Bedford Minuteman
June 2, 2004

Area towns still wary of Hanscom's fate

By Barbara Forster/ Correspondent

Although Hanscom Air Force Base recently received notice that it would
expand in the next few years, Hanscom area residents are following the
mantra: "It ain't over 'til it's over."

The next few weeks are a "critical phase" said Christopher Anderson, on
Thursday, May 25 at a meeting of the Hanscom Area Towns Committee in
Lincoln. Anderson is president of the Massachusetts High Tech Council and of
the Massachusetts Defense Technology Initiative, a public-private
partnership working to keep the Air Force base open.

Over the summer, the Base Realignment and Closure commission will hold
a series of regional meetings where various military installations that were
on the "close" list released May 13 will attempt to change the verdicts.

The commission will be in the Boston area July 6. There will be heavy
pressure from the state to ensure that Otis Air Force Base avoids closure
and that Hanscom remains open under the current recommendations.

"Other states are actively mobilizing to reverse their positions, but
we're going to push real hard to make sure that expansion sticks," said
Anderson, noting that includes attacks on the plan to keep Hanscom open.

Citing negative media sources is a tactic, for example. "A lot of
people are looking at everything we do in local and national papers," added
Anderson.

Hanscom defenders have a slight edge, Anderson said. They've been
working on defense for about two years. Other defenders only started the day
decisions were announced, he said.

During the hearings, the Bay State group will concentrate on defending
the rationale used to make the initial decision. So far, however, that
information has not yet been released to the BRAC commissioners or groups
like MassDTI. According to Anderson, the delay is unusual.

"The underlying data is usually released immediately," he said. "But if
we don't get it, we'll stick with the original strategy."

Anderson explained that at this point in the current round of base
closings, Hanscom's status looks good because moving off the open list
requires a "super" majority vote: seven out of the nine BRAC members must
agree to the change. Only a simple majority is needed to change "open" to
"close"

A final list goes to Congress in September.

In keeping with a positive attitude about the future of the Air Force
base, HATS is working to establish a more formal relationship with
MassDevelopment, which will be the lead agency in handling issues that
evolve as the facility grows.

-- Continued collaboration

HATS members plan to begin exploring the possibility of working
together on infrastructure issues such as utilities and/or housing. With
housing, for example, Selectman Ann Shapiro of Concord pointed out that some
towns have "tradeoff" arrangements to counteract the effects of 40B housing
projects.

Shapiro noted that Concord will be affected negatively by increased
traffic from 40B projects that are planned for Bedford, but Concord will
receive no benefits.

"To share the pain, share the gain - there probably are a lot of things
we can do," said HATS Chairman Sara Mattes of Lincoln.

Jeanne Krieger, selectman from Lexington, agreed. "We should be open to
the opportunity," she said. "There is synergy."

Because Lexington is currently working on a utility package, HATS is
using that as a starting point with an informational meeting next month.

-- Other news

Sara Arnold of Massport announced that Cross Point LLC has been
selected to develop the former MIT hangar known as Hangar 24. Initial plans
include 60,000 square feet of hangar space with an additional
12,500-square-foot footprint for a multilevel building for support services.
With the addition of this facility, Hanscom will have three Fixed Base
Operators. Signature and Jet Aviation are the other two.

"Once we have a specific design (for the hangar), we will go to HFAC
(Hanscom Field Advisory Commission)," added Arnold.

© Copyright of CNC and Herald Interactive Advertising Systems
==========
**NOTICE: In accordance with 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.**
==========