LINCOLN
Air base to rehab housing
Private developers to be brought in

By Eun Lee Koh, Globe Staff Correspondent, 9/19/2002

Within the next five years, houses for military officers at Hanscom Air Force Base could receive new driveways or garage doors or be rebuilt altogether in an effort to improve living conditions, according to drafts of a plan that will be made public to area developers next month.

The privatization plan, which was initiated under the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996, will transfer the responsibility for renovating and managing the houses from the federal government to private developers. Already, bases throughout the country have launched such efforts, and officials at Hanscom have decided to begin privatization this year.

''Some of these homes are in pretty bad shape, and they really can use some fixing up,'' said Chuck Paone, a spokesman for Hanscom. ''Privatizing the homes will cut down a lot of the red tape that's involved in getting funding to fix them up. The private developer or the management company in charge of the homes can go ahead and fix [them], instead of going through the layers and layers that we go through now.''

Improving living conditions at the base is key, according to Hanscom officials, as military personnel cannot afford to live off base in Greater Boston, where real estate prices are generally higher than in other parts of the state. The waiting list for housing on the Air Force base is often crowded with at least a dozen families. Many families who cannot wait end up moving outside the immediate area, where housing costs are cheaper.

Hanscom has 850 housing units, all in Lincoln, which hold about 3,000 people. The number will rise to more than 1,000 when the project is completed in 2007.

The draft of the plan is designed to show private developers the types of renovations and reconstruction required. According to preliminary drafts, a developer will be hired to demolish and rebuild 180 units, renovate 395 units, and construct an additional 163 units. About 275 units require no major renovations.

A formal notification for developer proposals will be released in December, and Hanscom officials said they hope to choose a developer by next fall. The Department of Defense's lease on the land, owned by Hanscom Limited Partnership, will expire Oct. 31, 2007. Although the government plans to renew the lease for another 50 years, the management rights will go to the private developer in charge of the project. Officers who currently receive a basic housing allowance will pay rent to the developer instead. According to the preliminary plans, the rent will be based on the type of unit and the officer's rank.

''I'm not sure how long or how much it would take for us to take these houses up to snuff under the current federal budgeting process,'' Paone said. ''It's really important that these men and women serving our country live in quality standard homes. We're not talking about luxury here. Some of it is basic maintenance.''

Members of the Hanscom Area Towns Committee, a group of town officials and residents from bordering towns, were briefed on the plans earlier this month. Members, who were initially surprised when Hanscom officials unveiled their plans at a meeting in July, now say the renovations to military housing would have minimal impact on their resources, unless the base were to close, which town and Hanscom officials say is unlikely.

'' The reality now is life goes on as usual,'' said Sara Mattes, a Lincoln selectwoman, ''except for those in the military who will have a better place to live.''

This story ran on page 1 of the Boston Globe West section on 9/19/2002. © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company. ==========
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