"I think the community was worried that it was too close to the residential section of the neighborhood," the Boston Redevelopment Authority explains. "and they were worried about environmental impacts and noise." The BRA tells GlobeSt.com that some of the concern was focused on the number of trips that might go in and out of the space.
The opposition was reportedly pushed by State House Senator Jack Hart. The discontent was enough to cause Mayor Menino to reconsider other options for the helipad. Sen. Hart's office did not respond to GlobeSt.com inquiries by deadline.
"The mayor is still committed to bringing a heliport to the city," the BRA says. "and we still believe that one is needed here." The mayor's office and the BRA are going to explore further options, explains the BRA, seeing how much of use can be done at Logan. "If that's not an option," the BRA offers. "then we'll look at other sites. [The mayor] obviously heard from the community that this might not be the best site. But we still think the use is needed."
There is no official timeline at this point in the process. "It depends on how many conversations we can have as quickly as possible with the Massport authority that runs Logan and with the governor's office," the BRA explains. The discussion will be to decide whether or not it is viable to move the heliport to Logan, the BRA says, and if not, then other accommodating sites will need to be considered. There are possible sites in a different areas of the industrial park and/or on the waterfront, but everything is dependant upon availability, viability and the community approval process.
The heliport was used for security during the Democratic National Convention here in 2004. The original idea was to have a helicopter pad available for tourism, medical flights, the film and movie industry and additional transportation options for some of the city's employers. Boston previously had a public heliport on the South Boston waterfront that was closed in 1999 for the construction of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. The proposal for the site was from the Trenck Family LLC's Air Pegasus operation, which runs heliports in New York City; and Boulder City, CO; St Louis; and Las Vegas.
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