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July 26, 2005: Air base plans get the final approval votes Sept. 28, 2004: Tri-Town won’t hire consultant to review plan Sept. 24, 2004 The Patriot Ledger Home Page
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June 21, 2005
Abington endorses air base planVoters at special town meeting overwhelmingly say yesThe Patriot Ledger ABINGTON - Abington voters overwhelmingly approved master developer LNR Property Corp.’s plans for the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station at a special town meeting last night. The vote ended nine years of debate and often heated discourse about the future of the 1,405-acre base. The Abington High School gym was a sea of green as the majority of almost 500 voters attending the town meeting held up green note cards in favor of the project.
The base land lies in Abington, Weymouth and Rockland. -Abington was the first of the three communities to vote on the proposal. Rockland is set to vote on the reuse plan Monday and the Weymouth Town Council will make its decision next month. Rockland selectmen Chairman Louis Valanzola said his town is still working out details of LNR’s proposed financial package to the town. In Weymouth, the town council is reviewing traffic and environmental issues related to the reuse plan. At last night’s meeting in Abington, selectmen Chairman Robert Wing said LNR’s development plan is not perfect. “But there will never be a perfect plan for the base,” he said. “But the key feature is local control; we have a guarantee that the agreements we’ve worked out will hold true,” he said. The phrases “not a perfect plan” and “local control” repeatedly surfaced as the selectmen and members of Abington’s planning board, finance committee and air base reuse committee spoke in favor of the project. “The base is going to be developed whether we like it or not,” said Joseph Shea, chairman of the air base reuse committee. “Rather than take a chance on losing the land, we should approve the plan and keep our local control.” Representatives from the South Shore Tri-Town Development Corp., the agency overseeing the redevelopment of the air base, and LNR gave a short presentation before Moderator Michael Franey turned the floor over to questions and comments from voters.
North Abington resident William Buckley worried that people traveling from Rockland and Hingham to the property via Route 18 would cut through his neighborhood. “We might lose our quality of life,” he said. “And the value of our homes could go down.” Resident Joseph Sheehan said that the jobs created from the base redevelopment would benefit union workers in Abington. “This plan is the best we can come up with,” Sheehan said. “What I’m hearing from the town boards is that they aren’t 100 percent positive about it, but it sounds like they are at least 90 to 95 percent positive.” And when resident Beth Sortin asked if town meeting would like to hear from the organization Sustainable South Shore about its plans for wind energy on the base, voters turned her down and representatives from the Hull-based group were unable to speak. As discussion dwindled, Wing reminded residents that the vote “is not the end, it’s just another hurdle in the process.” The next step for the base, the environmental permitting process, will require input from residents in all three towns, he said. Voters clapped and cheered as they approved the base plan and related zoning changes. Only 30 people voted against the plan. Town Clerk Linda Adams estimated that about 474 of the town’s registered 9,755 voters were at town meeting last night. If all three towns approve the project, LNR has promised Abington a $1,975,000 mitigation package, which is earmarked for two police cruisers, a fire engine, an ambulance, synthetic turf for the Memorial Field and a matching grant for the proposed senior center, among other projects. Staff reporter Joe McGee contributed to this report. Courtney Hollands may be reached by clicking here.
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MAPS: A before and after look
LNR’s plan, unveiled in September, includes a mix of residential and commercial development, open space, playing fields, a golf course and a transportation system.
