Posts Tagged ‘growth communities’

During meetings with the governor of Guam and other leaders last week, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter described the planned relocation of almost 5,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam as “in a much better place than it was even six months ago,” according to a senior DOD official traveling with Carter. The plan now calls for transferring about 4,800 Marines to the island, rather than the 8,000 originally projected. About two-thirds of the relocating troops will do so on a rotational basis, meaning the island will not need to accommodate as many family members as had initially been planned …

The Pentagon on Monday released $180 million to widen U.S. Route 1 through Fort Belvoir for a project intended to ease access to the Northern Virginia post for patients, service members and civilian workers at the new Fort Belvoir Community Hospital. The funds were disbursed by the Office of Economic Adjustment under a $300 million appropriation in the fiscal 2011 defense spending bill for transportation projects needed to improve access to medical facilities affected by BRAC 2005 …

Officials from 15 north Alabama school districts met with legislators Thursday to discuss how they could obtain a share of $175 million in funds to build and renovate schools trying to accommodate swelling enrollments due to BRAC growth at Redstone Arsenal. In April, the Alabama legislature amended the 2010 law establishing the state bonding authority to make it easier for the school systems to qualify …

The state of Maryland has been awarded a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to complete construction of a new station on a commuter rail line serving Aberdeen Proving Ground. About 8,200 new positions came to the proving ground as a result of BRAC 2005, bringing the installation’s workforce to 22,000. The grant will pay for converting the Edgewood, Md., station from a platform to a fully functioning MARC station …

A member of the Guam legislature plans to recommend the Defense Department turn to its family housing privatization initiative to provide housing needed to accommodate up to 5,000 Marines slated to move there from Japan. “The MHPI [Military Housing Privatization Initiative] is a workable alternative to what was previously announced by the DOD, which saw the government of Japan taking advantage of constructing military housing and reaping the benefits of the repayment by the DOD …

The impact of the decision by the United States and Japan to scale down the scope of the realignment of Marine Corps troops from Okinawa already is being felt in Guam, the island territory that had been preparing for the influx of military personnel. Homes built in Guam for thousands of temporary construction workers sit vacant, with some now serving as affordable housing for island residents. In April, the two nations revised their roadmap for moving troops off of Okinawa. Under the new agreement, between 4,700 and 5,000 troops will be stationed in Guam; initially, 8,600 Marines and their families would have relocated from Okinawa …

The state of Maryland will spend nearly $9 million for intersection improvements to increase traffic flow to and from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Lt. Governor Anthony Brown announced this week. Traffic in Aberdeen already has grown exponentially since thousands of employees moved to the area as a result of BRAC 2005. The funding will cover the purchase of land needed to improve one intersection and the relocation of utilities required to improve another. Further funding, however, will be required to complete the construction, reported BelAir Patch. “Our commitment to BRAC remains strong as we understand that BRAC in Maryland means more jobs, a stronger economy and a valuable contribution to our national security,” said Brown, chair of the Governor’s BRAC subcabinet.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors last week praised the efforts of senior commanders at Fort Belvoir to work closely with the community in addressing the consequences of dramatic BRAC growth at the Northern Virginia post. Mark Moffatt, former deputy garrison commander of transformation and BRAC, was recognized for coordinating with Fairfax officials to determine how the influx of new workers at the installation would affect surrounding traffic patterns, reported the Belvoir Eagle. Garrison Commander Col. John Strycula was recognized for his past two years of leadership, including overseeing the expansion of Fairfax County Parkway …

With a new BRAC round potentially close on the horizon, the Kern County Board of Supervisors toured Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake last week to gain a better understanding of what goes on at the Navy’s premier land range and weapons development laboratory. The base, located in the Western Mojave Desert of California, is used to test and evaluate weapons systems used on Navy aircraft, including unmanned aerial vehicles, and to develop new weapons and fuels. China Lake benefited from a consolidation of the Navy’s weapons testing and development functions following the 2005 BRAC round, gaining $350 million in construction and new personnel. The board and Scott O’Neil, executive director of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, generally agreed China Lake should emerge largely unharmed in a future BRAC due to its existing mission and geographic assets, reported the Daily Independent.

The Fort Bragg Regional Alliance is partnering with two local economic development organizations in a year-long effort to attract defense-related companies to 11 central and eastern North Carolina counties. The alliance, an organization founded to ready communities surrounding Fort Bragg for BRAC-related growth, will contract through mid-2013 with North Carolina’s Southeast and the Research Triangle Regional Partnership to continue the development of the defense industry cluster in south central North Carolina …