Notice of Public Hearing for and Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Disposal and Reuse of Naval Air Station (NAS) South Weymouth, MA

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Navy

Notice of Public Hearing for and Availability of the Draft

Environmental Impact Statement for Disposal and Reuse of Naval Air

Station (NAS) South Weymouth, MA

AGENCY: Department of the Navy, DOD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Navy (Navy) has prepared and filed with

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the Draft Environmental

Impact Statement (DEIS) for Disposal and Reuse of NAS South Weymouth,

MA. A public hearing will be held to receive oral and written comments

on the DEIS. Federal, state, and local agencies and interested parties

are invited to be present at the hearing.

DATES: The meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 4, 1999 at 7 p.m.

[[Page 38186]]

ADDRESSES: Abigail Adams Intermediate School, 89 Middle Street,

Weymouth, MA 02189.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Robert Ostermueller, Northern

Division, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, 10 Industrial Highway,

MSC 82, Lester, PA 19113, telephone (610) 595-0759.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 102(2)(c) of the

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as implemented by the

Council on Environmental Quality regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508),

Navy has prepared and filed with the U.S. EPA the DEIS for the Disposal

and Reuse of NAS South Weymouth, MA.

In response to the recommendations of the 1995 Base Closure and

Realignment Commission and to the legislative requirements of the 1990

Base Realignment and Closure Act, NAS South Weymouth was officially

closed in September 1997.

Navy has prepared a DEIS which addresses the environmental impacts

of disposing of NAS South Weymouth and of its potential reuse. It is

Navy's policy to adopt the local community's reuse plan as its

preferred alternative. The preferred alternative presented in the DEIS

is the Final Reuse Plan developed and approved by the South Shore Tri-

Town Development Corporation.

The Final Reuse Plan alternative is a combination of land uses to

include: Business/research and development (regional headquarters,

small businesses, high-technology, etc.), retail (super-regional retail

entertainment center/retail along Route 18), residential (new senior

housing), institutional (homeless services), recreation (public golf

course), open space (wetlands and parks), and infrastructure (roads).

The preferred alternative would generate over 9,540 jobs at full 20-

year buildout, and would increase traffic and demand on utility systems

in the area substantially.

A Notice of Availability for the DEIS was published in the Federal

Register on July 2, 1999 and the DEIS has been distributed to various

federal, state, and local agencies, elected officials, special interest

groups, the public, and the media. In addition, copies are available

for review at three repositories around NAS South Weymouth: Burton L.

Wales Library, Abington MA; Rockland Memorial Library, Rockland, MA;

Hingham Town Library, Hingham, MA; and Weymouth Tufts Library,

Weymouth, MA. Single copy requests for the DEIS may be directed to the

point of contact listed previously.

One public hearing will be held to inform the public of the DEIS

findings and to solicit and receive oral and written comments. The

hearing will be held on Wednesday, August 4, 1999 at the Abigail Adams

Intermediate School, 89 Middle Street, Weymouth, MA 02189. The hearing

will begin at 7 p.m.

Federal, state, and local agencies and interested parties are

encouraged to attend or be represented at the meeting. Oral statements

will be heard and transcribed by a stenographer; however, to assure the

accuracy of the record, statements should be submitted in writing. All

statements, both oral and written, will become part of the public

record for this study and will be responded to in the Final

Environmental Impact Statement. Equal weight will be given to oral and

written statements.

In the interest of available time, each speaker will be asked to

limit his/her oral comments to five minutes. If longer statements are

to be presented, they should be summarized for the public hearing and

submitted in written long-form at the hearing or mailed to the point of

contact address listed above. All written comments must be postmarked

by August 16, 1999 to become part of the official record.

Dated: July 12, 1999.

Ralph W. Corey,

CDR, JAGC, USN, Alternate Federal Register Liaison Officer.

[FR Doc. 99-18075 Filed 7-14-99; 8:45 am]

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