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HATS II MEETING
November 17, 1988 - 7 30 p.m
Selectmen ' s Meeting Room
Lexington Town Offices
The first item on the agenda was the proposed new construction at Hanscom
Air Force Base The Chairman, Jack Eddison, reported that he had, on the
previous day, received a phone call from Col Charles Seifert in response
to his letter of November 4 to the Air Base Commander The Colonel had
regretted that he was unable to attend the current HATS II meeting and
said he would like to make a presentation to HATS II of the 35 percent
drawings of the Base' s Comprehensive Plan as oon as it could be arranged
The Chairman told the meeting that he believed that the proposed presenta-
tion would be useful and informative to lay the groundwork for the high
level meeting that HATS II had twice previously requested, He stressed
that the Base Commander' s presentation would complement but would not be
a substitute for the requested meeting of heads of organizations There
was general agreement on this point, and the date of Thursday, December 15,
at 8 00 p m was set for the presentation
Selectman Betsy Anderson then summarized her impressions of the presenta-
tion which Col Seifert had made to Bedfor town officials on November 14
She had found the presentation to be an overview which was long on details
internal to the Base and on the use of visual aids but which was lacking in
specifics on key issues such as traffic generation
Lt Col Malcolm Junkin, the Base Engineer at HAFB, who was attending the
meeting in Col Seifert' s place, told the group that it seemed to have a
misconception of what the Base Plan really was He said that the 35 per-
cent draft Plan was a starting point only It was a conceptual document to
allow everyone to know what they were thinking They were prepared to make
changes in it as needed As a physical location concept plan, it was intended
to show where proposed installations were to go and what infrastructure would
be needed to support them It did not purport to show when those installations
would be made For example, seven sites were still being considered for the
already approved Mitre facility
In response to questions, Lt Col Junkin said that the so called 35 percent
drawings probably constituted 70-75 percent of the planning effort for the
Bose He also conceded that the net effect of the Base' s construction plans
would be major traffic increases for the area
With respect to traffic increases, Lincoln Planning Board Member Elizabeth
Corcoran pointed to the need to fold in to all traffic calculations what Mass-
port and the National Park Service, as well as the Air Force, were planning
to do in the Hanscom area over the next 20 years She noted that the NPS was
looking to relocate Route 2A and downgrade the current road, which would affect
traffic carrying capabilities Lt Col Junkin expressed concern over the
possible cutting off of one of the Base' s accesses to 2A and said such a change
would significantly increase the flow of traffic through other gates Norman
Faramelli of Passport also expressed reservations over the traffic implications
of the rerouting of 2A as proposed in the draft Master Plan
Turning to Item 2 of the Agenda, Jack Eddison summarized the responses of the
three affected towns to the draft Master Plan for Minuteman National Historic Park
These three responses supported the intent of the Master Plan and were generally
approving of the proposals to restore the exteriors of 18th century buildings and
to replicate, at least in some locations, the open field conditions of 1775 They
differed somewhat on the relocation of Route 2A but agreed that the rights of pri -
vate property owners adjacent to the Park should be protected They agreed fur-
ther that the costs of changes proposed in the Master Plan should be borne by the
NPS and that there should be continuing consultation between the Park Service and
the three towns, both directly and through HATS II, as appropriate
The third Agenda item concerned the provision of professional and consulting support
for HATS II Ed Bates , Deputy Director of MAPC, noted that his organization had
worked with the original HATS and could assist HATS II in such activities as develop-
ing an RFP for consulting firms, reviewing proposals, and working with EOTC and CTPS
staff The representatives of the four towns welcomed assistance from MAPC and agreed
to place articles in their respective town warrants to provide financing for HATS II
consultants in FY 1990 The improve the prospects of Town Meeting support for these
warrant articles, they asked for more justification on how the proposed consulting
money would be used It was agreed that such material would be prepared by the
Lexington representatives in consultation with MAPC
The final item of the meeting was a request by Loren McKean of the NPS for a place
for a Park Service item on the HATS II agenda in January or February 1989 She
said that the Park Service would like to discuss its proposed response to the com-
ments it had received on the draft Master Plan