The Mathews County Board of Supervisors had a public hearing marathon during its meeting on April 17, holding eight public hearings, including the two on the FY2026 county budget and tax rates previously reported in this newspaper.
At the top of the agenda was a public hearing on an application by Joe Perdue of Port Haywood for a conditional use permit to place an aviation facility—a grass landing strip—on a piece of land he recently purchased near residential development on Fickle Fen and Peach Point roads. The hearing, which was the second one to be held on the matter, was interrupted early by supervisor Dave Jones, who told planning and zoning administrator Bobby Andrade that a new application was required because the property had changed hands since the application was heard the first time.
“This application is now not correct,” he said. “It needs to be put in the property owner’s name.”
Andrade said he hadn’t wanted to make the owner fill out a whole new application, but Mathews C...