Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1958-04-24
Businessmen Say
By Steed Evans
Staff Reporter

The County Councils de-
cision not to build an airport
-reaffirmed last Tuesday,
could affect Congressional
attitudes toward locating the
Bureau of Standards in Mont
gomery County,, it was con-
tended this week.
]. B. Hartranft, Jr., president
of the powerful Aircraft Owners
and Pilots Association, with 49,.
600 members across the country
pointed out that hundreds of
prime and sub-contractors who
: do business with Standards as
well as with other Governmental
agencies had looked forward
anxiously to an airport in Mont
gomery County. They, as well as
the AOPA, will make known
their disappointment to Congress,
Hartranft said.
"The county is being incredibly
shOrt-sighted about this whole
thing" Hartranft asserted.
"The Maryland-National Capt..
tai Park and Planning Commits
sion is counting on industry to
come to this county and so is
Reese, the county manager.
'But industry will never come
here unless an airport is built to
accommodate it. Even the bust
ness of Government, growing as
it is, can't stand a place like this
with no landing facilities" he
declared.
These developments followed a
4-3 vote by the County Council
last Tuesday not to draft sug.
gested items for a second, eco
nomics and feasibility study" for
an airport.
Councilmen Robert T. Snure
and ]. Grahame Walker, who
were absent when the Council
first voted an airport down April
10, attempted unsuccessfully to
have a second survey prepared
Their move was Joined by Coun.
Gil president Wilbur N. Baugh.
man but Councilwoman Stella B.
Werner and colleagues Charles
H. Jamison, Grover K. Walker
and Jerry T. Williams dissented
Snure's call for an economics
and feasibility study was called
foolish" by Cyril c. Thompson
executive secretary of the Mont
gomery County Airport Commit
tee and a member of AOPA.
There isn't an airport engi
neering company in the world
that can tell the Council how
much it is going to cost to build
an airport or how much an air
port will earn. That's up to the
management of the airport.
Furthermore, it would be a
waste of the taxpayers money to
hire a survey firm. Everything
one of these firms could tell the
Council is embodied in the sever
al Federally sponsored airport
surveys already completed. These
are readily available for study.
what the Council ought to
do" he said, "is to send some
people down to the CAA, ask for
the plans already approved by
Congress. They would see that
there is no question that a
county-built airport could posi-
bly, fail. 1t would be an economic
cinch.
After all, would Congress ap-
propriate money, year after year,
if it thought the airport sites it
has chosen would be unfeasible?"
he questioned.
He referred specifically to the
Quesada report and the Greiner-
Mattern, Assn report which spe-
officially chose a site near Rock
vile as one of the best in the
Metropolitan area to serve ex-
panding population and industrial
growth.
The same site was chosen by
the Thomas Bourne firm of air
port engineers and architects who
recently completed survey for
the county. 1t is located between
new US. 240 and Ri. %, bounded
on the south by Shady Grove
Road.
In mentioning this site, Hart
ranft pointed out that, you don't
get an offer of Federal assistance
unless they have approved the
site"
Thompson said the county
ought to:
. Forget about the 4500-foot