Baltimore Regional Airport Faces Residents' Opposition

Organized resident opposition to a proposed runway expansion for the Carroll County Regional Airport in Westminster will be balanced against potential economic benefits as county commissioners consider a plan for adoption June 12, reports the Baltimore Sun.

The latest master plan includes one of four options concerning the airport runway. One proposal calls for building a new runway 1,300 feet longer and located 250 feet west and 600 feet north of the current strip, which would allow for larger airplanes. The current runway is 5,100-feet.

The proposed $74 million runway expansion project would allow the airport to expand its apron and invite businesses to construct corporate hangars from which the county would profit; $1.9 million of the project would come from airport revenue.

The expansion is opposed by area residents concerned about its impact on property values, safety, and the environment.

Increased noise pollution and safety concerns, say concerned residents, would compromise their rural quality of life.

Opponents wore yellow squares on their shirts that read in black letters: "NO airport expansion" at a recent hearing.

If you stop outside Ron Buczkowski's health food store in Westminster, you would see signs reading "No Airport Expansion" and "We Say No to Airport Expansion."

Buczkowski is co-chairman of the Carroll Joint Neighborhood Association, which has gathered signatures from more than 1,000 residents on a petition that asks the county commissioners to slash the runway expansion as the county updates the 20-year airport master plan.

"When most of the residents moved here, it was a country airport," said Buczkowski, "and it has become an airport that is much more user-friendly to jet service now. With increased jet traffic comes more pollution and noise issues, and ... the airport is surrounded by more and more residential development."

Union Bridge resident John D. Witiak was one of the few residents to speak in support of the airport at the May 30 hearing. He said the expansion could help widen Carroll's lagging industrial tax base.

"It would hopefully take the tax burden off the property owner," Witiak said. "Planes and mass transit, not roads, are the things of the future."

Varrone, the county performance auditor who oversaw the airport until early April, said an expanded runway would bring in only a few more jet flights each day, while increased traffic and a longer runway would bring in more fuel sales.

The runway "will have a positive economic impact on the county," Varrone said. "It will keep the airport enterprise fund in the black ... and it will add revenue to the county's general fund."

Demand for the airport's facilities has grown in recent years; about 100 planes are stored on-site, filling T-hangars and forcing some to park on the apron. Profitability for four consecutive fiscal years has brought the airport out of the red and into the black, officials said.

Officials add that one of the main reasons the airport is earning money is because of its seven corporate hangars.

And growth isn't only seen on airport grounds.

"The [Westminster Air Business Center] has grown up around the airport, ... and other business parks continue to develop in that corridor," said Paige Sunderland, business development manager for the county Department of Economic Development.

"Some of our companies do utilize the airport for their corporate aviation needs, so that certainly is an asset to be able to offer them the airport as an amenity."

The airport also attracts corporate travelers coming from or going to places outside Carroll County, said Myers.

"There are a lot of the larger firms flying in and out quite frequently," he said. "It's much more convenient for them than to fly to BWI or one of the airports farther away that are much more congested."

The airport serves as a reliever for BWI and features both corporate and general aviation facilities, services, and support, including its 5,100-foot runway.

Recent improvements to the airport have included tarmac, corporate hangars, FBO, a Compass Rose, taxiways, and facilities.

And because of its location (Carroll County is northwest of Baltimore City and borders PA) it is accessible from PA, WV, VA, DE, MD, the Chesapeake Bay, the Blue Ridge, and Appalachian Mountains. Because it now serves as a major connecting hub for numerous eastern destinations, its role increases each year as passengers, pilots, and cargo carriers pass though the National Capital and Baltimore Regional areas.

The airport is also appreciated for its distance from government restrictions. Pilots and airport employees say Carroll County Regional is convenient because of its location outside the Air Defense Identification Zone that restricts and regulates air traffic in the Baltimore-Washington area.

"You can train your students without hassles based on controlled airspaces," said Peter Rutelli, a WestAir flight instructor.

"We run a tight ship, but at the same time we go out of our way to provide great service to our customers at the airport," Varrone said. "We're here to enhance economic development and revenue for citizens."

The runway, at its busiest, averages 360 to 414 daily "operations," according to a 2005 draft of the facility's master plan. With takeoffs and landings counted separately, the number of operations can be inflated by flight schools and the occasional practicing pilot.

Many of those departures and arrivals stop at one of the airport's two FBOs. (photo: typical FBO)

WestAir Aviation and American Pilot Services cater to business travelers and general aviators, and account for an estimated 26 of about 70 employees who work at - but not for - the airport.

"We provide pilot services of just about every type," said Mark Myers, director of fixed-base operations for WestAir.

The airport, in turn, serves to better the economy, county officials said.

Carroll County Airport has quietly grown from a small farm field in a community along an old American Indian trail to supporting wartime military airlifts of troops and supplies to a county-owned facility recognized by local and state authorities as a vital regional link for commerce.

Honoring those involved in the revitalization, the airport was renamed Carroll County Regional Airport, DMW, and later dedicated to Jack B. Poage, aviator and FBO owner.

Stay tuned.

FMI: www.carrollcountyairport.com, www.carrollbiz.org