Private Scottsville airstrip goes to Buckingham supervisors for vote

Published 12:56 am Sunday, December 22, 2024

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Nobody signed up to speak, nobody was in opposition and overall, there were no issues with the proposed project. On Monday, Dec. 16, the Buckingham planning commission unanimously recommended a request to build an airplane landing strip in Scottsville. Now it’ll be up to county supervisors as to what happens next. 

The case involves a piece of land at 1467 Hundley Branch Road in Scottsville. Deborah Blake and her husband want to build an airplane hanger and grass airstrip. Deborah’s husband has a FAA private pilot license to fly single engine aircraft and her daughter is a 16-year-old student pilot who wants to fly commercial airplanes. To become a commercial pilot, one of the requirements is a thousand flight hours. 

“(We’re) wanting to use this to help log some of those flight hours,” Deborah Blake told the commission during the project’s introduction back in November. 

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If the airstrip project isn’t approved, the closest flight school where her daughter would have access to a plane is in Weyers Cave, at Blue Ridge Aviation. That’s more than an hour and a half away. With all the variables, figuring out how to get regular flight hours for the 16-year-old can be hit or miss. This would help fix that problem. 

The goal is to buy a Piper Cub aircraft and house it in the hanger. Deborah told the commission the plan is to start with one plane and maybe add a second one down the line. An average Pipe Cub airplane needs on average roughly 600 feet to take off, Deborah told the commission, so a 1,300-ft. airstrip should more than do the job. 

Why is a permit needed in Scottsville? 

The Blake family’s property on Hundley Branch Road is zoned A-1 (Agricultural). That means the rules don’t allow a private grass strip or a hanger without a conditional use permit. If a permit is granted, commission members pointed out, the family would just have to follow any restrictions placed on it by the commission or county supervisors. One of those that’s common in Buckingham is to make it clear all commercial aircraft is prohibited on the private strip. Deborah Blake said that wouldn’t be a problem, as this is just something the family members will use. 

This also marks the second private airstrip going up for a county vote in the last 60 days. Back in October, supervisors granted a request by Dillwyn resident John Demaio to build a private airstrip on his Gravel Hill Road property. That project is just being built to house his plane, a Cessna 182P. Demaio owns a house in Florida and said he’d like at any given time to be able to walk out of the house in Dillwyn, get into the plane and go down there. 

What happens next? 

As for the Blake family, their case will now be discussed at the next Buckingham County board of supervisors meeting. That will take place on Monday, Jan. 13, starting at 6 p.m.