A proposal for a private airstrip in North Hero has officially been grounded.

Larry Dupont and Glenn Cotton have withdrawn their application for the runway at 89 Macomb Bay Lane, according to a brief letter the pilots’ attorney sent to the Vermont Transportation Board on Friday.

The plan for a private, 2,000-foot-long grass airstrip rattled the neighborhood along Lake Champlain. At an October 31 public hearing held by the Transportation Board, dozens of residents voiced their opposition to the proposal.

About a week later, the board filed a "recess memo" ordering Cotton and Dupont to refile their request with "the appropriate municipal panel" and gave them until February 7 to do so.
Friday’s letter appears to have put an end to the proposal. Scott Richardson, a neighbor who’d spoken against the plan, hadn’t heard about the decision before a reporter reached him Monday.

His response to the news? "Awesome!"

Neither Cotton nor Dupont immediately returned calls for comment.