Boston Globe -- NorthWest section
Thursday, July 15, 2004

Despite flak, firm builds new hangar at airfield

By Davis Bushnell, Globe Correspondent

Despite opposition from an activist group and several local officials,
Liberty Mutual Group is hammering away on a new 36,000-square-foot hangar
for its four Falcon jets at Hanscom Field in Bedford. It's expected that the
hangar will be completed in the first quarter of 2005, according to a
company spokesman.

Opponents contend that the Liberty Mutual project is a symbol of an alarming
increase in jet operations at the airport. They note, for example, that for
the first five months of this year, there were 13,843 operations involving
jets, compared to 12,480 for the same period in 2003. Last year, there were
30,339 jet operations, up from 22,839 operations in 2001.

The large Boston-based property and casualty insurer and the Massachusetts
Port Authority, owner-operator of Hanscom Field, are asserting that
construction plans conform to airport rules and that they have been
explained fully at meetings of the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission.

The company now leases a 20,500-square foot hangar from Massport. It would
pay for the building of the new hangar and then lease it from Massport.

Critics of the new hangar say they fear that the old space will be filled
with more aviation services further increasing jet operations at the
airport.

The controversy over the new hangar came to a head June 30, when members of
Save Our Heritage, a Concord-based historic preservation group, picketed
outside Liberty Mutual's Bedford Street office in Lexington.

Liberty Mutual countered by saying that it will follow through on a
commitment made last fall to meet with Anna Winter, executive director of
Save Our Heritage, to discuss the hangar issues. "That offer is still good,"
spokesman John Cusolito said in a phone interview on Monday. "We take our
role as a corporate citizen very seriously."

Winter, in a prepared statement the same day, said she will be in touch with
the insurer about a meeting.

"We renew our call upon Liberty Mutual to sublet its existing facility for
non-aviation use," she said. "This is the only way to avoid expansion that
will cause increasing jet noise over Minute Man Park and Walden. If the
company will seriously consider our proposal, we will sit down with them; if
not, it's clear that they don't support historic preservation and are the
antithesis of a 'good corporate neighbor.' "

Cusolito retorted that the company's new hangar "doesn't represent
expansion."

"It will have a net zero effect on our operations there," he said.

The company, he said, charts some 580 flights in and out of the airfield
each year. Aircraft, he said, are also made available for a national
"corporate angel" program that ferries sick children to hospitals.

Twenty-eight people, including pilots, maintenance specialists, and others
are assigned to the existing hangar, he said, adding that the workforce will
not be increased next year when the new facility is opened.

As for the future leasing of the current hangar, he said, "We're a tenant,
so any leasing questions should be directed to Massport."

Richard Walsh, a Massport spokesman, said, "A leasing decision on the
current hangar will be decided by Massport. It's an impeccably maintained
hangar to accommodate aviation uses."

Meanwhile, area officials who monitor activities at the Bedford airfield
said they have some concerns about Liberty Mutual's corporate jet
operations.

"It's very troubling that, until now, the company is not participating fully
in the commission's process," asserted Peter Enrich of Lexington, outgoing
chairman of the advisory commission. He said he received a letter last week
from hangar project manager William Costa saying that "a company
representative would not be appearing" at the commission's next meeting, a
date for which, Enrich said, has yet to be set.

Cusolito said company officials have appeared at previous commission
meetings. "I'm not aware of any questions that we haven't answered."

Walsh added, "Liberty Mutual has made three appearances before the
commission, providing good information on its hangar plans."

At some point, though, the Hanscom Area Towns Committee probably will want
to inquire further about the hangar project, said committee chairwoman Sara
Mattes of Lincoln. The committee is made up of selectmen from Bedford,
Concord, Lexington, and Lincoln, the communities adjoining the airport.

"Right now, the matter is in the advisory commission's bailiwick," Mattes
said. "But there will be more questions, I'm sure," she said, "about the
impact the hangar development" will have on jet activity at the airport.

Liberty Mutual has been a Hanscom Field tenant for some 20 years, Cusolito
said.

© Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
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