The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

Hanscom Air Field

Area residents and officials protest Hanscom expansion proposal

The Hanscom Field expansion area is outlined in red. Lincoln’s approximate town border is indicated by the green dashed line.

Local officials and organizations are quickly rallying to fight a proposal that would add about 408,000 square feet of new hangar space and reconfigure a taxiway to accommodate larger aircraft at Hanscom Field.

At a February 6 public forum, the possibility of a “fuel farm” was also mentioned, according to the Bedford Citizen. The online meeting, which drew dozens of residents from area towns hosted by the office of the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), took place just eight days before the public comment period closes.  

The Lincoln Select Board held a special meeting on February 10 to discuss a letter in opposition to the project. Mothers Out Front and the Hanscom Field Advisory Committee (HFAC) have also written letters against the idea, and other Lincoln groups such as the Green Energy Committee and the Planning Board are also expected to weigh in. 

State Sen. Mike Barrett, a key climate activist in the state legislature whose district includes the four Hanscom towns, also spoke out at the MEPA forum, the Bedford Citizen article said. “It is striking that in the middle of our attempt as a state to deal with an existential crisis, Massport is intent on building its private jet business,” he said.

“There is a climate change emergency and every effort must be made to phase out and not expand use of fossil fuels,” the HFAC noted in a letter to MEPA.

Mothers Out Front claimed that paving and construction will lead to more stormwater runoff, fewer carbon-storing plants, and stress to wildlife, wrote. “We believe [the proposal] represents an example of profits over people,” they wrote.

The project’s proponents say that additional hangar space will reduce the need for “ferry flights” to and from full Hanscom hangars to other storage areas, but the idea that “adding 90 football fields worth of space would reduce emissions from aircraft struck me as hard to believe,” said Select Board member Jim Hutchinson at Friday’s meeting.

The draft letter, which will go out early this week, listed 10 specific requests and areas of concern about the project. It asked for more information on current and projected traffic of both aircraft and ground vehicles at Hanscom Field, data on ferry flight frequency, destinations, and emissions; the flight paths, maximum size, and noise profiles of aircraft that an expanded airfield could accommodate; and details on the fuel farm, including the amount of fuel to be stored, the size and number of vehicles that would transport it, and how potential fuel spills will be handled.

The pandemic put a dent in many businesses, but jet operations at Hanscom are actually up by 19% since 2019, Massport noted at an October 20, 2022 meeting (total operations are down by 6% as recreational and pilot training operations continue to decline).

In one sign of the strength of the private jet business at Hanscom, Magellan Jets recently opened a dedicated passenger area in one of the airfield’s buildings. Business travel dropped during Covid-19 but private flights for leisure travel mostly made up for it; the pandemic “really opened everyone’s eyes to what’s available domestically” for private travel, said Anthony Tivnan, president of Magellan, whose fees start at $6,900 per hour for use of one of its eight-passenger planes.

“This is not about military flights that are defending our country, or commercial aviation — this is about private jets getting people to where they want to go,” Select Board member Jennifer Glass said.

“I feel like bigger things were planned that was being addressed at that listening session,” resident Miriam Stason said at the elect board meeting. Hutchinson agreed, saying, “Massport doesn’t usually make these plans without a bigger picture in mind.”

Another worry: larger and more frequent flights may involve planes taking off and landing at Hanscom at night. The fine for doing so is just $400, and it’s not legally possible to increase that amount.

Officials also noted that Hanscom expansion will most directly affect the environmental justice community in north Lincoln, which includes the Battle Road Farm development, where 48 of 120 units are designated as affordable housing.

Massport tried to expand Hanscom back in the mid-2000s, but cooperation among the four towns helped defeat that effort, said Sara Mattes, who was a Board of Selectmen member at the time. “We have to look at what worked and what didn’t work” from that time, she said. “This is just round one of a long trench warfare.”

Developers propose big expansion at Hanscom Field

The development proposal at Hanscom Field is outlined in red (see closer view below). Lincoln’s approximate town border is indicated by the green dotted line.

A proposal to add 27 hangars and make other changes at Hanscom Field is the subject of two events on Monday, Feb. 6: a site walk at 3 p.m. and a virtual “consultation session” at 6:30 p.m.

The proposal for the area between Hartwell Road and Taxiway R in Bedford follows a land swap and access agreement between Massport, which owns a 26-acre North Airfield parcel, and Runway Realty Ventures (RRV), owner of an adjoining 18-acre parcel formerly owned by the U.S. Navy. It calls for adding about 408,000 square feet of new hangar space for aircraft parking and storage and renovating the existing Navy hangar building. Details of the proposal are contained in the Environmental Notification Form filed by the developers with the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs as required by the Mass. Environmental Policy Act (MEPA).

Some aircraft now fly in and out empty to pick up and drop off operators who can’t secure aircraft storage space at Hanscom, the proposal says. “This practice results in extra flights (referred to as ‘ferry flights’) that would otherwise not be required with aircraft stored at Hanscom. By providing aircraft parking and storage on-airport, the project will relieve pressure from Logan in accordance with Massport’s long-term planning objective aimed at using regional airports to satisfy the current and future demand for general aviation services.”

A closer view of the development proposal.

The land swap agreement approved by Massport in October (starting on page 12 of the meeting minutes) will allow RRV to reconfigure taxiway R for larger and heavier aircraft, and to build a new taxiway and service road. RRV will be responsible for funding “upgrades and improvements to the Hanscom Field taxiway infrastructure to support design Group III aircraft above 100,000 pounds and/or design Group IV aircraft, as requested by RRV.”

Taxiway R can now accommodate Group III aircraft such as the Boeing 737-700, the Airbus A-320, and the Embraer ERJ 190-100, which have maximum capacities of 108 to 180 passengers and ranges of 2,000 to 3,700 miles, according to SKYbrary.aero. If the expansion proposal is approved, it will be able to accommodate Group IV planes including the Boeing 767 and the Airbus A-310, both of which can carry up to about 250 passengers and have ranges of 6,000 to 7,500 miles.

Save Our Heritage, which works to preserve historically important sites in Concord, Bedford, Lincoln, and Lexington and has fought Hanscom expansion for years, posted an alert to supporters summarizing the proposal. The Bedford Citizen also ran articles on February 1 and February 3.

Massport (the Massachusetts Port Authority) owns and operates Logan Airport, Hanscom Field, Worcester Regional Airport, and public terminals in the Port of Boston. Hanscom Field, New England’s second-busiest airport and the FAA’s designated general aviation reliever for Logan, is used for private corporate aviation, recreational flying, pilot training, and air charter, cargo, commuter service, and air ambulance flights. It has three fixed-base operators (FBOs) that provide fueling, maintenance, and cleaning services for airplanes. Linear Air and Magellan Jets regularly operate out of Hanscom.

The walk-through on Monday at 3 p.m. starts across from Edge Sports Center at 191 Hartwell Rd. in Bedford, and the virtual session at 6:30 p.m. can be accessed here. The public comment period deadline is Tuesday, Feb. 14. Comments may be submitted via the MEPA Public Comments Portal or via email to alexander.strysky@mass.gov.

The three towns that contain parts of Hanscom Field (Bedford, Lincoln and Concord) do not have any permitting authority in the matter, though the land swap must be approved by the FAA and Gov. Maura Healy, and the FAA must also sign off on the revised airport layout plan.

Two projects under way at Hanscom

Starting in August, residents who live near Hanscom Field may notice more noise than usual as air traffic is temporarily rerouted during two separate runway reconstruction projects. However, another unrelated project—construction of a new hangar for Boston MedFlight—will not result in any increase in noise or air traffic in the area

Logan Airport is now resurfacing its most heavily used runway, meaning it will be closed entirely until late June and open for arrivals only until about November 1. What this means for the Lincoln/Bedford area is that some smaller business-type flights will use Hanscom instead of Logan, according to Amber Goodspeed, MassPort’s manager for airport administration at Hanscom Field.

Beginning in August, one of Hanscom’s runways will also be resurfaced, Goodspeed added. As a result, some of Hanscom’s traffic will be rerouted so their flight paths go more over Bedford and Lincoln rather than Concord and Lexington, Goodspeed said.

Boston MedFlight project

Boston MedFlight is also moving its local base from Hanscom Air Force Base to Hanscom Field. The company is building a new hangar on the site of an older one that’s been demolished. This new facility will allow easier access for training, education, community outreach as well as helicopter maintenance, since visitors will no longer need to go through Air Force base security.

“Nothing is going to change as far as our operations go” in terms of the number of aircraft or staff on site, said Boston MedFlight General Manager of Aviation Rick Kenin.

Boston MedFlight’s fleet (click to enlarge).

Among those who will benefit from the easier access are Lincoln Fire Department paramedics, who get their first-responder training from Boston MedFlight. The company already hosts some visits from community members and groups such as Boy Scouts, “but we plan to greatly expand that once we’re on the civilian side” of the air field, Kenin said. “This will work out much better as far as community activity and outreach.”

The $17 million project is expected to be complete in about a year.

Boston MedFlight currently has two local offices, one on Hanscom Air Force Base and another in the nearby Lincoln North office building, as well as facilities in Plymouth and Lawrence. The nonprofit firm transports about 4,000 patients per year, about half of them via ground transportation and the rest by helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft, Kenin said. Most of the flights take critically ill or injured patients from community hospitals (including Emerson Hospital in Concord) to Massachusetts General Hospital and other advanced-care Boston hospitals, but the company also picks up some patients directly from accident scenes.

Boston MedFlight is not taxpayer-funded, relying instead on donations and insurance reimbursements, Kenin noted.

Jet Aviation approval confirmed by DEP, but residents fight on

Jet_Plane(Editors note: This version incorporates corrections made on November 7 to the DEP conference date and Angela Kearney’s title.)

By Alice Waugh

The Jet Aviation expansion proposed for Hanscom Field was OK’d by the state earlier this month, but a group of residents immediately asked for a hearing in a further attempt to block the project.

[Read more…] about Jet Aviation approval confirmed by DEP, but residents fight on

Groups appeal Jet Aviation decision

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.

Jet Aviation hearing continued again

Jet_PlaneThe public hearing on Jet Aviation’s expansion proposal at Hanscom Field is still going on—the next session will be Wednesday, April 9 at 7:45 p.m. in the Lincoln Town Offices’ Donaldson Room.

The Conservation Commission has already held three sessions on the proposed plan to replace a hangar and build another, along with an access road and more parking. The plan requires a special permit from the ConsComm because it would impinge on a wetlands buffer zone.

Residents opposed to the expansion and Jet Aviation have both hired lawyers to bolster their arguments, “and that’s complicated the proceedings a little bit,” said Chris Reilly, Lincoln’s Director of Planning and Land Use. “The Conservation Commission is absorbing this information from various parties” and probably will not be ready to vote at this week’s hearing, he said.

If the commission gives its assent, Jet Aviation does not require any other permits from the town. The property is exempt from further local regulation because it is owned and operated by Massport, a state agency, and the expansion would not change the overall mission at the site.

Letter to the editor: Health effects of air traffic

letterEditor’s note: The Conservation Commission continued its hearing on Jet Aviation’s Hanscom Field proposal to April 2.

To the editor:

Approving the Hanscom airport expansion plans at this time is concerning, not only because of wetlands considerations, but because a critical examination of the potential human health impacts does not appear to have been conducted. As director of a nonprofit organization, Quiet Communities, and chair of the Lincoln Leaf Blower Study Committee, I have had the opportunity to examine the adverse health impacts of related noise and air pollution.

Extensive evidence in the scientific and medical literature indicates that airport noise is a serious public health hazard. Decades of research show that chronic exposure to environmental noise causes sleep disturbance, heart disease, psychological problems, and hearing loss. For example, in a recent study of more than 6 million older people (65+ yrs) living near U.S. airports, Harvard and Boston University Schools of Public Health scientists found that airport noise increases hospitalization risk for heart attack and stroke (BMJ, October 8, 2013). In a February 2014 Environmental Health Perspectives article, University of Michigan scientists call for a U.S. noise policy, estimating tens of millions of Americans are at risk for heart disease and other noise-related adverse effects—with air traffic identified as a major source. In Europe, the World Health Organization’s 2011 Burden of Environmental Noise report documents the extensive loss of healthy life years from environmental noise.

While Jet Aviation claims the new jets are less noisy and more efficient than smaller aircraft, this benefit may be outweighed by the future increase in jet traffic forecasted by Massport.

I urge residents to attend the upcoming meeting on April 2 and ask the Conservation Commission to postpone a decision until the potential adverse health effects of noise/pollution are examined with the help of the Board of Health and/or other environmental health experts.

Sincerely,

Jamie Banks
154 Lincoln Rd.

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published. Letters may be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor.

Letter to the editor: Henry Francis on “irresponsible” Jet Aviation plan

letterTo the editor:

I attended the February 19 and March 12 public hearings on Jet Aviation’s proposal to expand its Hanscom hanger facilities, which were sponsored by the Lincoln Conservation Commission. These were working business meetings of the commission to which the public were invited.

The commission is concerned with the issue of proposed Jet Aviation construction encroaching on a few acres of Lincoln wetlands. It appears that Jet Aviation will successfully conform to the commission’s requirements, and will therefore be permitted to proceed with their project. However, this is not the issue of importance to most citizens. We the people feel strongly that increasing Hanscom’s total hangar area, in order to house and service more of the dirtiest type of aircraft (as measured by amount of fuel burned and carbon emitted per passenger-mile), is totally irresponsible by any conceivable standard.

There is a striking dichotomy here between the will of the people and the presumed approval of this project, and I am deeply disappointed that the commission  members all were excessively deferential and accommodating to the Jet Aviation representatives and their proposal, in spite of the totally obvious fact that the many citizens in attendance unanimously and angrily oppose the project—there was not one comment from the invited public in support of Jet Aviation.

At what level of environmental pollution (both chemical and acoustic) do we draw the line? The line should be drawn right now—Jet Aviation should not be permitted to expand their Hanscom facilities to accommodate more jets, and we, the people, expect the (our?) Lincoln Conservation Commission to recognize and support this position. This project, and indeed the entire Hanscom expansion juggernaut, should be axed as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Henry Francis
Sunnyside Lane

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published. Letters may be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor.