New Oxford hangar plan detailed

Nov. 21, 2007

OXFORD -- A Newington company that wants to build a new hangar at Waterbury-Oxford Airport would install detention basins and an underground water-collection system to minimize the project's impact on neighboring wetlands, an architect told town officials.

The safeguards would be included as part of Keystone Aviation Services' plans to build a 185,000-square-foot hangar at the airport off Christian Street, according to a presentation given at Monday's public hearing before the Inland Wetlands Agency.

John Whitcomb, a project manager for BL Cos., the architect of the hangar, told officials 2,700 square feet of wetlands would be paved over during construction of the new hangar, but the company plans to remove a portion of Larkey Road and restore about 3,000 square feet of wetlands.

The project would include depositing 250,000 cubic yards of material at the construction site, he said, which would also include office space, a new tarmac and a taxiway to the new hangar. It would not lengthen the airport's runway.

Whitcomb said the new space would store corporate jets, as do two other Keystone facilities at the airport. The IWA closed the hearing Monday after no one from the public spoke for or against the proposal. The board is expected to consider the proposal again, and could possibly vote, when it meets again at 6 p.m. Monday in Town Hall. IWA member Tom Adamski did not offer any opinion of the project Tuesday and was not sure if his fellow agency members will be ready to make a decision next week. "I don't know. We'll definitely discuss it. Whether we come up with a decision, I don't know," Adamski said. "We have to look at everything and weigh it."

Airport Manager Matthew Kelly recently voiced support for the new hangar because it would bring about 400 jobs to the Oxford area.