Massport: Hanscom work can't wait long
By Kerry Drohan, Globe Staff, 7/22/2001

BEDFORD - The Massachusetts Port Authority will formally notify the four
towns abutting Hanscom Field that it intends to clear vegetation on airport
land - despite requests from the towns that the project be delayed because
key procedures have not been followed.

The land is owned by Massport, but parts are within 100 feet of town
wetlands, and work on them requires the filing of a ''notice of intent''
with local conservation commissions. The commissions then have 21 days to
review the plan and set public hearings.

The four towns - Bedford, Lexington, Lincoln, and Concord - have asked
Massport to delay filings, saying the agency has not complied with the
Massachusetts Environmental Protection Act, including public participation
in creating an airport-wide Vegetation Management Plan. That request came in
a report from the conservation commissions at Tuesday's meeting of the
Hanscom Field Advisory Commission.

''All towns want to see the entire Vegetation Managment Plan and have the
opportunity to comment before they are locked into the public process,''
said Elizabeth Bagdonas, conservation administrator for Bedford, who gave
the report. ''[The state] set steps in its 1999 [plan] for airports that the
preparation of a vegetation management plan takes place within an open
public planning process. They called it a community effort. Step one was
local informal review of the VMP. That was supposed to precede step two,
which is filing the notices of intent. Step one has never happened.

''The process Massport followed received [state] clearance, now they are
doing something else,'' Bagdonas said. ''I think the process they set is a
good one and should be followed.''

Massport spokesman Richard Walsh said the agency would comply with all state
regulations, and that an airport-wide Vegetation Management Plan developed
by Massport would be attached to each notice of intent.

''Massport's main priority is to maintain a safe airport,'' Walsh said. ''We
have to deal with what we have, not what we might have. What's paramount is
removing the identified penetrations in flight paths. That has to happen in
the winter construction schedule. To reach that goal, we will file the NOIs
with towns during August. We will keep to the original schedule.''

Sheldon Moll, Bedford selectman and Hanscom Field Advisory Commission
chairman, said the four towns are unified on the issue and expect to hear
from Massport.

''We are in concert on this,'' he said. ''Selectmen met with representatives
of the four [conservation commissions] last week to put them on alert that
the notices of intent were coming. The idea was that vegetation management
in one town affects all four towns.''

Moll said he was writing Massport to register his objections. He also
emphasized that this project is separate from Massport's plan to clear trees
in the Bedford town forest.

Walsh said Massport would review other objections by the conservation
commissions and report back to Hanscom Field Advisory Commission.

In a related development last week, Shuttle America said it was suspending
service between Hanscom and Greensboro, N.C., after July 30, citing
conditions related to its restructuring under Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection. The carrier began flying out of Hanscom in September 1999 and
filed for bankruptcy on April 17.

The following schedule has been set for formal filing of notices of intent,
and public meetings: Bedford, filing Aug. 1, meeting Aug. 15; Lexington,
filing Aug. 8, meeting Aug. 28; Concord, filing Aug. 22, meeting Sept. 5;
Lincoln, filing Aug. 30, meeting Sept. 19.


This story ran on page 2 of the Boston Globe's NorthWest Weekly section on
7/22/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
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