Concord Journal
July 21, 2005

Activists vow to fight Crosspoint at Hanscom

By Barbara Forster, Correspondent

"The product is not acceptable."

And furthermore, added Marty Pepper Aisenberg of Save Our Heritage on
Tuesday during a meeting of the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission, "We will
go to the governor, our senators, and Congress and we will stop it; today is
just the beginning."

The "product" is a new Fixed Base Operator, Crosspoint Aviation Services,
LLC, at Hanscom Field. The company is currently negotiating a lease with
Massport for the former MIT facility, also known as Hangar 24. In 2001, MIT
moved its research operations toHanscom Air Force Base.

Fixed Base Operators are service centers at airports that provide various
services to pilots and plane owners ranging from fuel and parking to hangar
space and aircraft servicing/repair.

A half-dozen or so protesters carried signs outside the Concord Town House
noting objections to further expansion at the civilian air field.

Crosspoint wants to build a 60,000-square-foot hangar with 13,000 square
feet of aviation-related space, and 18,000 square feet of office space. The
facility would also have 100 parking spaces. Based in Woburn, Crosspoint is
an affiliate company of Eastern Development, LLC.

With the addition of this facility, Hanscom would have three Fixed Base
Operators. Signature, which is also at Logan, and Jet Aviation are the
other two.

Tom Ennis of Massport said the decision to add another facility was "market"
driven.

"It was obvious to us when we received five responses (to the Request for
Proposals) for FBOs," he said. "What we have seen is increased corporate
demand."

Ennis added that all existing hangar facilities are almost fully leased.

But Aisenberg disagreed. "Massport is obviously encouraging corporate
jets," he said.

Kay Tiffany of Lexington and member of Safeguarding the Historic Hanscom
Area's Irreplaceable Resources, challenged Massport's contention that
Crosspoint's proposal made the best financial sense for the agency. "It's a
whole question of values," she said, noting that at some point money should
not be the single most important driving factor.

"It's unacceptable, it's unconscionable, and it's disgusting to do this in
Massachusetts in 2005," aded Tiffany.

-- More objections

That HFAC has not yet seen Crosspoint's proposal is another sticky point.
The group did see the Request for Proposals.

"It would seem to be more productive to the process if HFAC could engage in
a review," said Lincoln's Sara Mattes, who is chair of the Hanscom Area
Towns Committee. "HFAC was established as an advisory body."

Ennis agreed to arrange for HFAC and HATS members and interested residents
to review a copy of the original proposal sometime this week in order to
make comments before the lease is signed. The goal, said HFAC Chairman Anne
Shapiro of Concord, is to determine HFAC's advisory capacity as well as ways
to "make use of that capacity."

Mattes raised another issue.

"Hanscom is a reliever for Logan and is to draw traffic away from it, so the
introduction of a new FBO is not consistent with (Massport's) charter," she
said.

Nancy Nelson, superintendent of Minute Man National Historical Park, stated
that the "national park has a mission and we would like that to be
considered." She added that Massport did not consult with the park in
developing the request for proposals or in deciding which plan was selected.

--Future development

Massport plans to issue a request for proposals for the Pine Hill site
exclusively to flight schools so they can find a more permanent home at the
field. The schools have used Hangar 24 and other sites as a base.

Massport has also received six "letters of interest" for Hangar 10, the
former Liberty Mutual site, which has 20,000-plus square feet of space.

"The door height doesn't accommodate the newer business jets, so the
proponent plans a new facility of 27,000 square feet," said Ennis.

Liberty Mutual is in a new 38,000-square-foot hangar built on the site of
the "old" Hangar 1.

Massport and Jet Aviation are discussing whether to pave over a grassy area
near the FBO. According to Frank Diglio of Jet Aviation, the space is being
used to park airplanes and "is becoming rutty."

--Something new

Massport is exploring joining forces with a New Jersey-based group, Sound
Initiative. The goal is to generate legislation that would phase out Stage
2 aircraft that weigh less than 75,000 pounds.

In 1990, the federal government began phasing out Stage 2 aircraft that are
over the 75,000-pound mark and that primarily affected commercial airports.
Non-Stage 3 jets, according to a letter from Hanscom Field Director Barbara
Patzner, "continue to generate a disproportionate amount of aviation noise
at Hanscom...anecdotal evidence indicates that we receive more complaints
per Stage 1 or 2 jet operation than for Stage 3 operations."

--Less action

In June, making it the sixth consecutive month this year, aviation activity
at Hanscom was down. The total number of operations between 7 a.m. and 11
p.m. decreased 4.6 percent from last year, going from 18,615 to 17,751.
Massport's Sara Arnold reported that, except for increases in touch-and-goes
by small aircraft and helicopter activity, all aircraft types racked up
fewer operations.

Arnold described jet operations as "essentially stable" with a 0.2 percent
overall decrease, although jet aircraft departures between 10 p.m. and 7
a.m. increased somewhat.

Night activity, between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., also dropped overall, from 202
operations to 175. Complaints plummeted from 678 to 257.

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