King William heliport plan could meet emergency needs

A medical helicopter can go from central King William County to VCU Medical Center in 6 minutes.

But if it takes that helicopter more than 30 minutes to find a place to land to get to a victim, speed might not matter.

King William resident and developer David S. Robinson Jr. is proposing to build a private heliport for use by police, medical and disaster-relief personnel off Dunluce Road, a few miles east of Central Garage.

The Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on the proposal Monday at 7 p.m. at the county meeting room, 180 Horse Landing Road.

Robinson leases land to Nestlé Purina Petcare Co. for a cat-litter plant off Dunluce Road.

A construction worker experienced an injury last year while working on an addition to the plant. The worker needed to be carried out by medevac, but with no landing site nearby, it took about a half-hour to land the helicopter, Robinson said.

Firefighters had to spray water on a dusty area near the plant so the helicopter could land.

After that, Robinson said, officials with a Nestlé safety committee came to him to ask if he would be interested in building the heliport.

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Robinson, who's also a pilot, is putting up about $750,000 to build the heliport, which would be FAA-compliant. The first phase would include the landing site, areas for taxiing and parking and a pedestrian walkway with an ambulance drop-off area.

The second phase would include parking for additional helicopters.

The site would be available around the clock for emergency medical personnel.

Robinson said there may be some commercial interest for the heliport in the future.

He said he has taken steps to reduce noise, such as having flight patterns that descend and ascend over his property. That is when the helicopters are loudest, he said. During that time, the noise can be heard for only about one to two minutes, he said.

"We're not flying a squadron of Black Hawks in here every day," Robinson said.

King William Emergency Services Director Steve Puckett said having a designated landing zone would be very beneficial to the area's fire-and-rescue personnel.

"When you're bringing [helicopters] into a field in the county that they're not familiar with, it could be very dangerous," he said.

If approved, phase one could be complete by midsummer.

Contact Holly Prestidge at (804) 649-6945 or .