Fran Ahern, front center left, general manager of Gulfstream Westfield, and Larry Flynn, front center right, hold a ceremonial pair of scissors after a ribbon cutting ceremony at the new Gulfstream facility at Barnes Regional Airport. (File photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – A City Council committee will assess an above-ground fuel storage petition, requested by Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation at its recently expanded maintenance facility located at 33 Elise Street.
Gulfstream recently completed a $23 million expansion project that more than doubled their maintenance capacity. The new 125,000-square foot hanger facility has the capability of housing larger aircraft undergoing maintenance at the Barnes Regional Airport-based facility.
The firm has requested the City Council to allow installation of an additional above-ground 20,000-gallon fuel storage tank, in addition to the present license for two 10,000-gallong above ground tanks now at the facility.
Detail of the petition were presented by Fran Ahern, general manager of the Barnes-based Gulfstream facility, at a May 16 public hearing conducted by the City Council, who then referred the petition to its License Committee for further review.
The maintenance facility is located on the east side of the airport and is directly over the Barnes Aquifer.
License Committee Chairman John Beltrandi said that he plans to call a committee meeting before the June 6 City Council session to make a recommendation to the City Council on the company’s petition, as well as addressing other issues now pending in his committee.
“I really don’t think that anybody will have a issue with this petition,” Beltrandi said this morning. “It will be a double-walled, above ground tank with alarms that sound if there is any leakage between the two walls of the tank. The tank itself that will be located in a containment basin.”
“These guys are pros. In fact, they tend to go over the top,” Beltrandi said. “They tend to be sensitive to local concerns and environmental issues.”
Beltrandi said that the additional fuel storage is needed to offload fuel from aircraft arriving at the facility for maintenance. That fuel is filtered and treated before being returned to the aircraft after maintenance work is completed.
Ahern said the tank proposal will also be submitted to the Planning Board, the Building Department and the Barnes Aquifer Protection Advisory Committee for further review. The new 20,000-gallon tank will be located next to the two existing 10,000-gallon tanks.
Ahern said that the Westfield Fire Department has already (signed off) on the 20,000-gallon, above-ground tank that is easier to maintain because it can be inspected and accessed.
