BRIAN BARNES
WESTFIELD – The Community Preservation Committee gave approval to a funding request to repair Hangar 2 at Barnes Regional Airport, but attached a number of conditions to that vote.
The 10,000-square-foot hangar was built in 1939 with a brick, wood and steel structure that fell into disrepair in the 1970s when the original facade was covered with aluminum siding.
Airport Manager Brian Barnes said the rehabilitation plan is to repair the “envelope” of the structure, which has been deemed of historical significance by the city’s Historical Committee, and restore it to its original appearance.
The level of funding approved last night was significantly below the level requested in the original Community Preservation Act application.
Barnes said the original funding request of $750,000 was a rough or “spitball” estimate. The revised request of $466,620, submitted last night, was based upon an engineering assessment performed by Reinhardt Associates, the Agawam-based engineering and architectural consulting firm, of the cost of replicating the original windows with energy-efficient technology, removing the siding, repairing the brick, sliding front hangar door system, and roof which is currently leaking and hastening the deterioration of the structure.
The cost of rehabbing the interior of the hangar is directly linked to the future use of the building. The options were discussed last night which spread across a spectrum of possibilities.
The last option discussed is the most simple and perhaps least costly: to continue to use the facility as an aircraft hangar to generate revenue for the airport. Several speakers said there is a lack of adequate hangar space, not only at Barnes, but regionally, and that the demand for additional space is high.
Another option is using the hangar for the Pioneer Valley Military and Transportation Museum to establish a lease for land at the municipal airport, which is seeking a location to display aircraft and vehicles. The museum group was seeking to lease the historic hangar built in 1939 by the Works Program Administration, but is also considering leasing land at another location at the airport.
The third option is to use the hangar as a classroom for an aviation program being developed at the Westfield Vocational Technical High School. The Voc-Tech advisory committee members packed the room last night to discuss that option. Barnes is on the aviation advisory committee along with Dr. Donald Nicolette, who is also a member of the Airport Commission.
“As far as the city is concerned, it has not been determined who will be coming into that building,” Barnes said. “Restore the facility because Westfield has a deep and rich aviation history. We’re seeking to preserve the past and inspire the future.”
Nicoletti said that aviation companies are “stealing technicians from each other because they can’t get enough help. This (aviation technology) program will be great for Westfield. It will improve its economic base.”
The goal of the advisory groups is to have the hangar work completed by September of 2015 or January of 2016. Initially there will be one instructor and 20 students in the aviation technology program, but there are also plans to increase the number of instructors with that 1:20 ratio of students.
That option will require an additional $1.9 million when the groups feel can be raised through funding from private aviation-related firms and government agencies, including the Department of Transportation and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education which is interest in making Westfield’s aviation program a model for several other districts.
The school district and museum are both submitting proposals to Mayor Daniel M. Knapik on Aug. 30 to allow city officials to determine the more beneficial of those two options.
The board approved $470,000 for the project with four conditions. The rehabilitation work must comply with the standards for historic preservation set by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior; will be done under the oversight of the city’s Historic Commission; will require the Airport Commission to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the CPC that the hanger will be maintained and used for aviation-related purposes.
The fourth condition is that Knapik submit a request for a three-year bond in that amount to the City Council for its review. That condition was requested by the CPC so it can spread the cost of financing the school project out over several years.
The advisory group was requested to develop “hard numbers” for the building envelope rehabilitation and restoration work which would be used by the administration to make the bond request to the City Council.
