The world according to the Barnstable Airport Commission…The world ends and restarts with each new chairman….

The very reverend Arthur Kimber brought the airport terminal expansion through an Environmental Impact Report, and a Cape Cod Commission Development of Regional Impact (DRI).

Deals were made with both the state and Barnstable County agencies.

But with Arthur’s retirement, and the election of Dan Santos, all past deals have been put aside in favor of a "Santos Policy."

Three years of the Barnstable Municipal Airport terminal expansion permitting processes resulted in the creation of a lynch pin for the project: the extension of Attucks Lane into the new terminal....

The Barnstable Road entrance at the Airport Rotary is to close, leaving the two existing entrances to the east gate (Mary Dunn Road off Route 28), and Airport Road next to the Kmart Plaza for employees and airport tenants only, along with Attucks Lane as the only means of egress and ingress to the airport.

The thinking behind Attucks Lane is that with the main entrance to the airport located within a half mile of Route 6 on Route 132, most airport traffic will be diverted away from Routes 132, 28, and Willow Street, Yarmouth, that has undergone major improvements, including widening the road within the Yarmouth town limits to four lanes. 

If drivers get off at Exit 7 and have to drive past the airport on Route 132 to Phinneys Lane, it wouldn't be long before they figured out the benefits of driving past Exit 7 to Exit 6, and drive directly into the airport on a special road via a cut-off on to Attucks Lane just a short distance from the exit.

The Yarmouth Board of Selectmen wants to keep Willow Street flowing by eliminating airport traffic, despite the bottleneck at the Barnstable town line.

Barnstable officials want to keep airport traffic off Route 28, and Route 132, by giving the airport its own virtual private road parallel to Route 132.

Santos said he can’t wait to discuss airport concerns with stake holders.

 I can assure Santos that the same 20-year old airport problems exist today.

Nothing has changed.

These are the basic stakeholder problems in random order;

1. Hyannis and Yarmouth drinking water wells,
2. Traffic flight paths and over-flights of Yarmouth
3.  Nitrogen loading,
4.  Lead and hydrocarbon impacts to Upper Gates, and Lewis ponds,
5. Hazardous materials/waste concerns
6. A new traffic study in Yarmouth roadways,.
7. An improved  water monitoring program ensuring improved pond water quality.
8. Overflights and noise in Hyannis Park
9. Increased early AM and late PM flights
10. Cost of the  project.
11. A new study of the need for the terminal since gasoline price increases and reduced passenger service.
12. Existing terminal was adequate, and could last
13. Use of more modern aircraft, capable of carrying more passengers,
14. Noise issues,
15. Commitments from new airline or airlines
16. Storm water management system
17. Groundwater and ground pollution to and in the
18. Sediments of Upper Gate and Lewis Ponds.
19. A proper noise study
20. Design standards compatible with the Hyannis GIZ.
21. Airport safety issues.
22. AM flights that are too early.
23. NOISE
24. NOISE
25. NOISE
    

Santos said, “The Barnstable airport is either the second or third busiest in Massachusetts, because it handles 200,000 passengers every year.

Santos implies the Barnstable Airport is a Jack Russell Terrier to Logan, but the truth is BMA is closer to a flea when compared to Logan because it handled 27 million passengers.

If second place is less than one-tenth-of-one-percent of first place, there is no second place.

If Logan is an airport, then the BMA is a landing strip.

200,000/27,000,000 = .0007

Santos admits that 80% of the 200,000 passengers who flew in and out of BMA are blue collar workers commuting to Nantucket.

My math says Santos will build a $45 million terminal to accommodate an average of 110 non-commuter passengers per day, or less than half the capacity of one 757-300 narrow body regional jet airliner.

Job commuters have told me they’d prefer no terminal of any kind; they’d rather the 7-passenger small Cessna 402’s taxi to a stop in the middle of a parking lot to enable passengers to exit and walk quickly to their cars.

Last year Plymouth and Brockton Bus Company carried twice as many Cape Codders to Boston and Logan Airport than the BMA, most of which were from terminal-less stops like the rear of Burger King Restaurant on Route 132, and the Sagamore parking lot.

Santos says the airport is the Cape’s second largest employer and provides hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars to the local economy, but the opposite is true. 

Last year Mosby reported to the Cape Cod Commission that the new terminal would result in only 5 new airport jobs, and guessed the airlines and car rental companies only a few more...

Last year the BMA had $4.4 million in gross revenue, $1.5 million of which was in jet fuel sales profit from the airport’s monopoly which is currently being challenged in U.S. District Court.

$1 million of airport revenue was derived from interest income, FAA grants, and illegal lease revenue from properties outside the airport fence, like the Kmart Mall, and the Steamship Authority Parking lot.

Alberto’s Restaurant probably had a bigger gross than the airport, which mean Santos is claiming the income of the 160,000 commuters  because they pass through the airport to and from work.

   

If the airport didn’t exist, these people would simply commute on the Hy-Line and Steamship Authority fast ferries.

Santos bragged how the three airlines are using “voluntary approaches,” and how this year’s Cessna 402’s are so much quieter than last year’s models.

Whoa Dan!!!

The last Cessna 402’s were manufactured in 1985, which means the newest model is 23-years old, so there is no "this year's model," therefore noise levels this year will be the same as next years, and haven't changed in decades.

As far as "voluntary flight paths" it would behoove Santos to read Massachusetts General Law Chapter 90 that mandates official approaches can only be adopted after official public notifications, public hearings, and votes of the residents of affected towns.

Santos should check if the provisions of Chapter 90 were followed in 1999 when the airport commission adopted the current voluntary approaches.

Santos should know that the Yarmouth Board of Selectmen hired an attorney, Peter Kopf, who specializes in aviation law.

If Santos wants to know Yarmouth’s legal plan, I suggest he log onto the Yarmouth website, click on Video on Demand, and watch Peter Kopf during a winter presentation to the Board of Selectmen.

Voluntary approaches suck because neighborhoods formerly far distant to the old approaches are now in airport approaches.

At the end of the post I’ve pasted a YouTube video of Santos’ interview with Mark Mumford.

I suggest, in the interest of fairness to all, that Mumford interview folks who live in Hyannis Park, Yarmouth, and he can start with John Klimm, who has taken up residence in the Yarmouth neighborhood.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE….

Santos went on; “I look forward to meeting the Yarmouth folks so I can make them happy that we’re here.”

I hate to break it to you Dan, but for tens of thousands of people, the only way the airport can make them happy is if it is moved to Otis.

Please watch the You Tube video of Santos’s interview this week.

Note that Santos never mentions Attucks Lane as a road leading to the new terminal.

Santos does talk about Airport Road as the primary entrance, and closing the current Barnstable Road entrance from the Airport Rotary.

You’ve driven north on Route 132 in front of the Kmart Plaza.

Airport Road at Route 132 is perpetually blocked by traffic stopped for the Independence Drive light.

I don’t know if Santos plans to add a third light at Airport Road between the Cape Cod Mall and Independence Drive signals, or if he plans to leave airport traffic to the mercy of drivers on Route 132.

Either way dumping traffic onto Route 132 from Airport Road is a totally piss poor plan.

If the Cape Cod Commission reneges on its Attucks Lane mandate, then both Yarmouth and Barnstable should get out of the Commission in special elections.

Note that Santos talks about the $1.7 million gift from Governor Patrick to “design” the new terminal.

Santos is the recently retired CEO of Horsley-Whitten, the environmental engineering company from Barnstable village that’s done millions of dollars in work for the airport in recent years.

If Santos’s retirement package includes stock in his former company, his appointment to the Airport Commission is a major conflict of interest (another Joakim ramrod appointee).

Santos didn’t say how much of the $1.7 million will be awarded to Horsley-Whitten. 

As you watch the 9-minute video note that it was filmed in front of the main terminal in the middle of July, the busiest season for the airport.

Also not that during the 9 minutes only two vehicles drive past the front of the terminal, a pick-up truck, and a compact car.

Both vehicles came from the car rental area, and never slow down as if to stop to unload passengers.

Both vehicles simply drive past the terminal on the way out of the airport.

PROOF PEOPLE ARE NOT FLYING TO NANTUCKET IN THESE DAYS OF $4.+ GASOLINE...

CONVERSELY THE HY-LINE AND STEAMSHIP TERMINALS ARE LOADED WITH PEOPLE.

DOES SANTOS BELIEVE THE NEW TERMINAL WILL BRING PASSENGERS BACK TO THE AIRLINES?

IF HE DOES, HE'S GOT TO BE MENTALLY IMPAIRED, BECAUSE TICKET PRICES ATTRACT CUSTOMERS TO THE AIRLINES.