Morristown has nowhere to grow

William Barkhauer, director of Morristown Municipal Airport (MMU), N.J., told a meeting of Morris County Freeholders early this year that the 637-acre airport “doesn’t have any available land to expand.” He was responding to complaints from the mayors of some neighboring towns who predicted that airport improvement would bring more jet traffic and more noise.

Signature is building an all-new terminal/ hangar complex at MMU that replaces a hodgepodge of World War II-vintage hangars and workshops. Barkhauer said the redevelopment at the airport would allow for only two or three more based jets. In a two-hour slide presentation, he outlined the airport’s 28-percent increase in traffic from 1992 through the end of last year. According to airport statistics, jet traffic has increased 25- to 30 percent during that period.