"New Jersey airport to study threat from bomb blast at planned garage"

Tuesday, April 2, 2002

Airport to study threat from bomb blast at planned garage
By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
The Press of Atlantic City (NJ)


EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - One of the biggest concerns in airline security is the
possibility of a terrorist bomb being planted in a truck or car parked next
to an airport terminal.

Could it happen here?

The South Jersey Transportation Authority, operator of Atlantic City
International Airport, will study that possibility to address concerns about
a $21 million parking garage proposed near the passenger terminal.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration
banned most parking within 300 feet of airport terminals nationwide to
protect against car bombings. Only the most secure parking is allowed within
that security zone.

The FAA's order has jeopardized plans for a 1,500-space garage at Atlantic
City International because the facility is proposed next to the terminal
within the 300-foot security perimeter.

Hoping to win federal security approvals for the garage, the South Jersey
Transportation Authority will hire a consultant to study ways of protecting
the terminal in case terrorists are able to detonate a car bomb nearby.

"One of the issues that causes this is the concern that someone would park a
car with explosives in it and it would have a detrimental impact on the
terminal," said James A. Crawford, the authority's executive director.

"We would run the risk of not being able to use the garage if the study is
not done," he added.

The authority has set an April 16 deadline for consultants to submit
proposals for the study, known as a "blast effect analysis."

Crawford said the study could recommend design changes for the garage to
make it more blast-proof. Another possibility is to reconstruct the terminal
building - such as replacing its glass façade with walls made of brick or
other masonry - to make it more resistant to explosions.

"This is what we may have to do to meet the FAA's criteria for hardening the
front of the building so we can put the parking garage next to the
terminal," Crawford said.

The study is expected to take three to four months to complete. Crawford
acknowledged there is a great deal of uncertainty because the study may be
the first of its kind in the nation.

"To a certain extent, we're in uncharted waters here," he said. "Our problem
is that nobody has gone through this process from beginning to end."

Construction of the garage is already about two years behind schedule, and
there are doubts whether the project will ever be built.

Crawford was reluctant to speculate on a construction date pending
completion of the security study. However, he said he was hopeful that the
facility could open by the summer of 2003.

"Certainly the events of Sept. 11th have delayed this even further," he
said. "We've got to get through the process in order to have a project that
will move forward."

The private development group that would build and operate the garage had
been putting a financing package together, but funding has been complicated
by concerns about the facility's location.

"As far as we're concerned, we're ready to build the project as soon as the
location is fixed," said Howard Goldberg, a partner in the Goldberg-Gurwicz
Group of Atlantic City, the garage developer along with Republic Parking
Systems Inc. of Chattanooga, Tenn.

Goldberg said the partnership has been in talks with Bank of America for
financing and remains confident that funding eventually will be approved.

The garage is considered a key element in the airport's long-term growth and
efforts to attract new airlines and passengers to the underused facility,
located 10 miles west of Atlantic City in Egg Harbor Township.

Under a 30-year lease negotiated with the developers in late 2000, the South
Jersey Transportation Authority would share in the parking revenue generated
by the garage. Its cut would range from 10 percent to 70 percent based on
gross receipts.

The developers have also discussed plans for an all-suite hotel at the
airport, but that project seems all but dead, according to Crawford.

"It's probably on life support," he said. "I have no expectation that it
will be built in the next two years."

 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?conf=DCConfID8

*****************************************