North Adams Airspace Obstruction Removal Project Informational Meeting
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Airport engineers from Stantec held an informational meeting diving deeper into the vegetation and Airspace Obstruction Removal project and how it will affect abutters.
There were few people attending and no objections raised to the project.
Stantec Project Manager Peter Enzien led the meeting Monday and gave a project overview. He said the city is obligated under its Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant assurances to maintain and protect airspace.
"By virtue of participation in the program, the airport is obligated to protect the airspace and maintain it," he said. "We need to keep it free of obstructions and make sure there are no man-made obstructions."
He said this specific project came out of a recent airport master plan update that evaluated a number of different surfaces and approaches at the airport. In this project, vegetation will be removed from the threshold siting surface.
Enzien said this project will be funded through an Airport Safety and Maintenance Program (AMP) grant.
"It means there is no cost for any of these tree removals and restorations," he said. "It will be paid in full."
Janice Bland, senior aviation planner, went over the avigation easements that will impact property owners. She said it is essentially a height restriction easement that will address growing trees creeping into the airspace.
"As trees grow they become obstacles, and they need to be removed for safety," she said. "That is the goal of the avigation easement."
Environmental scientist Randy Christensen discussed where Stantec is focusing cutting and said it may include multiple trees.
He said the finer details won't be known until they inspect the properties, noting that although yards often have single shade trees, the spaces in between properties often have clusters of trees and vegetation.
He went on to say that during these inspections Stantec will verify the obstructions and take note of the surroundings to inform the best way of removal. Also, any sensitive areas such as wells, hot tubs, or patios will be noted before work begins.
Christensen said the simplest form of removal would be going in with a chainsaw and dropping the trees. This would be the case if the tree is not overly tall and there are no structures that would be damaged by a horizontal drop.
"We can take it down using the old tried and true method of using a chainsaw," he said.
If there are utility wires and other structures involved and it would be impossible to just drop the tree, multiple cranes and bucket trucks will be implemented to take the tree down vertically.
"We take it down piece by piece until we get to the bottom," he said.
When it is too difficult to bring cranes and bucket trucks onto a property, climbers will ascend the tree and take the tree down vertically by hand.
"You get some climbers," he said. "Nice young wiry guys who can climb the tree."
Christensen did say the trees that need to come down are on the smaller side, and he did not anticipate having to implement these more involved methods.
He said material will be chipped and removed unless the property owner wants to keep it.
Restoration will include smoothing over tracks left by equipment or downed trees.
Stumps will be ground down when possible and topsoil and seed will be placed. He said Stantec will consult with homeowners who want to replace the tree with a smaller one that will not intrude on the airspace.
He said a qualified contractor will be hired, and a resident inspector will be on scene so property owners do not have to communicate directly with the contractor.
Enzien said the next step is to meet with the abutters individually and move deeper into the design phase. Once the plans and specs are drawn up, the project can go out to bid.
He anticipates that this will happen in April with work actually beginning in May.
From start to finish, the whole project should take some four weeks, including cleanup and restoration. The project needs to be closed before the end of the fiscal year.
Those who want to see a copy of the presentation should email katie.hogue@stantec.com.
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