Kelsey Volkmann, The Examiner
2007-06-29 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WESTMINSTER, Md. -

Melanie Wisner is worried about losing everything to an airport expansion: Her log house, family’s trucking and landscape supply business, farm animals and wooded surroundings.

“I wanted to live here forever,” she said. “But we’ll have to start all over. We’ll lose our customers, our business. We’ll have to leave because the prices are too high in Carroll.”

Wisner was one of several Westminster residents to address commissioners Thursday to air their concerns about the county’s plans to chop down 337 trees near Carroll County Regional Airport.

The residents requested that the oaks, chestnuts and poplars be left alone until an environmental study — which must occur before the airport is expanded — is done to evaluate the potential impact on wildlife and streams.

But the county needs to remove the trees — 150 of which are diseased — to improve safety with an upgraded navigational lighting system, which is not related to the airport expansion, said Gary Horst, a member of the airport’s Technical Advisory Committee.

The new lights, which were called for in a 1986 airport plan and finally installed in March, cannot be turned on until the trees are removed, he said.

When the runway is lengthened, the lights, which guide pilots during landings, will have to be repositioned, Administrative Services chief Cindy Parr said.

Residents, including Mary Kowalski, Rebekah Orenstein and Robert Brink, said they still believe the tree harvesting is linked to the expansion.

“I believe that they are using these upgraded lights as an excuse to come in and start cutting the trees down,” Kowalski said.

For Wisner, the uncertainty of her future and that of her husband, Tom, and their two young children plagues her.

She said she figures her family will move to Pennsylvania, where houses are cheaper, but her children will have to switch schools.

“In the back of my head I guess I realized that there could be an airport expansion, but I just didn’t expect them to start cutting down trees without looking into the environmental impact,” she said.

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com