Lincoln Journal
Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Hangar project details missing

By Barbara Forster/ Correspondent

A presentation to the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission on Tuesday, June 15,
about Liberty Mutual's new hangar at Hanscom Field was almost uneventful.
Sign-carrying demonstrators outside Lexington Town Hall greeted area
residents who turned out for the meeting.

But no Liberty Mutual official was on hand to read the placards. The firm's
general contractor did present detailed plans of the $6.5 million project.

"I'm disappointed," said Charlie Parker of Concord, "and the commission
should be embarrassed that Liberty Mutual is not here."

"To us this is another example of a commercial enterprise being disingenuous
with us," added Joan Goldman of Lexington.

Lexington's Margaret Coppe agreed.

"This is the first time a proponent of a project is not present," she said.
"It's an insult to the commission. Liberty Mutual owes us a public apology
and they need to come to a meeting."

Peter Enrich of Lexington and HFAC chairman noted that he was aware that
Project Manager William Costa was not going to be at the meeting. However,
he did not realize that the contractor was doing a solo act. Nevertheless,
he added, "Liberty Mutual's perspective was to focus on construction details
and not larger scale issues. That is their prerogative."

Liberty Mutual, which is currently in a 20,000-square-foot hangar is
redeveloping Hangar One, creating about 38,000 square feet that will also
include office, storage and maintenance space. Only three of the company's
four planes, which seat 12 maximum, fit in the current hangar. The fourth is
housed at another site at the field. Except for a change of location,
everything else including staff size now at about 28, and the number of
planes remains the same.

The new facility will also have 46 parking spaces. Foundation work is
expected to begin in a few weeks. The hangar should be ready by the end of
January.

In addition to asking Liberty Mutual to attend another meeting about the
project, the commission will compile a list of questions for the company to
answer and/or elaborate on at the meeting. Residents were encouraged to
forward their questions to the commission.

In March, Costa did send the commission a two-page letter dealing with
issues raised at the first presentation in January. Critics argued that
answers were vague.

Bedford Selectman Sheldon Moll pointed out that answers may not be
satisfactory.

"It's apparent that you (the audience) really want to confront Liberty with
your concerns and how it (the hangar) affects you," he said. "To cover it up
and say they didn't answer the questions is disingenuous."

However, the decision was not unanimous. John Williams of Massachusetts
Business Aviation questioned HFAC's position.

"I continue to be disturbed about the process of this commission's agenda
that gets converted to a political agenda (of citizens)," he said. "There
needs to be a distinction between concerned citizens, citizen groups and the
HFAC commission."

-Deicing Study

Last year's Massport study about using deicers at Hanscom concluded that
there were no adverse effects on water quality. This year, a sampling
program conducted at the field confirmed those conclusions.

"The current usage is well below levels of concern," said Gary Mercer, P.E.
of CDM.

Until this year during the sampling program, neither salt nor deicers were
used at Hanscom. Shawsheen River and Elm Brook were the two bodies of water
studied.

Sodium Formate, which is used on runways, is well below the Safe Aquatic
Toxicity Level as is Propylene Glycol which is used for aircraft deicing.

In addition, Sodium Formate, basically a sugar that breaks down easily, has
no cumulative effects.

Although Massport has no plans to do follow-up testing next winter, monthly
deicing reports will be presented to HFAC.

-Operations Report

The total number of aviation operations between 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. decreased
5.5 percent in May 2004 as compared to last year due to decreased in
activity by single engine pistons and twin piston aircraft. But all other
aircraft activity went up.

Civilian jets jumped 12.2 percent, and even military operations rose from 88
in May 2003 to 92 last month.

Fewer noise complaints were registered - 701 to 675 - and night operations,
11 p.m. to 7 a.m., fell from 156 to 113.

"There were many fewer medical flights," added Massport's Sara Arnold. "I
suspect it was due to weather: rain."

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