Boston Globe -- NorthWest section
October 20, 2005

Hanscom fuel supply plan opposed
Towns enlist law firm in dispute

By Davis Bushnell, Globe Correspondent

With the Bedford and Lincoln selectmen leading the way, opposition by the
four towns surrounding Hanscom Field is mounting over public safety and
environmental concerns related to a proposed aviation services facility at
the Bedford airfield.

On Monday night, Bedford and Lincoln selectmen approved retaining the Boston
law firm of Kopelman and Paige to challenge state environmental officials'
denial of an environmental review of the project involving Crosspoint
Aviation Services LLC. The Woburn aviation company wants to open a
91,000-square-foot facility at the airport in the spring of 2007. It would
provide services from aircraft maintenance to fuel sales.

Concord and Lexington selectmen are also expected to take up soon the matter
of hiring Kopelman and Paige, one of whose specialties is municipal law.

The four town governments are all lined up to present legal challenges to
state officials, said Sara Mattes of Lincoln, chairwoman of the Hanscom Area
Towns Selectmen group, which will meet tonight at 7:30 in Lincoln Town Hall
to discuss the issues further.

Lawyers are likely to seek discussions with Stephen R. Pritchard, secretary
of the state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, Bedford Selectman
Sheldon Moll said.

On Sept. 28, Pritchard denied a request by an activist group for an
environmental impact study of the proposed facility. ''A review of the
anticipated impacts associated with the Crosspoint facility . . .
demonstrates that the proposed development does not exceed (or even
approach) impacts that would trigger a requirement to file an ENF," or
environmental notification form, Pritchard wrote.

An organization called Safeguarding the Historic Hanscom Area's
Irreplaceable Resources, or ShhAir, filed the request on Aug. 1.

''We're all for the towns getting very involved," ShhAir vice president and
spokeswoman Sarah Lazarus said Tuesday.

Opponents, Mattes and Moll said, will maintain that a fuel-storage tank at
the proposed Crosspoint complex would represent a potential fire hazard and
a possible threat over time to Bedford's water supply. The tank would be
located near the town's secondary aquifer, which lies within Concord's
border, Moll noted.

''So, there are some very big safety and environmental issues here," he
said.

Crosspoint's director of aviation services, Tim Sullivan, could not be
reached for comment and a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority,
owner-operator of Hanscom Field, declined to comment for this article. But
both have said in the past that there are no environmental issues with the
proposed project.

Formed last year as a subsidiary of Eastern Development LLC, also of Woburn,
Crosspoint operates a private airfield in the Boca Grande, Fla., resort
community. Sullivan has said previously that the company has a number of
potential corporate and private clients at the Bedford airport.

Massport selected Crosspoint in June. It would join two other businesses
offering similar services. They are Signature Flight Support and Jet
Aviation.

Massport has long contended that a 2000 environmental status and planning
report on the airfield took into account aviation development on the
so-called Hangar 24 site, where the new facility would be located.

© Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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