20050921 Carroll Airport outlook good

Carroll Airport outlook good

Westminster Advocate: http://westminsteradvocate.com/

Historical Perspective: Carroll Airport outlook good

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

(586 words)

One board of commissioners after another, since the 1940s, has helped bring the Carroll County Regional Airport to the first-class facility that we know today, worthy of being named Maryland “Airport of the Year.”

The journey has been hard and not without controversy.

In the early 1970s, I would tag along to breakfast at Baugher’s with community leaders such as Bobby Warner, Scott Bair Jr., Jim Erb and Tom Senseney Sr. The airport was the often the center of contentious debate.

The Democratic Advocate reported on July 15, 1971, private developers wanted to take it over, and Commissioner John D. Meyer would have nothing of the idea. In September 1971, Meyer went on WTTR and said the county intended to develop its own land for an airport. On November 29, 1971, the Advocate said developers offered the commissioners $150,065 for the airport.

In a controversial decision, the commissioners said no.

Meyer announced: “I feel the county needs an airport for the proper economic development of the county … Nothing we do benefits everyone, and there are those that will disagree. But I feel aviation is just like TV; it’s here to stay. I feel it’s very important to the future growth of the county.”

The county forged ahead, and by the late 1970s, a 2,290-foot runway was constructed. In the mid-1980s, a 20-year master plan was adopted. The runway was extended to 5,100-foot runway by 1994.

Vivian Laxton and Gary Horst helped me bring the airport story up to date. I also interviewed some pilots. Horst has done an excellent job shepherding the airport to profitability and excellence in the last number of years.

In one of my favorite stories about Horst, on April 9, 1997, Max Bair, Horst and I flew out of the airport to do a site visit on a solid waste bioconversion facility in Tennessee. We flew down in a very small plane, sort of like being strapped to a surf-board with two lawn mowers attached for propulsion …

Today, the 5,100-foot runway is the sixth largest non-military runway in Maryland and handles about 100,000 flights a year. The airport has struggled financially in the past, but any initiative of this significance will have its setbacks. The airport is operated from its own enterprise fund, not through the county’s general fund, and a profit is projected for the 2006 fiscal year from nearly $2 million in gross revenues.

What is to be applauded is the perseverance on the part of the commissioners to plow ahead. Forget about any past mis-steps, real or imagined, and let’s concentrate on the lessons learned, the achievements and the future.

For Carroll to continue to attract economic development in today’s extremely competitive landscape, it is imperative that we capitalize on niche assets in place. The airport is a huge draw for new tax base and high-paying jobs.

I am looking forward to the completion of the airport’s Technical Advisory Committee’s new master plan. Carroll will greatly benefit from more corporate hangars, replacing the 20 by 80 foot retrofitted tin construction shed that currently serves as its terminal and extending the runway to 6,500 feet.

This committee, comprised of Martin Pittenger, Donald Vetter, Douglas Pollard, Brian Stites, Bonnie Jones, Jeffrey Smith, Edward Goldman, Peter Welles, Kevin Utz, Wray Mowbray, David Taylor and Tina Thomas, has worked hard for all us, and we owe them a big “thank you.”

The airport is critical to our economic future, and we must move forward, with all due, well-planned and thoughtful speed.

Cross posted.

— Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster.

E-mail him at kdayhoff(at) carr.org