MetroWest Daily News
Thursday, September 9, 2004

Plan would improve Hanscom

By Laura Crimaldi / News Staff Writer

WALTHAM -- With another round of base closings looming, a coalition of
private and public leaders yesterday unveiled a $410 million plan to bring
4,000 new jobs and 800 new housing units to Hanscom Air Force Base in
Bedford.

The plan proposed by the Massachusetts Defense Technology Initiative
(MassDTI), a public-private sector partnership led by Gov. Mitt Romney and
U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., would add 125 million square feet of
military research and development space to the base without expanding onto
surrounding open land, according to Alan Macdonald, executive director of
MassDTI.

The pitch is part of MassDTI's strategy to keep Hanscom AFB and Natick
Labs from closing under the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)
process scheduled for 2005, said Christopher Anderson, president of MassDTI
and the Massachusetts High Tech Council.

By next fall, the Department of Defense plans to announce the closing
of 25 percent of the nation's military installations under BRAC, according
to a MassDTI press release.

"The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a lot at stake in the federal
base closing and realignment process," Anderson said yesterday morning
during a press briefing at the Massachusetts High Tech Council offices.

The project would only go forward if Hanscom stays open and is assigned
new technology missions.

"It's not build it and we hope they come. We (would be) building it
because they're coming," Macdonald said later in a telephone interview.

MassDTI announced its improvement plans last night at a public hearing
conducted by the Hanscom Area Towns (HATS) committee at Lincoln Town Hall.

During the spring Town Meeting season, Bedford, Concord, Lincoln and
Lexington endorsed the development of an expansion plan for the Air Force
base, said Sara Mattes, HATS chairwoman and Lincoln selectman.

By building on the base's existing parking lots, the MassDTI plan would
expand military research and development space on the grounds by 56 percent,
Macdonald said.

The expansion would provide 4,000 new jobs, which would be split evenly
between civilian and military positions, Macdonald said.

It would be up to the DOD to decide what projects come to the base if
Pentagon officials keep Hanscom open, Anderson said.

"What goes on there and how it gets built would be part of a future
decision," Anderson said.

The base's Electronic Systems Center is responsible for developing
command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance technologies.

In the 1991 Gulf War, systems developed by the ESC were used to monitor
and manage movement on the battlefield. The technologies have also been put
to use in combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While MassDTI officials said the base's proximity to the brainpower at
places like Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University
make a strong case for keeping Hanscom open, the expansion plan addresses
worries it would be too costly to improve and maintain an expanded base,
Macdonald said.

"It's the ideal place to house, support and facilitate the maximum
value of that next generation of technology," Macdonald said. "Can we break
this perception that Hanscom is too developed?"

In addition to building new office and research facilities on the base
footprint, MassDTI proposes building 800 units of self-financed housing on
the grounds. The units would double the available housing on the base and
decrease commuter traffic to the facility, said Thomas Ennis, a Massport
senior project manager.

The proposal also includes a $4.1 million plan to build a tunnel to
replace a congested jug-handle intersection at Hartwell Avenue and the
intersection of routes 4 and 225, Ennis said.

The state would pay $241 million of the proposed improvements, MassDTI
officials said. The $168 million necessary for new on-base housing would be
provided by the Pentagon awarding contracts to developers to build the
housing, with the units part of the benefits service people receive from the
government.

Over the next few weeks, MassDTI officials will meet with BRAC
representatives to discuss the proposal for Hanscom, although no dates have
been set, Macdonald said.

If the base closes, the state would lose an estimated 5,750 jobs and
$15.2 million in annual income tax revenues, according to MassDTI.

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