Nearly 100 people turned out Monday to oppose the expansion of Carroll?s airport, saying it would increase noise and pollution and reduce property values.
As county and Maryland Aviation Administration officials made their first presentation to the Westminster Common Council since county commissioners approved the expansion in June, residents argued politicians had ignored their concerns in the name of economic development.
County officials say lengthening the Carroll County Regional Airport runway from 5,100 to 6,400 feet would enable more corporate jets to use the airport, boosting the commercial and industrial tax base. The officials noted that local Fox Network and Jos. A. Bank executives often use the airport.
But even with the expansion, larger planes would not use the airport, said Ashish Solanki, director of the MAA?s office of regional aviation assistance.
Resident Laurie Walters remained skeptical.
“I don?t want to lower my quality of life because some executive from Fox wants to fly in at his convenience,” she said. “The bottom line is there will be more planes, more noise and a lower quality of life.”
Despite widespread opposition, however, residents have little chance of stopping the runway expansion, said County Commissioner Michael Zimmer, who cast the sole vote against the project.
A study on the expansion?s effects on the environment will be conducted next, followed by the particulars of the plan, said Stephen Powell, county chief of staff. The environmental study is expected to take two years, county officials say.
The expansion is expected to cost at least $56 million, with 95 percent from theFederal Aviation Administration and the remaining 5 percent split between pilots and the state.
“If someone is going around with the assumption that this environmental assessment would stop it, they?d be sorely mistaken,” Zimmer said.
Westminster council members, he said, had been “strangely quiet” during the approval process, though Commissioner Dean Minnich said residents? concerns would be taken into account.
But when some residents tried to ask questions Monday, council members refused to answer because the meeting was not a public hearing.
