Bedford Minuteman
May 23, 2002

Massport seeks more ‘lenient cutting pattern’

BY LAWRENCE PRUYNE
STAFF WRITER

It’s bones against cash in the latest fight over the Vegetation Management Plan for Hanscom Air Field.

Bedford’s Board of Selectmen agreed to authorize $10,000 to hire special counsel to ascertain the suitability of Massport officials’ strategy for seeking passage of the plan by presenting it to the Conservation Commission in each of the four HATS towns — Bedford, Lexington, Concord and Lincoln — and defining it as a Limited Project in each township.

Selectman Sheldon Moll called it, " the strategy of divide and conquer. But is it suitable to call it a Limited Project? "

Conservation Commission members heard a presentation on the Vegetation Management Plan for Massport-owned land in Bedford last Thursday. That’s when Massport officials revealed they were working for a more lenient cutting pattern in runway flight paths.

" Most airports are now required to cut at 50-to-1, but we lobbied for 20-to-1, " said Manny Christensen, a Massport official.

Christensen was referring to the slant of cutting on the approaches to the runways, the level rising every 20 feet or 50 feet and sparing more vegetation. A 20-to-1 rise would be preferred by Conservation Commission members, an improvement over the slant now required, which was grandfathered at 34-to-1.

Myles McDonough saw it as little more than a gesture. If a 20-to-1 cutting pattern was ratified by the Federal Aviation Association, however, it could benefit the town.

" That was a bone they were throwing us, " McDonough said. " But if they are successful with their petition to the FAA to change the glide angle to 20-to-1 it will greatly reduce the impact on Bedford-owned land. "

At the ConsComm’s meeting on Thursday, McDonough and other commission members struggled to figure out where to begin questioning the Vegetation Management Plan, a voluminous document of several hundred pages. Gregor McGregor of the Boston law firm of McGregor & Associates was sitting in the front row. A visitor from Lincoln, who had seen the same presentation the night before, criticized the commission for getting bogged down in less important details.

McGregor cut to the chase.

" You have to make certain this qualifies as a Limited Project… and hear the details because they are the very foundation on which this application is being made, " McGregor said.

The balance of the ConsComm’s hearing was spent by Christensen, Tom Ennis and Steven Langlais, a senior project manager for Dufresne-Henry, recounting in specific detail why the work in Bedford qualifies as a Limited Project. Christensen did acknowledge that the limited project provision was new to the state with just a few projects defined by it.

" The Limited Project provision has only been in effect for a short time. Only 11 or 12 projects have been permitted under it in Massachusetts, " Christensen said.

The Board of Selectmen on Monday night agreed with McGregor that the status of the work as a Limited Project was the crux of the conflict. Gordon Feltman and Sheldon Moll, two selectmen with significant involvement in the ongoing clashes with Massport over vegetation management and environmental issues, spelled out the legal key to Massport’s application.

" If there is any effect on the environment in one town by a project in another town it’s illegal to do each town as a separate entity, " Moll said.

Moll pointed out that if the project increased aviation it would affect neighboring towns. But dealing with aviation issues is not what most conservation officials are trained to handle, demonstrating why the allocation by Town Meeting in April of $25,000 for aviation consultants was a necessity.

Monday night Gordon Feltman voiced the opinion that the ConsComm also needed expert advice. According to Feltman it would be very difficult to prove that vegetation management would promote aviation.

" However, you are the conservation experts… and if there are conservation issues and Massport is saying there are none, this needs to be disputed… and I for one think we should throw our support behind them, " Feltman said, referring to the commission.

Lorraine Miller, a resident of Washington Street, attended the ConsComm’s meeting to inquire how water flow will be affected by changes in vegetation management on the airport.

" I live near Elm Brook. Has there been any study on how it will affect Elm Brook? " Miller asked.

" There were no impacts. The rates of run-off actually decreased because of increased stem density, " Christensen replied.

The selectmen on Monday night, with a long memory of local environmental conditions, questioned the validity of assuming Christensen would be correct and the problem that has already developed — flooding in the Elm Brook area — would be eased.

" Hanscom is a big contributor to the flooding on Elm Brook… so there has been much talk about building a retention area… [and] mitigation here might be a big help for the whole town, " said Selectman Joseph Piantedosi.

Feltman recalled that previous opinion stated that significant water retention facilities were necessary to control the impact of Hanscom run-off on the Shawsheen River and Elm Brook systems. Both aquifers originate in the Hanscom area.

" When the base was built the thought in civil engineering was to get rid of the water as fast as you can, so it shoots down off the hill to Elm Brook, " Feltman said.

The wisdom of funding special counsel for the Conservation Commission was agreed upon by a vote of 5-0-0. No further appropriations will be needed. Special Counsel Gregor McGregor’s retainer will be paid out of the Conservation Commission’s fund for filing fees.

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