By Michael Coughlin Jr.
Representatives from Massport discussed their plans to optimize the North Service Area during last week’s Harbor View Neighborhood Association (HVNA) meeting.
Massport Deputy Director of Community Relations and Federal Affairs, Anthony Guerriero, noted that the North Service Area is the northern section of Logan Airport, parallel to the greenway and MBTA tracks beyond Wood Island Station.
“For the longest time, this area has kind of been a dumping ground for Massport where we would store abandoned cars, maybe trucks that are no longer in use, maybe some equipment that has been there,” said Guerriero.
He explained that over time, the area has been repurposed and now houses a bus depot, flight kitchens which provide food for the airlines, and other vehicles.
Massport’s Director of Aviation Planning and Strategy, Flavio Leo, explained why the area needs to be optimized. The buildings in the area provide “critical functions,” and they are old.
“It’s an ugly area, it’s not an efficient use of space. We’ve got buildings that have been ad hoc built over the years, so we need to replace them,” he said.
Leo explained that about eight buildings with various uses would be consolidated into two as part of the plan.
He then showed a rendering of the fully built-out project, which includes the existing bus depot and flight kitchens.
“We may in the future build employee parking. That’s no new parking, it’s basically just taking the existing parking and consolidating it,” said Leo.
With the aforementioned building consolidation, Leo indicated that over 200,000 square feet of buildings would drop to around 180,000 square feet.
“We’ll have less square footage when we’re done than what’s there today. It’s just going to be more efficient,” he said.
Additionally, the project includes plans for enhanced greenway landscaping, a flood berm, and truck route reconfiguration.
Leo then highlighted the project’s next steps, which include more community outreach and federal and state approvals. He also indicated that the plan is to begin construction in winter 2025/2026.
However, Guerriero emphasized that Massport would be back before anything happened. “Before anything happens, before any shovels are in the ground, this neighborhood will be told what’s going on,” he said.
Following the presentation, attendees commented and asked questions. For example, one attendee commented on the proposed truck route reconfiguration.
This resident thought the reconfiguration did not impact the neighborhood since the current route is behind Wood Island Station and areas like Neptune Circle and Swift Street already do not see the trucks.
Leo mentioned that it was true, but the new route would reduce the number of miles traveled, reducing emissions in what he called an environmental benefit.
This same resident then raised concerns about Gate Gourmet’s early morning weekend dumpster deliveries, which they said take over 20 minutes.
Guerriero responded first to the attendee’s comment on the truck route, stating that there have been inconsistent complaints about noise from the current route and that a meeting was happening that Wednesday to attempt to address the Gate Gourmet issue.
Later, the conversation shifted to security walls since Guerriero explained that the area would become “airside,” and federal regulations require the construction of security walls that he said would be similar to what is in front of Terminal E.
However, residents are concerned that if these security walls are concrete, train noise would ricochet off of them.
“It’s something we can try to address, and we’re looking into it [to see] if there’s an alternative to that. We don’t know yet; at the end of the day, we might not have a say in it,” said Guerriero.
Another resident wondered what would happen to the old truck route. Guerriero pointed out that Lovell Street would remain an active roadway. The same resident also asked what the square footage saved by the consolidation of the buildings would be used for.
Leo indicated that the area where buildings would be taken down would become part of a general aviation ramp.
One attendee asked for clarification on the truck route configuration. Guerriero explained that trucks coming from the flight kitchens to deliver to the airplanes would no longer have to backtrack on Lovell Street and compete with general traffic on Frankfort Street.
As the discussion continued, other attendees commented on the security wall, potential noise mitigation, and more.
For more information about the HVNA and to view a recording of this meeting, visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/harborviewna/. The next HVNA meeting is scheduled for May 5th.