Over the next six months, the Air Force plans to return 3,533 acres at the former Mather Air Force Base to Sacramento County, including the airport, a regional park and a wetland preserve. Last month, the Air Force and regulatory authorities deemed all property at Mather “suitable for transfer …
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy told Navy Secretary Ray Mabus about the state’s extensive support for Naval Submarine Base New London during a Pentagon meeting Monday. “Forging a relationship with the Navy Secretary can only help us as we navigate the BRAC process in the years ahead,” Malloy said in a written statement …
The city of Alameda is considering acting as its own master developer for the former Naval Air Station Alameda, an approach that would require it to finance the entitlement process for the 918-acre site. Securing entitlements is expected to cost $5 million, but would provide the city greater control over the future of the property on San Francisco Bay and spark competition among potential developers …
The frosty reception the Pentagon’s request for a BRAC round — at least in 2013 — received from both the House and Senate Armed Services committees during Capitol Hill hearings over the past several weeks is a pretty good indication that DOD will need to wait until at least 2015 for an opportunity to carry out wholesale changes in its inventory of installations. And while many defense communities, understandably, are celebrating the apparent reprieve, for some, it’s just business as usual …
Two years after it began work on a blueprint for redeveloping the former Naval Air Station Willow Grove, the Horsham LRA on Wednesday approved a mix of housing, retail and open space for the 900-acre site located outside of Philadelphia. For local residents, perhaps the most important element of the plan is what it doesn’t call for — preserving the airfield for a commercial airport …
The Air Force’s argument for additional base closure rounds is pretty straightforward, as outlined by top officials on Capitol Hill over the past several weeks. In preparation for BRAC 2005, the service determined it had 24 percent excess installation capacity. The Air Force, however, did not lose any major bases to closure as a result of the round. And now, seven years later, the service has 500 fewer aircraft in its inventory …
Lawmakers aimed their fire at DOD’s top installations officials over the request for two new BRAC rounds Wednesday, citing numerous reasons as to why a base closure round cannot be justified right now. The chair and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services’ Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee both denounced the department’s request for a BRAC round in 2013 …
The House on Tuesday passed a second measure this year intended to slash the federal portfolio of excess property by overhauling the existing disposal process. The Federal Building and Property Disposal Act, which passed in a 403-0 vote, creates a five-year pilot program that would expedite the disposal of the most profitable properties by removing red tape …
Officials from Ventura County plan to talk to the Coast Guard and with the region’s congressional delegation this week about the potential for proposed shipping lanes to interfere with testing and training off the coast of Southern California conducted by Naval Base Ventura County. The Coast Guard is planning to create formal navigational routes through the facility’s testing range …
The Fort Ord Reuse Authority is the target of a lawsuit alleging the organization failed to properly account for a federal grant dedicated to clearing munitions and explosives from 3,340 acres at the former post located in Monterey, Calif. The suit filed by open space advocates Keep Fort Ord Wild under the state Public Records Act asks the court to force the LRA to release documents related to $97.7 million it received from the Army under an environmental services cooperative agreement …