Outlying Landing Field - Sussex/Southampton VA

Office of the Governor
Patrick Henry Building
3rd Floor, 1111 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219

Re: Proposed Outlying Landing Field (OLF) sites in Sussex and Southampton Counties

We the undersigned express our opposition to the state of Virginia allowing the United States Navy to obtain approximately 32,000 acres of land in either or both Sussex and Southampton counties for use as an Outlying Landing Field.

The proposed sites include land that has been part of local families heritage since the early 1800s. While this land is not valuable as rich farming acreage, nature conservancy or for any underlying natural resource, it is of great historical significance to us as individuals and families and to our state and nation.

We understand the actual building acreage needed for a landing strip, control tower and support buildings is roughly 3,000 acres, but the buffer zone needed for jet aircraft noise would greatly impact the quality of life for farmers and residents living within 50 square miles of the landing zone. For those of us who have lived or visited the Virginia Beach area and heard the aircraft at Oceana, that noise is deafening.

Since the OLF is designed to train pilots for night landings, residents of these quiet communities would hear jet engine noise well into the night. Sundown during the May August timeframe does not occur until roughly 8:00 p.m. At what time would it be dark enough to simulate conditions in the ocean? Would pilots begin their training at 8 p.m. and continue for one, two, three hours? And if the Navy decides they want to use the landing zone for day operations, what could possibly stop them? In the future, it seems to us the Navy could justify use of the OLF for any type of jet training they deem necessary for the sake of national security.

Others, including the Southampton Board of Supervisors, have made strong cases against the OLF, especially its impact on property values in the short-term and long-term. The financial impact on residents is clear and perhaps easier to put in words. What is hard to communicate is the emotional bond we feel to this land and our connection to generations of families who have lived and worked on it. If you allow the OLF to be built here, you not only alter the land and affect the local economy, you forever change the emotional memory of this place for the people who have called it home.

Please remove our counties from the list of possible sites for the OLF.