Barnstable airport project faces delays

Aug. 12, 2010

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Aug. 12--HYANNIS -- The Wendy's Baconator is the latest bump in the road for a new 35,000-square-foot terminal at Barnstable Municipal Airport.

The state Department of Transportation board of directors yesterday postponed a scheduled vote on whether to approve more than $13 million in state funding for the perennially delayed project. The remainder of the project's $20 million cost is being paid for through federal and state grants, a town-backed bond, and airport reserves.

The board was expected to approve the funding but decided to hold off until at least September after receiving a letter from the limited liability company that owns the property on the Airport Rotary occupied by the fast-food restaurant.

Department of Transportation attorneys are reviewing the letter and its claims, said Chris Willenborg, administrator of the agency's aeronautics division.

Despite the delay, the state remains fully committed to funding the project and plans to take up the issue again at its next meeting, Sept. 7 in Boston, he said.

Gregory Botsivales, a manager at Botsini-Prime, LLC, argues in the letter that Barnstable officials "unlawfully" issued permits for the project in spite of pending appeals of a Cape Cod Commission decision to approve changes to the plan. At issue is a small roadway between Wendy's and Uno Chicago Grill that connects Route 132 to the airport.

The cut-through is owned by the airport. Wendy's and Uno have an easement to use it, said airport manager Roland "Bud" Breault.

"That access driveway between us and Uno would become the de facto primary entrance to their airport," Botsivales, manager at Botsini-Prime, said yesterday.

The terminal project as now proposed would hurt Wendy's business because the driveway would become congested with airport traffic, he said.

"You will not be able to get to Wendy's to get your Baconator," he said of the popular beef, cheese and bacon sandwich.

The company has two appeals of the commission's approval pending in land court and claims any work must wait for a judge's ruling in the matter.

"I unequivocally make the statement that the permits they are holding in their hands that have been issued by the town of Barnstable are unlawful," Botsivales said.

Town officials did not return messages seeking comment but airport and Cape Cod Commission officials countered yesterday that the project's transportation plan is separate from the building permits. There are several other ways to access the airport without cutting between the two restaurants, they said.

The airport terminal and road plans call for additional entrances to the airport from Route 28 just east of the airport rotary and via Hinkley Road, a short distance west of the cut-through next to Wendy's.

A median is planned for the area of Route 132 close to the rotary to stop drivers traveling southeast or leaving the two roads from making a left turn across traffic.

Additional access to and from the airport will be via an extension of Attucks Lane connecting to Independence Drive and Airport Road off of Route 132.

"We consider it unnecessary interference," Breault said of Botsini-Prime's letter. "We really wish that they would get together with us and move forward together."

The airport would be willing to provide signs to discourage airport visitors from using the cut-through, he said.

The delay in approval from the state should not affect the project's schedule, he said.

A bid for the roadwork is expected to go out in the next two weeks but there is some buffer time in case that piece of the project can't move forward immediately, he said.

Yesterday, workers prepared an area on the tarmac of the airport to be fenced off for parking. Work on the terminal building is expected to begin this fall and be completed in about a year.

Changes to the road plan are subject to appeal and while under appeal in land court a stay on the terminal work is required, Botsivales said.

"Potentially we're going to have a trial in three years," he said.

Despite his concerns over the road Botsivales claimed to support the broader project.

"We've got a couple of different issues but nothing that can't be resolved," he said.

The pending litigation that relates to the project's transportation plan has no bearing on the permits issued for the terminal, said Cape Cod Commission executive director Paul Niedzwiecki.

In a July 1 letter sent to Thomas Perry, director of the Barnstable Building Department, Niedzwiecki wrote that the commission did not object to the town issuing permits for the terminal.