Two nonprofit preservation groups have filed an appeal with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in an attempt to block construction of a new hangar and parking.at Hanscom Field.
Jet Aviation, a commercial firm that leases land at Hanscom owned by Massport, applied to the Lincoln Conservation Commission under the state Wetlands Protection Act for permission to encroach on a wetlands buffer zone for its project. The company declined to apply under the local Lincoln wetlands bylaw, saying that Massport as a state agency is exempt from non-zoning local regulations and that this exemption extends to anyone who leases land from Massport. After five public hearings, the commission approved Jet Aviation’s application with conditions under the state provisions by a 5-2 vote, noting that the proposed work is in fact subject to review under the town of Lincoln’s Wetlands Protection By-law.
Save Our Heritage and ShhAir (Safeguarding the Historic Hanscom Area’s Irreplaceable Resources) filed an appeal with the DEP on May 27, arguing that Massport and its tenant, Jet Aviation, should be required to adhere to local wetlands regulations. Lincoln resident Kati Winchell of Save Our Heritage noted that while the groups want to protect wetlands and forestall increases in traffic, jet noise and air pollution that could accompany Hanscom’s growth, they’re also worried that the case could have much wider ramifications.
“This is a precedent-setting case extending beyond wetlands issues,” the groups said in a press release. In challenging Massport’s claims to exemption from local regulations, a successful appeal “may open new doors for Hanscom-area town boards who until now have worked under the long-held assumption that their hands were tied in matters concerning Hanscom Field development.” This assumption that local boards have no jurisdiction over Hanscom other than zoning has left Massport “free from meaningful local control and [provided] businesses who lease land from Massport with special privileges and immunities not available to other area businesses that play by local rules. Now, for the first time in decades, this may change with regard to non-zoning matters, pending the outcome of this case.”
“This case is lifting the curtain on Massport’s presumed freedoms and local boards’ presumed limitations,” Winchell said on Tuesday.
“This appeal… challenges Jet Aviation’s casual invocation of a claimed Massport exemption without factual demonstration, recent legal authority, or Massport even being an applicant here,” said Greg McGregor, an attorney with the firm hired by Save Our Heritage and ShhAir.
The appeal asks the DEP to either send the application the project back to the Lincoln Conservation Commission with directions that Jet Aviation is required to file under the local bylaw (under which the ConCom could theoretically insist that no part of the project be built on the wetlands buffer zones in question), or to overturn the approval because it allegedly did not, in fact, conform with state wetlands regulations.
The DEP has scheduled a site visit for June 24 as part of the appeal process.
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