Council Seeks Remediation From Massport for Runway Project

By Adam Swift

The Winthrop Town Council has signed onto a letter asking Massport to provide additional remediation efforts in relation to the planned runway safety area improvement project for Runway 27 at Logan Airport.

“This is a runway safety area improvement, it is not a runway extension,” said Precinct 3 Councilor Hannah Belcher, who wrote the letter, at the council’s August 16 meeting. “The draft environmental impact report came back from Massport. It was open for public comment and they extended the period from the 8th to the 22nd, which gave us time to get a letter in front of the council to sign and send over,”

Belcher said the draft report didn’t mention a lot of Winthrop-specific issues because the scope of the project is entirely within Boston boundaries.

“But it undoubtedly impacts our waterways toward Snake Island and the Elks,” said Belcher. “The letter outlines that we understand the importance of this (runway project) and that it’s a safety issue and an FAA mandate, however it asks for a few things, like air quality monitors and studies, and we ask them to speed up the sound insulation project, and we are asking for funding for trees.”

Councilor-At-Large Tracey Honan thanked Belcher for working on the letter to Massport.

“It is very pragmatic and well written,” said Honan. “We know this project has to happen because it is an FAA requirement, however, I was pleased to see she asked for remediation, specifically regarding the tree funding.”

In other business, Town Clerk Denise Quist updated the council on the changes in precinct lines as a result of the 2020 federal census. Overall, Quist said 348 households had to change precincts.

“Every 10 years, when the federal census is calculated, the state makes the decision on the town’s precincts, causing some to be reprecincted,” said Quist. “Each precinct cannot have more than 4,000 voters in it, therefore, some residents are changing precincts to fit this.”

The 2020 census saw the population of Winthrop grow from 15,893 residents in 2010 to 19,316 in 2020, Quist said.

There were 41 people who changed from Precinct 1 to Precinct 5, 53 from Precinct 4 to Precinct 6, 93 from Precinct 6 to Precinct 1, 52 from Precinct 4 to Precinct 6, and 109 from Precinct 1 to Precinct 2.

“Hopefully, this will not happen again for another 10 years,” said Quist.