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

DATE: Wednesday, July 20, 1994               TAG: 9407200417
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: By LANE DeGREGORY, Staff Writer 
DATELINE: MANTEO                             LENGTH: Short :   38 lines

DARE OFFICIALS PERSIST IN TRYING TO MOVE AIRPORT TO MAINLAND

Plans to move the major Outer Banks airport from Roanoke Island to the Dare County mainland could still take off, county Board of Commissioners Chairman Robert V. Owens Jr. said.

After the commissioners voted 6-1 Monday night to adopt a five-year land use plan, which discourages expansion of the airport at its current location, Owens assured more than 100 people who had gathered for a public hearing that his hopes for building an airport near the Navy bombing range have not been permanently shot down.

``This board and the state Department of Transportation are going to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to have a series of meetings with congressmen, senators and other officials. We'll leave the military out,'' said Owens, whose son, R.V. Owens III, sits on the N.C. Transportation Board. ``I'm not going to give up.''

Last month, county Commissioners Sammy Smith and Clarence Skinner Went to Washington to meet with military consultants and lobbyists. The locally elected officials want to move the hangar, commercial and private air facilities off the island and onto the mainland. But the consultants said that plan just wouldn't fly.

``We'll leave the military out this time. We'll get the governor's office involved. We'll talk to Senator Marc Basnight. We'll meet with the Armed Services Committee. We'll talk what we know - politics,'' said Owens, who also serves as Gov. James B. Hunt Jr.'s eastern representative. ``I honestly believe that Dare County needs a larger airport.

``It may be 10 to 20 years away,'' Owens said. ``But there's nothing like dreaming.'' by CNB