Hub heliport plan failing to take off
No meetings since January
A state-created task force that was supposed to help identify sites for a public heliport hasn’t met since January and city officials say they’ve had no “active” talks about creating one, raising doubts about whether the controversial idea will ever get off the ground.
“From my perspective, it’s dead,” said Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty, who sits on MassDOT’s Heliport Task Force and has been a vocal critic of planting a potential helipad in the Seaport. “The South Boston community remains steadfast against a heliport on the South Boston waterfront. We have an active working port, new residences and popular venues such as the music pavilion.”
State and city officials had openly discussed since last year creating the city’s first publicly run heliport in nearly 20 years after promising one to General Electric as part of a $125 million state incentive package used to lure the company from Connecticut.
That plan appeared to take a hit in February when — just weeks after the state task force held its first public meeting — GE officials said they no longer needed it to shuttle executives to their new digs in the Seaport. GE’s helicopters had been landing and taking off from Logan International Airport, and the company said at the time that service is better than expected.
State and city officials quickly indicated they still intended to move forward, with John Barros, the city’s chief of economic development, explaining that officials were still hearing “a lot more interest and need for a heliport in Boston.”
But, officials acknowledge, there’s been little to no activity since. A second public meeting scheduled in February was scrapped and no formal meetings have since been planned. A city spokeswoman said officials there aren’t engaged in any “active discussions at this point.”
Patrick Marvin, a MassDOT spokesman, acknowledged Friday that officials had identified “no further potential sites.”
“However, MassDOT remains committed to advancing aviation infrastructure in Boston and throughout the commonwealth,” he added.
Even the heliport’s most ardent supporters have long admitted it likely wasn’t happening. Greg Harville, president of the New England Helicopter Council, wrote in an April newsletter to the group’s members that despite its best efforts, any progress on a publicly run heliport in Boston had “stalled.”
“Boston residents had several opportunities to express their concerns about the proposed heliport during public hearings, and similar to the outcome of our 2008 heliport effort, their overwhelming objection is helicopter noise,” Harville wrote.
Efforts to reach him for further comment yesterday were not successful.