Runway Relocation, New Hangars To Support Corporate Aviation

Commissioners for Carroll County, MD approved a plan Tuesday to extend and relocate the main runway at Carroll County Regional Airport/Jack B. Poage Field in Westminster.

The $56 million plan is intended to accommodate the trend of corporate jets making the move from major airports to regional ones. It will provide the necessary runway space to allow for takeoffs with full fuel tanks with more passengers, generating revenue through increasing fuel sales. The 5,100-foot runway will be built 250 feet west and 600 feet north of its present location, according to the Baltimore Sun.

"With a longer runway, they can take off in a much safer manner," Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge said.

New corporate hangars will also generate much needed revenue, she said. The airport expansion is projected to be completed by 2013.

Michael J. Waibel, senior airport planner with URS Corp., a Hunt Valley company consulting on the three year-old project, said the planned runway will better accommodate the new corporate travel favorite, the Gulfstream 5, with its nearly 100 foot wingspan and 10 passenger seating capacity.

"It's not an exercise in attracting larger aircraft: It's to sell fuel to your base customers," he said.

As ANN reported, the project does have its opponents worrying about the increase in noise and pollution that accompanies increased airport activity. They fear the longer runway will destroy their rural way of life. A couple of citizens groups gathered more than 1,000 signatures on a petition opposed to the expansion and some have called the federal and state funding for the project a form of "corporate welfare."

Commissioner Michael D. Zimmer, who cast the only dissenting vote, said the expansion could harm the environment.

"Are the environmental impacts worth it?" Zimmer said. "We're talking about additional nonporous surface, we're talking about potential impact on wildlife habitat, we're talking about potential impact on air pollution."

The required environmental assessment could take up to two years to complete and another airspace study will determine how the expansion might affect other airports in the region, said Gary Horst, acting airport supervisor.

Carroll County Circuit Judge J. Barry Hughes denied protesters' request for an injunction Monday to delay the vote, according to Robert Brink, co-chairman of Concerned Citizens United, an opposition group. Their next step is to incorporate and hire an environmental attorney to fight the expansion plan.

FMI: www.carrollcountyairport.com