As the Danville-Pittsylvania region continues to grow, it increasingly relies on its regional airport to bring in visitors, economic development officials and business executives. The airport is undergoing several improvement projects, one of which will be considered by city council at its regular meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Council will vote on an ordinance to amend the current fiscal year budget to provide for an almost $72,000 grant from the Virginia Department of Aviation for an erosion mitigation project at the airport.
Another almost $8,000 in local dollars will be provided from undesignated capital improvement funds.
Part of the airfield at the Danville Regional Airport has been significantly eroded because of deficiencies with the nearby south ramp’s stormwater system, according to the staff report included in the meeting’s agenda packet.
“A significant ditch has formed along several hundred feet of airport property,” the staff report says.
This ditch parallels one of the airport’s taxiways, which fills with water. The erosion prevents airport maintenance staff from removing small trees and brush that get caught in the ditch.
This project would work to repair and preserve the stormwater system, eliminating the erosion “so that the area does not serve as a habitat for wildlife activity that could cause operational safety issues for pilots,” the report says.
City staff recommends that council approve this item, according to the report.
The city council meeting will be followed by a work session. Also meeting this week in Danville is the board of zoning appeals, which will convene at 10 a.m. Thursday.
In Pittsylvania County, the board of supervisors will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday. It will consider several rezoning applications, though a final vote on the Balico application to rezone about 740 acres of land for a data center project has been postponed until April 15 at the request of the company.
