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The flying farmer says he’s surprised about all the fuss. Nobody has complained about his airfield for more than three decades.
For 34 years Richard and Sonya West have operated a private airfield on their farm northeast of Roxana.
During that time, the Wests have used the airfield for their private use. They also allow crop dusters, helicopters and part-time residents who commute to the resort area by plane to use the airfield – all at no charge.
But county officials now say the Wests were supposed to have a conditional-use permit from the county allowing operation of an airport and heliport. Shane Abbott, assistant director of county planning and zoning, said airfields are not a permitted use in AR-1 zoning districts without a conditional use granted by the county.
The area around Millville and Roxana is growing, and with growth comes more neighbors living closer to the Wests’ property. The airstrip is beginning to draw complaints.
The complaints only intensified after Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) officials said the area would in the future benefit from an airport for public use.
Bobbie Geyer of DelDOT’s division of planning said an airport is critical in growing southeastern Sussex County. With the high cost of land, it’s doubtful another airfield would ever be developed, she said.
Her comments that the state would eventually like to see the airfield convert to public use were met with little support from those who attended the public hearings.
Geyer also said helicopter landings should be permitted at the airport to prevent what she called illegal landings in nondesignated airfields, usually vacant fields, by developers throughout Sussex County.
The grass airfield is on a 28-acre strip of farmland that measures 3,000 by 75 feet.
After receiving a second notice of violation, West decided to comply with the county’s request. He applied for a conditional use and has been through a pair of public hearings – the first on Thursday, April 10, before planning and zoning, and the latest on Tuesday, April 29, before county council.
In between, planning and zoning recommended approval of conditional use of the land for an airfield with 10 conditions, including no more than nine landings a day, no fuel or hazardous material storage and no commercial activities except crop dusting.
West said he applied for a permit for a heliport, but the discussions centered about much more than a heliport.
They centered on noise, flight patterns of ducks and geese, a concern about increased use of the airfield and traffic in and out of the airfield – and even who had the rights to use a road leading to the airfield.
During the public hearings, many residents spoke in support of the West’s airfield, while other residents complained.
Most residents are not opposed to the airfield as long as it remains a small, family operation – and they want county officials to place conditions on its use to assure that.
One of the proposed conditions – no more than nine landings a day – is a drastic change, some residents contend.
David Weidman, an attorney representing opponents of more air traffic, said that equates to about 3,000 landings a year. “That condition is devastating to people who live in the surrounding area,” he said. “That is a greatly expanded use of the property. If you allow that, the space will be filled, and it’s not a rural airport anymore.”
The nine landings per day was not a condition requested by West, but when asked, it was a number he provided to the planning and zoning commission. “I don’t like putting numbers on it,” he said during the county council public hearing. “But nine was a safe number. During the winter we may not have two landings a month.”
Councilman George Cole said limits on airport use should not require counting airplanes. “We don’t want this to be an enforcement issue,” he said. “Hopefully we can avoid that, but it’s going to be a challenge.”
Cole motioned to defer action on the request for planning and zoning staff to accomplish three items: refine the proposed conditions to do away with numbers of landings; ascertain if any federal regulations pertain to grass airstrips as far as effect on residents is concerned; and contact the Roxana Volunteer Fire Co. to check on access to the airstrip. In addition, the record will be left open for 30 days with an additional 15 days for comments from the applicant and opposition on any findings or comments.
All but Councilman Dale Dukes voted in favor of the deferment.
Not a business
“It’s not a business,” West said. “I want to give something back to the community and support the farmers. I’ve never accepted any money.”
West said he was somewhat bewildered at the turnout at the first public hearing. “I think the biggest problem is that people have been misled.”
He has heard rumors that the airfield was going to be paved for jets and it was going to be turned into an airpark with storage – all false, he said. One of the proposed conditions is for the airfield to remain grass or dirt.
“It’s going to be no more and no less than it’s always been,” he said.
West said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and DelDOT have designated the airfield on maps for more than 20 years. “This is shocking to me how this has been blown out of proportion,” he said.
“They want to do what they have done there in the past,” said attorney Tim Willard, who represented the West family.
Willard said one of the main uses of the airfield is to provide a location for crop dusting to support farming operations. A member of the Flying Farmers organization, West hosts one of the organization’s fly-ins at the airfield.
Allen Chorman, who owns an aerial spraying operation in Milton, said the airfield is critical to his business and to farmers in southeastern Sussex County.
He said with gas at $5 a gallon and planes burning about 40 gallons per hour, the airfield has become even more important than when he started using it about 30 years ago.
The closest airfield would be one in Milton, which is far enough away to drive up the expense, possibly making crop dusting cost prohibitive to farmers in the area. “It’s imperative to us to have that airport,” he said.
Chorman said he and his pilots use the airfield twice a year, at the end of April and in July, for about two to three weeks each time. He said he makes eight to 10 landings and takeoffs per day during those periods.
Complaints about expansion
Most of those who testified during the public hearings were not opposed to crop-dusting, but many were opposed to what they called an expansion of activities at the airfield.
Weidman said if the Wests would continue with the same operation of the airfield as in the past, no one would have attended the public hearings.
“The problem is this – we can’t hit a moving target,” he said. “There are not the same uses as in the past.”
He talked about Washington-area commuters using the airfield and a letter of approval from DelDOT outlining several potential uses for the airfield including converting it to a public facility in the future.
“If the door is opened there could be a massive expansion in the use of the airstrip,” he said.
Richard Kautz, county land planner, and Vincent Robertson, assistant county attorney, both questioned how conditions placed on the airfield would be monitored.
“How are you going to police it?” Robertson asked West. “What controls do you have?”
West replied that he has always kept a keen watch on the airfield and by FAA regulations only pilots who have his permission are allowed to land there.
Several residents in support of the airfield chastised those with complaints.
“When you buy a home you ask what is around you,” said Paul Yannucci of Milton, a pilot who is retired from the U.S. Air Force. “Shame on you for not asking.”
Barry Morin, who is a resident and pilot who also uses the airfield, said most of the complaints were coming from residents who moved to the area recently. “They all had the option not to buy there knowing an airfield was there. Why is it a problem 34 years later?” he asked.
Howard Hitch, who lives within the flight path, said he enjoys watching the planes. “But we need some conditions and it needs to be locked into Mr. West’s use,” he said.
Anita West-Warner, one of the Wests’ daughters who is an Air Force and commercial pilot, said the area is perfect for an airfield in a time when small grass airfields are disappearing.
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