Posts Tagged ‘base redevelopment/environmental cleanup’

LRAs and developers may finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief that they can rely on a federal statute to protect them from liability for undiscovered contamination at BRAC sites, following a federal appeals court ruling earlier this month concluding that regulatory actions carried out by environmental agencies are covered under the law. The decision by the Federal Circuit — which reverses the finding of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in a case brought by Indian Harbor Insurance to recover costs to remove soil contamination at the former Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Tustin, Calif. — settles for now the question of how broadly the federal courts will interpret Section 330 of the 1993 defense authorization act …

Plans to locate a community college campus and affordable housing at the former Onizuka Air Force Station in northern California are moving ahead, after the Department of Housing and Urban Development last month approved the site’s redevelopment plan. A local housing agency has proposed building 120 family housing units for residents earning less than $64,000 …

Less than six months after taking back the former Fort Ritchie from its developer, PenMar Development Corp. wants to have a new reuse plan for the 591-acre central Maryland property located just over the Pennsylvania border. The LRA plans to hire a real estate consultant shortly and complete a redevelopment plan later this year …

The Navy last month conveyed two parcels totaling 2,036 acres at the former Naval Station Roosevelt Roads to the commonwealth of Puerto Rico via an economic development conveyance, marking the final property transfer at the base located on the island’s eastern tip. The Navy had conducted public auctions for those parcels on two previous occasions, but neither attempt resulted in a suitable bid …

A bid to extend liability protections afforded BRAC sites to installations closed outside of the base closure process when unknown contamination is discovered fell short, as negotiators this week omitted language that had been in the House version of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill from the conference report. The provision would have extended the indemnity now provided by Section 330 of the 1993 defense authorization bill to all bases closed after Oct. 24, 1988 …

A group of seven House members representing districts with closed Army ammunition plants is pressing the chamber’s conferees to the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill to preserve language extending liability protections afforded BRAC sites to installations closed outside of the BRAC process when unknown contamination is discovered. The language, which would extend the indemnity now provided by Section 330 of the 1993 defense authorization bill to all bases closed after Oct. 24, 1988, is included in the House version of the annual defense policy bill but was left out of the Senate version …

The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority is selling two residential parcels that could be used for permanent housing by residents who lost their homes in Hurricane Sandy and no longer want to live in a floodplain. Local officials believe the former Army post in coastal New Jersey, which did not experience flooding in the October storm, may be attractive to homeowners who don’t want to pay higher insurance rates or live in an area that is vulnerable to flooding …

The city of Salina, Kan., and other local entities said on Thursday they will vote on a consent decree with the federal government settling their claims associated with the cleanup of the former Schilling Air Force Base. The settlement, which stems from mediation ordered by U.S. District Court, provides for the first steps toward a comprehensive cleanup of the property. According to the consent decree, the U.S. government will pay 90 percent of the cost, $8.4 million, and the Salina entities will pay 10 percent, $936,300 …

Lennar Corp. has gained approval from the state-supported China Development Bank for a $1.7 billion loan to jump start construction of neighborhoods at two of the developer’s high-profile base redevelopment projects in San Francisco, Treasure Island and Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The deal is not complete, but both sides are trying to finish it by the end of the year to avoid the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which will require foreign investors to enter into disclosure compliance agreements with the Treasury Department …

The Oakland Film Center and seven other major tenants, along with dozens of smaller firms and contractors, will be forced to vacate the former Oakland Army Base next spring to make way for the site’s redevelopment into a shipping and distribution facility. The city will lose $242 million in state funds if redevelopment does not begin by December 2013, reported the Oakland Local blog. Turning the site into a distribution facility will increase the capacity of the Port of Oakland and improve its ability to move cargo. The first phase of redevelopment, approved in June, is projected to cost $484 million.