NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Peter Enzien of Stantec, the airport's engineer, reported that the North East Hangar project is finally complete and awaiting FAA approval for final reimbursement.

 

"The Northeast hanger project is complete, 100 percent," Enzien told the commission Tuesday. "We just completed all the final closeout documentation, all that was sent to the city. The mayor signed everything. It was all returned back to the FAA three weeks ago."

 

In 2022, the commissioners voted to go forward with the renovation of the derelict hangar, owned by the city. The project would tap a mix of state, federal, and local funds.

 

Delays caused by supply shortages and other disruptions complicated the project that was largely completed earlier this year.

 

Enzien said the Federal Aviation Authority will review and close out the project. He said there may be a few lingering action items to settle, but all in all, the project is complete.

 

"We have to update a few things, but generally, they'll approve it," he said. "Once that's done, they send us an email, and then that email is authorization to move forward with getting reimbursed."

 

Enzien moved right into the airport's next Airport Improvement Program project: the construction of a new "T" hangar (named for how the planes are parked) west of the city-owned Shamrock Hangar. 

 

He said, earlier this month, a meeting was held with the FAA and state Department of Transportation to discuss this upcoming project.

 

"I thought the meeting went very well. They pretty much have a standard agenda that they follow," he said. "We went through and talked about a few different scoping items. What it all came down to is we have to get a draft scope pulled together."

 

He said this document must include Stantec's services for design. He said this document should be complete this week and ready for FAA and City review.

 

"So that'll establish the scope for the project in terms of design, permitting, construction and inspection services," he said. 

 

From there, the city will have to get an independent fee estimate to review against Stantec's plan. After some more negotiation, all parties will agree upon a number for a final fee. At that point, the city will sign a contract and Stantec will begin the design phase of the project.

 

Enzien said all of this should be completed by the end of October with a contract signed in November. He said Stantec will likely start the design phase in December.

 

"We're going to need some geotech information associated with the site, that will allow us to start the design," he said. "There's a little bit of permitting that has to be done."

 

He said the design should be 75 percent complete in February with 100 percent design in March. Bids should go out in March and opened in April with grant applications being submitted in May. 

 

The project should be complete by summer 2026.

 

Airport Manager Bruce Goff asked if there was any way to bump the hangar project and install taxi lanes instead. He said currently the taxi lanes are grass and unsuitable. 

 

Enzien said it might be complicated as the city has already rolled over various grant funds for the hangar project specifically. Any changes mean they would have to apply to use these funds.

 

"Now, all of a sudden, you're losing $300,000 that you were going to put towards the hangar," he said. "So by doing the hangar first, and kind of avoid that."

 

He said the city can explore some temporary paving fixes, but this means taking on the project themselves. Otherwise, it may be a bit.  

 

Because the hangar is a revenue-producing project, the city would have to wait three years before applying for more discretionary funding. This means the taxi lane project would probably take place closer to 2028.

 

He added that this project could potentially be delayed further as there are many high-priority runway projects in New England supersede taxi lane projects.

 

"So if the funding is available, they'll do the taxi lanes. If it's not, it's going to go towards the runways first. Which all that means is it just the taxi lanes get bumped down to maybe 2029 or even 2030," he said.

 

The commission also agreed to enter into a lease agreement with airport user Michael Milazzo who wants to lease the newly renovated North East Hangar.

 

A subcommittee made up of airport commissioners and city officials reviewed Milazzo's application, which was the only one submitted, and recommended that the full commission reject the lone proposal, reported Commissioner Marc Morandi who served on the subcommittee.

 

Morandi indicated that the subcommittee was hoping to receive more proposals and wanted to rework the RFP for a second release. There were also concerns about Milazzo's terms and language within his proposed lease agreement that the subcommittee felt did not align with the RFP, said Morandi.

 

He said they even sought an opinion from the Office of the Inspector General that also suggested the commission deny Milazzo's proposal as his proposed lease agreement offered specific terms. Morandi relayed that only the RFP can set lease terms.

 

Morandi suggested the commission revert to its original plan and have the city run the hangar and lease out spaces itself, noting there is still a long waiting list for airplane storage that will not be alleviated until the airport builds the new T hangar.

 

Milazzo, who attended the meeting, wanted some sort of answer noting he submitted his proposal in early September.

 

"I would expect this commission to vote either to accept my proposal tonight or to not accept my proposal tonight and, if you're going to deny it, I would like a very clear reason why it's being denied," he said during public comment. 

 

A frustrated Milazzo added that the city has many times approved lone proposals that came in through the RFP process. Also, he said it was his understanding that the commission would actively negotiate the lease with him pointing to language in the RFP that he felt indicated this.

 

Proposals were accepted from Sept. 2 to Sept 16. The subcommittee did not meet until Oct. 2.

 

Morandi did speak to the delays, noting the actual hangar was not yet complete so it was difficult to execute a lease. He added that there were difficulties setting up a subcommittee and lining up city staff who would help guide the process.

 

"We were kind of being aggressive, thinking the hangar would be done and whatnot. Then between delays with getting the CO, and then not thinking through the process, because we were rushing to actually put together the request for proposals," Morandi said. "Bruce [Goff] ended up writing most of the RFP because Kathy [Eade] didn't have time and the procurement officer did not have time either to be able to go through."

 

Although not mentioned during the meeting, Milazzo was a previous co-owner of the renovated hangar. Then co-owners Derek and Jackie Rougeau alleged that Milazzo, along with a fourth co-owner Brian Doyle, damaged and vandalized the hangar in 2021 with an excavator. 

 

Eventually, the city took control of the building.

 

The commission held little discussion and when it came to a vote, Morandi was the only no vote with another commissioner abstaining.

 

Milazzo, eager to keep things moving, had a check in hand offering to pay whatever lease fee the commission asked for. He also demanded that the commission enter executive session immediately to discuss lease terms.

 

Morandi said no payment was needed yet and asked that they delay the negotiation session until the end of the month, allowing time for the commission to prepare.

 

Before closing, the commission accepted a second bid by a company named Diamond to install a cellular tower on the airport campus.

 

Diamond offered a $30,000-a-year bid with a scheduled 2.5 percent yearly increase. Included are terms that if they can fully lease out the tower, the airport will receive half of the tower's gross. Their deal also includes a $100,000 bonus.

 

The other bid was from Verizon who only offered a $24,000 yearly payment.

 

Although Diamond was satisfied with the placement of the tower behind Stop and Shop, the commission's preferred location, there is no guarantee the tower will actually be installed. Per their proposal, construction would only begin once Diamond had tenants.

 

But the commission was confident that would not be an issue with such spotty cellular service in the area.