AUBURN – Tightening security around the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport has as much to do about economic development as it does with national security, says the airport manager.

“As the airport expands and more and bigger businesses come to rely on it, you have to increase security,” Manager Peter Drinkwater said. “They expect it, on one hand. And it’s a matter of insurance. They get better rates if we have better security.”

Crews from C&G Fence Co. are finishing installation of motorized security gates at the airport’s three main entrances. The automatic gates will let airplane owners with a special, proximity card get in and out of the airport 24 hours a day. The system can be set up to let the airport track member comings and goings.

“That is an option we don’t need to use right away,” Drinkwater said. “We don’t want the members of our airport to think we’re closing everything down and that we’re going to start monitoring them. But we have that availability there if it does become necessary.”

The airport is attracting more professional flights, and those companies demand better security than the airport currently offers.

“If they can’t get it here, they’ll just go down the road, to Portland or someplace else,” Drinkwater said.

The gates are specifically designed for snowy climates, according to Drinkwater. They glide along a rail several feet off the ground.

“There is no track or wheels to get fouled up by the snow,” Drinkwater said. “The plows can come right by without catching on anything.”

The gates are one step in the airport’s process to fence in its entire four-mile perimeter. So far, about three-quarters of the airport is fenced in. Drinkwater said the airport should finish fencing in the last 5,000 feet by 2005. The project is scheduled to cost about $60,000.

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