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Dillwyn resident John Demaio will get his private airstrip. By a unanimous decision, Buckingham County supervisors approved the request.
The project will be built at 2697 Gravel Hill Road. Demaio needs a special use permit to build the private grass airstrip and airplane hanger, because his property is currently zoned Agricultural (A-1). That means the zoning ordinance doesn’t allow an airstrip without approval from supervisors. Back in August, Demaio told the planning commission he had no plans to let other people land at the site. It was being designed to just 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. 

There are just a few requirements attached to the approval. First, right of ways and roadway shoulders won’t be used for aircraft parking around Gravel Hill Road. Second, the property will be kept neat and orderly. Third, all federal, state and local regulations will be followed. And fourth, all commercial aircraft will be banned from using the site or being stored there.

The only concern that had been raised during this process was how close it would be to the nearby road. Demaio and his supporters pointed out the airstrip would actually be further from the road than several public use airports in Virginia. They cited Wakefield, Petersburg and Franklin airports as operating landing strips closer to the highway than this one and supervisors accepted that.