Posts Tagged ‘growth communities’

With the Army expected to decide shortly how it will rebalance its force structure as it reduces its active-duty end strength by 72,000 soldiers, House appropriators are concerned the service may commit to spending money on building new facilities after it already spent billions of dollars since 2005 on military construction to accommodate the population shifts generated by the last BRAC round. “Army planning to potentially add combat maneuver battalions and supporting units at certain installations in support of Army 2020 may result in a sizeable obligation to the Army’s budget at the same time the Army is trying to reduce the size of its force structure …

Providing additional planning data identifying where military personnel and their families live and establishing a long-term civilian point of contact at an installation are two changes that would help defense communities better prepare for mission growth in future BRAC rounds, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. While officials at growth installations exchanged planning information with their host communities concerning projected changes in military and civilian personnel, and school-age children, community officials interviewed by the congressional watchdog agency said they needed more specific information …

North Alabama schools will be the beneficiary of $175 million in state bond funds dedicated to school districts affected by BRAC mission growth, after Madison County lawmakers voted last week to allocate $5 million to the county school system to use as matching funds. The Alabama Legislature passed a measure last year to provide bond funds for construction and renovation of aging schools whose enrollments would be expanding due to BRAC growth, but no money had been allocated, reported the Huntsville Times. About 4,700 jobs moved to Redstone Arsenal following the last round of BRAC …

The Chesapeake Science & Security Corridor, through the Harford County (Md.) Office of Procurement, is requesting bids for a review of telework/flexible commuting alternatives and best practices, along with a feasibility study, for the Aberdeen Proving Ground community. The project includes two parts: (1) A study of flexible commuting alternatives feasibility/best practice assessment looking at uses of flexible commuting policy and initiatives, preferably federal and DOD-oriented, from across the country as they relate to addressing traffic mitigation issues …

Communities surrounding Forts Benning, Ga., and Riley, Kan., ranked among the fastest-growing places in the nation for the year ended July 1, 2012, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau last month. Chattahoochee County, Ga., was the nation’s fastest-growing county of 10,000 or more residents as its population climbed 10.1 percent between July 1, 2011, and July 1, 2012 …

Leaders in northeastern Maryland and the surrounding region believe a new transportation center opening this week at Aberdeen Proving Ground will help make a dent in traffic congestion at the post by reducing workers’ reliance on single-occupant vehicles. The APG-Chesapeake Science & Security Corridor Transportation Center’s primary goal will be to encourage military and civilian employees of the post’s 90 tenant organizations and nearby defense contractors to consider alternative commuting options, including commuter rail, a private bus line providing service to New Jersey, car and vanpools, and the Guaranteed Ride Home Program …

Legislation approved Tuesday by the Alabama Senate is designed to offer Huntsville a new tactic for supporting Redstone Arsenal and, ultimately, lure new missions there in a future BRAC round. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, would allow city and county governments to spend public funds on federal property, but it is aimed at giving a boost to Redstone Arsenal …

House and Senate conferees to the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill want to learn about past examples of public infrastructure projects supported by federal agencies that were needed to accommodate growth at a military installation. Lawmakers inserted language in the joint explanatory statement to the measure’s conference report requesting the Defense Department to list all such projects carried out since FY 2001 that were supported by federal agencies other than DOD …

Children of service members at Fort Riley, Fort Polk and Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake will attend class at new schools in a matter of years, following Tuesday’s announcement by the Defense Department that it is awarding $110.5 million to three public school districts to replace or renovate on-base facilities that are either in poor condition or overcrowded. Geary County Unified School District Number 475, Junction City, Kan., will receive $35.2 million to demolish and replace Fort Riley Middle School with a new 720-student school on the post to serve grades six through eight …

Planners from an eight-county region surrounding Fort Meade, Md., are focusing on transportation demand management as their primary approach to address the traffic-clogged roads leading to the post located between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. The installation already has tripled the number of its employees in the last decade and is projected to grow from a workforce of 56,000 today to 70,000 over the next 20 years …