Concord Journal
September 8, 2005

Neighbors opposed to new hangar vow to fight

By Chris Cassidy/ Staff Writer

Neighbors of a proposed expansion to Hanscom Field said the project
would be detrimental to their neighborhood and have vowed to fight it.

Crosspoint, an affiliate of Eastern Development, LLC, is negotiating a
lease with Massport for the former MIT facility at Hanscom Field, known as
Hangar 24.

Facility plans include a 60,000 square-foot hangar with 18,000 square
feet of office space and 100 parking spaces - all with an access way off
Virginia Road.

Last month, members of the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission and the
Hanscom Area Towns Selectmen fired off letters to Massport, Gov. Mitt Romney
and the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs calling for an
environmental review of the project.

So far, the lease has not been signed, but neighbors are concerned the
project could still move forward despite their firm opposition.

"It's a little like looking at taxation without representation again,
except here we have expansion without representation," said Lynn Bloom, a
Fuller Lane resident who lives close to the airfield. "People have no voice
here with what will be done around us."

Bloom said she has environmental concerns about the project and also
questioned the impact traffic will have on Virginia Road. She said the town
told residents it couldn't construct traditional sidewalks on the road
because it was too narrow. "Yet they're proposing to have cars and trucks
enter off Virginia Road," Bloom said.

"It just doesn't seem right that people would be allowed to do this
without the neighbors having much say," she said.

She said the project could also pose problems for the town as a whole,
particularly with air pollution from passing planes.

Dunbar Way resident Anant Khanolkar said Massport hasn't been up front
with neighbors about their plans.

"They're just sliding it under the radar so they can get it approved,"
he said.

He said he is concerned the project will increase traffic on Virginia
Road, create noise from more frequent planes and have a greater impact on
nearby Minute Man National Historical Park.

"They know there's opposition and they continue to pursue it,"
Khanolkar said. "They say one thing and do something else. Massport just
plays games."

Elm Brook Lane resident [name omitted by request] said she thinks Massport's
proposal could dramatically transform the air field she lives less than two
miles from.

"They propose these projects little by little and you think there's not
a lot changing," [name omitted by request] said. "But slowly, five years from now, we're going
to have an airport very different from what we have now."

She said she fears the disruptive noise from corporate jets could grow
more frequent if Hanscom expands.

The neighbors have attended meetings and have urged officials to call a
public hearing on the matter. But they have yet to form an organized
movement.

"There's not much the community can do," Khanolkar said. "The only
thing we can do is put on a lot of political pressure and keep raising the
issue."

Bloom said the best strategy to disrupt the project would be to prove
that it wouldn't become a profitable venture.

"What we have to do is persuade Massport that people are not going to
look kindly on their expansion," Bloom said. "I suppose we have to be able
to create some kind of case that says we're going to do what we can to make
sure people don't use your services. That's all we can do with Crosspoint
and Massport."

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