Fierce opposition forced the county commissioners to go with their second choice for a consultant to look into the Westminster airport expansion.
Carroll?s commissioners selected Delta Airport Consultants Inc. to carry out the next step in the airport?s controversial expansion ? an environmental impact study.
“Some people would have argued that this was all just a big set-up from the beginning,” Commissioner Michael Zimmer said.
“This would just create controversy that we didn?t need to create. The solution was to go with different consultants. This was purely a perception issue.”
The commissioners voted unanimously to hire Delta instead of URS Corp., the same company that recommended the county expand the Carroll County Regional Airport.
Delta will gather information on the expansion for state and federal agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration.
“People should feel satisfied that there?s no influence from the county or anyone else on these particular agencies,” Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge said. “They are professional people from the state and federal agencies who do the work.”
In a separate vote, Commissioners Zimmer and Dean Minnich voted against hiring URS, as the county administration had requested.
Both said they did not reject URS because it would do a poor job.
Minnich said he was forced to act “unreasonably” so opponents of the expansion would stop accusing him of trying to slam the expansion through without considering their concerns.
A “substantial number” of public hearings were promised throughout the environmental study.
“We will try to ensure that there are enough opportunities for the public to not only be updated, but to participate and input directly to the consultant,” said Gary Horst, administrator of the county?s Office of Performance Auditing.
The study?s design should be approved by the FAA by November, though it could take two years to complete after that, said Cindy Parr, chief of administrative services.
PROPOSED AIRPORT WORK
Regional Airport would extend the runway and add hangars for corporate jets. The project is expected to cost $56 million to $70 million.
