Turners Falls Airport work delayed until next spring

[ Originally published on: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 ]

TURNERS FALLS -- Construction on a new runway at the Turners Falls Municipal Airport will be put off until next spring to resolve whether a hill topped by stones in the path of the proposed runway is a sacred American Indian site that must be protected.

''We're going to work to make sure the cultural interests and all people's (concerns) are resolved,'' airport manager Michael Sweeney told the Board of Selectmen on Monday.

Last May, about a month before the airport hoped to begin work on the new runway, Doug Harris, deputy tribal preservation officer for the Narragansett Tribe told selectmen that tribal preservationists from the Narragansett and Wampanoag tribes had determined that ''an extensive array of stone elements'' clearly define the hill as a place of ceremonial prayer.

The Airport Commission will be working with the Narragansett Indian tribe, the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah and the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to gather information on the site. Once the information is gathered, it will be submitted to the keeper of the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C., who will make the final determination on the status of the land, Sweeney said.

''We're fully on board with further assessment.''

The airport is already committed to protecting other sites already found to be significant, including a 12,000-year-old campsite that has been discovered, he said.

On Monday, Sweeney also told selectmen that the Federal Aviation Administration gave the airport a $494,000 grant for engineering design and environmental assessment, work to be done while the issue of the hill's significance is resolved.

Although the construction will be delayed, the FAA and the Massachusetts Aeronautical Commission still say they will fully fund the $10 million project, Sweeney said.

When Harris told selectmen about the issue in May, he suggested moving and raising the new runway to cover up the site in question. That would require raising the runway by 40 feet for a 2-mile stretch and realigning Millers Falls Road, which would take five to six years, said Sweeney on Monday. ''We believe that is not a practical alternative.''

But, there may be other less costly alternatives, should the site need to be protected, he said.

Because construction on the runway is being delayed, other projects could get put ahead of Turners Falls, said Sweeney. But, ''It's a safety project as far as the FAA is concerned, so it will be very high on their list,'' he said.

 

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