to stay there. He said he had a record of safety while flying and that he had only clocked 106 hours on his light, home-built, single-engine aircraft over the past six years. He said complaints that the flat, mowed field he’ll be using will decrease property values are unwarranted, and that the property could be used for other things that would be noisier and less safe.
Speaking in support of Perdue’s applications were Lindsay Trittipoe, a pilot who said he has landed on the current airstrip and hopes to make a tradition out of flying over the Mathews Christmas parade, as well as Perdue’s wife, Cathy Perdue, and a neighbor, Bill Gardner, both of whom attested to Perdue’s honesty, integrity and concern for other people.
Neighbors reiterated the same complaints they had brought up during the previous public hearings, including concerns about possible accidents that could occur while residents, including children, are walking and riding bikes along the adjacent road; the safety of having airplanes flying low over Route 14 and possibly startling drivers; the noise created by airplanes flying overhead; the possibility of toxins leaching into the ground; and the depreciation of their property values that could occur.
A vote in favor of the airstrip, said Peach Point Road resident Diane Lawson, would “put one man’s wants above [those of] 28 families.”
Those objecting provided a list of restrictions they would like included should the application be approved, and planning commission members wrangled over the issue at length, eventually coming up with a motion that included most of those restrictions. However, when the planners voted against the application, those proposed restrictions were no longer in play. The planning commission adjourned, and the supervisors then had their discussion of the matter.
Bowen told Perdue that he could not vote for the application because any hardship he had regarding use of his property was of his own making. He gave an example of nuisance law, saying that if people decide to build their homes next to a pig farm, they have no right to complain about the farm. But if a farmer decides to place a pig farm adjacent to a neighborhood, the neighbors do have a right to complain.
Jones questioned whether there was a state law that the board should be taking into consideration before taking a vote. He said the article from the Code of Virginia that was used by planning and zoning director Bobby Andrade to determine what permissions might be needed from the state referred to a landing area “constructed by such person for his private use and which is not open to the general public.” He said that before voting he wanted to know what state law said about landing areas intended for use by more people than just the owner of the property.
Supervisor Mike Walls moved to approve the application as presented by staff, with 12 conditions for use. The motion was seconded by Janice Phillips. During discussion, Bowen questioned whether some of the additional conditions requested by neighbors and proposed by the planning commission should also be included, and Walls eventually agreed to include most of those, as well.
Among the conditions that were included by staff were that there would be no nighttime use of the landing strip, and that any takeoffs or landings must be made at least one hour after dawn and one hour before dusk; that all takeoffs must start on the southern end of the property and take off toward the north, over Route 14; that all landing approaches must be from the north over Route 14; and that if wind direction isn’t favorable for a southbound landing, the pilot will use an alternate runway.
Among the additional conditions imposed by the board of supervisors were that only home-built, light, sports engine aircraft may use the airstrip; that Perdue will pay to have VDOT place signs on Route 14 to warn drivers they’re approaching a landing strip, and that the application will be null and void if VDOT refuses to install the signs; that Perdue will pay to have Virginia Power place visual orange markers on the power lines along Route 14; that no helicopters be allowed to land on the airstrip; that aircraft can’t fly over the Peach Point subdivision during takeoff and landing; that aircraft can’t take off and land when a school bus is in the vicinity; and that the permit will be null and void should Perdue pass away or sell the property.
The one thing that neighbors asked for but that was not included was to limit use of the airstrip to Perdue’s aircraft only. Instead, with Walls expressing the desire to make sure that the county can continue to have flyovers at Market Days, May Faire, and other occasions, the condition allows Perdue to let four other aircraft of similar build use the airstrip up to six times a year.