SUSSEX COUNTY—During a meeting Thursday, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine told supervisors from Sussex and Southampton that he worries Virginia could lose the sprawling Navy base at Oceana if the service cannot build a new Outlying Landing Field somewhere nearby.

“He was quite honest with us that he would not chase this out of Sussex County,” Eric Fly told an audience of about 30 during a Sussex Board of Supervisors meeting Thursday evening.

Fly represents the Wakefield District in Sussex. He and board Chairman Rufus Tyler joined Southampton County Board of Supervisors Chairman Dallas O. Jones, along with Sussex County Administrator Mary E. Jones and Southampton Administrator Michael Johnson, in a hastily arranged meeting with the governor. Also attending were Del. Roslyn Tyler, who set up the meeting, Del. William Barlow and Robert P. Crouch Jr. of the governor’s Office for Commonwealth Preparedness.

Rufus Tyler said the governor was “very attentive” as the visitors described their concerns about loss of productive farmland, loss of control of family-owned properties, loss of the rural quality of life, loss of potential economic development opportunities and loss of tax revenue from land that could be taken off the tax rolls if an airstrip is built in either Sussex or Southampton.

“I think he heard our concerns,” Tyler said. “But he did express his concern about keeping Oceana in Virginia.”

Fly said the governor’s office presented estimates showing that Virginia could lose $2.2 billion in revenue if Oceana were to move elsewhere, and he said that Houston and Florida have been angling for the base for some time.

“The only positive thing we can do is to drive this thing down to North Carolina,” he said. “We expressed our support for the Camden site.”

Citing the imminent issues of power lines and a restricted-access Route 460 that would run through large parts of the county Fly told those attending the Sussex meeting that “Sussex County can’t handle an OLF economically.”

Southampton would face similar economic issues, as both the power lines and Route 460 will cut a wide swath through the county.

Despite the promise of unspecified economic incentives for a county that agrees to host the practice landing strip, Sussex supervisors confirmed their continued opposition to the plan.

At the request of a resident who asked, “Does Sussex have a price?” the board voted unanimously to oppose any Navy plan to locate an auxiliary airstrip in the county.

Jones said she and county administrators from Southampton, Greensville and Surry had agreed to meet next week to discuss how to fight the Navy’s advances.

The Navy has identified two locations on the Southampton/Sussex border, one on the Surry/Prince George border and two in North Carolina as potential sites for pilots of its F/A-18 Super Hornet jets to conduct carrier landing practice.