DeLand City Commission Yet To Vote On Final Approval

The City Commission of DeLand, Florida, will vote on whether to give final approval to a plan to begin charging landing fees at the DeLand Municipal Airport (KDED), also known as Sidney H. Taylor Field.

If the plan is approved, the landing fees will go into effect October 1, 2024 and will apply only to itinerant aircraft. The rate will be $3.00 per thousand pounds of max landing weight. The fees will apply for touch and goes as well as full stop taxi back operations. The City-owned airport says the revenue generated from the fees will be applied toward offsetting what it calls the “skyrocketing” cost of maintaining the airport.

Aircraft based at the airport who make a contribution to airport revenues via tiedowns, parking, hangar rent, and ground leases will be exempt. Visiting pilots who patronize airport businesses will also be exempt, and airport staff will work with those businesses to develop a validation system to notify the airport which aircraft to exempt. Owners of based aircraft tenants will need to register their aircraft for exemption, and those who fail to register will not be exempt from the fees.

Final approval of the landing fee program will be voted on by the DeLand City Commission at the meeting scheduled for September 4, 2024, at 7 pm in the Commission Chambers in the DeLand City Hall.

A number of pilots responded to the Facebook post announcing the plan, urging owners and local pilots to attend the meeting and voice their opinions. One post in the Pilots of Florida group mentioned that the City will use VirTower to track aircraft tail numbers on the ground and in the air, and a 3rd party provider will mail out landing fee bills to the registered owners of the aircraft. 

There have been significant complaints about VirTower... which collects extensive info about subject flights and has been used to augment noise complaints against GA operations, among other issues. ANN is investigating... more info to follow.

FMI:  www.delandairport.com/