Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Aldermen to vote on airport spending

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 16:35:49 -0400

Aldermen to vote on airport spending

by Robert Schroeder
Staff Writer

July 15, 2004

Frederick's mayor and Board of
Aldermen will vote tonight on
whether to spend about
$750,000 to design and enlarge
the Frederick Airport, including a
longer runway that officials say
will attract more planes and help
boost job creation here.

The overwhelming majority of
that money -- about 95 percent
-- will come from the Federal
Aviation Administration. But
officials here describe the
airport projects as important
engines for economic growth in
Frederick and money well spent.

"Lots of folks use the airport,
lots of folks look to use the
airport in the future," Mayor
Jennifer P. Dougherty (D) said
Tuesday.

"It is one other way that we
bring larger businesses to
Frederick, corporate
headquarters that offer those
good jobs that folks are looking
for, so they don't have to take
that terrible morning and
afternoon commute," she said.

Airport manager Charlie Abell
said this week he expects the
airport to continue to attract
users. Currently 299 aircraft are
based at the airport, he said,
and he expects growth of 2 percent per year.

More than 150,000 takeoffs or landings occur per year at the airport,
according to Abell.

Aldermen will vote on five separate airport-related agenda items
tonight, including a
$426,400 purchase order to URS Corp. to write the airport's newest
master plan and
$79,000 for new runway tree removal.

Separately, the aldermen will consider whether to reprogram $600,000 to
extend the
airport's runway. The overall cost of the runway project is about $5.2
million.

But change will come slowly to the airport. In July 2003, when the
aldermen approved
the runway extension (to 6,000 feet from 5,220 feet), it was estimated
that
construction wouldn't be finished for as long as a decade.

Abell said this week that design work for the new runway would alone
take four to six
months.

After that, he said, he and others will be able to determine how long
construction will
take.

Abell said he expects the airport-related measures to pass.

"We've been working up to this for years," he said.

As part of the airport enlargement, the city is buying six properties
along Bailes Lane,
and is displacing a Waffle House restaurant at 1313 E. Patrick St.

But according to Alderman Joseph W. Baldi, a Republican who sits on the
city's Airport
Commission, the expansion will stop after those properties are
incorporated into airport
land.

"We can't go much further," Baldi said on Tuesday. "We can't close
[Interstate] 70,
we're not going to drain the Monocacy River, we're not going to move the
golf course."

The enlarged airport is "important for the economic development of the
City of
Frederick," Baldi emphasized.

At their meeting this evening, the mayor and aldermen will also take up
a $160,319
contract with Motorola for police and Department of Public Works
employees'
communication devices, a resolution aimed at establishing fees for
automated trash
collection services, an agreement with Frederick Memorial Hospital
concerning impact
fees and other issues.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the City Hall boardroom.
http://www.gazette.net/200429/frederick/news/226560-1.html