
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 23, 1994                    TAG: 9406230439 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: B1    EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA  
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940623                                 LENGTH: MANTEO

MILITARY OBJECTS TO MAINLAND SITE FOR DARE AIRPORT

{LEAD} Plans to move the Dare County Airport off Roanoke Island to the mainland may have been shot down by the military.

Dare County Commissioners Clarence Skinner and Sammy Smith went to Washington seeking federal help for the move but came home empty-handed.

{REST} Skinner said Tuesday that military officials from the Pentagon, Virginia and North Carolina objected to the proposal because it would place the airport too near a federal bombing range on the Dare County part of the mainland.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation had asked Burdeshaw Associates Ltd., a Bethesda, Md., consulting firm, to assess and develop a plan the military would find acceptable.

``According to the firm, the military's main concern is that we would infringe on their air space at the range,'' Skinner said.

Skinner also said that the military plans to increase its use of the bombing range from 65 percent of capacity to 88 percent.

``Even though there is a downsizing of the military, the restructuring that is going on will mean more traffic at the range. With that thought in mind, any move that would result in cutting down on military access would be totally unacceptable to them,'' Skinner said.

Skinner said the aviation division of the Transportation Department has asked the consulting firm to meet again with defense officials to try to work out some type of solution to the problems to satisfy both parties. However, he is not optimistic.

``In light of the new concerns, we're going to see if there is any restructuring that can be done to allow us to locate there. I can guess what the answer will be. (The military) will ask for more access.''

The new objections leave the county with the possibility of being without a site.

``We're going to have to put our heads together,'' Skinner said. ``If we consider other sites located within the county, we'll have to deal with problems that will affect people and the environment.'' by CNB