Redevelopment Boot Camp
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RF Summer 2005 FINAL.ps - 7/12/2005 13:52 PM REDEVELOPMENT BOOT CAMP To survive the latest round of base realignments and closures, military-centric communities will have to find ways to turn barracks and bombing ranges into something marketable BY CHARLES GERENA talkative group fills the restau- uniform. Actually, there is something by the Virginia Army National Guard, rant booth near the front door else different. The long, flat building which manages it pretty much as the Aof Ida’s Kitchen. They chew looks like it belongs on an Army base. U.S. Army did for more than 50 years. the fat about the latest movies and In fact, Ida’s operates in what used to “The military presence continues, exchange neighborhood gossip while a be a mess hall that fed soldiers stationed and thank goodness for that,” says Joe gray-haired lady listens quietly from a at Fort Pickett. Outside, C-17s prac- Borgerding, a bank manager in Black- chair pulled up beside the booth. She tice sorties at a nearby airfield four stone who recently served on the board is the owner of the establishment, times a week. Sometimes, they fly so of the local chamber of commerce. And which provides catering services low that a passing motorist can almost a small section of Fort Pickett made throughout rural Southside Virginia as make out the pilot’s face. available for private development has well as a hot platter of Southern cook- Fort Pickett covers 42,000 acres, supported some economic activity, ing for walk-ins. making it larger than Washington, D.C. mostly small businesses like Ida’s Right away, two things stand out. The vast facility’s economic influence Kitchen. Only one man is seated at the booth, spreads even farther, encompassing the Other localities in the Fifth District and he is dressed in the camouflage small town of Blackstone and sur- lost military installations during the four colors of an Army National Guard rounding Nottoway County. Both fared previous BRAC rounds between 1988 OK after Fort Pickett landed on the and 1995, but they were spared the Most of Fort Pickett, which covers more ground than Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) major closures that shook up commu- the nation’s capital, was retained by the military list in 1995. The facility was taken over nities in states like California. (The big rather than redeveloped. exception was the shutdown of the Charleston Naval Complex, which cost the South Carolina city thousands of jobs.) In fact, a few places like Naval Air Station Patuxent River in southern Maryland and Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in eastern North Carolina enlarged when they received personnel from closed facilities. The Fifth District may dodge the bullet again. Fort Monroe in Hampton, Va., was the only major installation tar- geted for closure when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced the preliminary 2005 BRAC list in May. And Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, Fort Bragg in North Carolina, and other PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESYPHOTOGRAPHY: OF FORT PICKETT 22 Region Focus • Summer 2005 RF Summer 2005 FINAL.ps - 7/12/2005 13:52 PM Long Recovery Only two of the five major base redevelopments in facilities could end up with a net gain One of the researchers who reached the Fifth District have managed to produce enough in employment once the dust settles. this conclusion is Ted Bradshaw, a com- jobs from private-sector investment to replace the But a nine-member commission can munity development expert at the civilian jobs lost post-BRAC. modify Rumsfeld’s list before they University of California-Davis. “If you Loss Gain present it to President Bush for his con- are losing a base [that] has thousands of Charleston Naval Complex, SC 6,272 2,797 sideration in September. Until then, people, you cannot assume that your (BRAC 1993) every community with a major military economy is going to go down the Fort Pickett, VA 245 272 presence faces an uncertain future. tubes,” he says. “You don’t have that (BRAC 1995) It’s hard to generalize about how well local customer base [anymore], but the Fort Ritchie, MD 1,373 42 they will fare judging from Fort Pickett’s net effect over a number of years is (BRAC 1995) experience alone, especially since the going to be possibly neutral or positive.” Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, SC 784 1,571 installation was “realigned” instead of For individual communities recover- (BRAC 1991) closed. But the effects of previous ing from a closure, though, the short run Vint Hill Farms Station, VA 1,472 901 BRAC rounds on communities like can be painful. “The recovery process (BRAC 1993) Blackstone and efforts to mine the eco- has not necessarily been easy, with the nomic potential of military installations strength of the national, regional, and SOURCE: Office of Economic Adjustment, like Pickett offer some important local economies having a significant U.S. Department of Defense lessons. Most importantly, the odds of bearing on the recovery of any particu- success increase when redevelopment lar community facing a BRAC closure,” city of Concord, Calif., lobbied for the complements what the local community noted the 2005 GAO report. closure of a naval weapons station in the already does well. The shutdown of a military installa- next BRAC round so that land would “Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you tion tends to hurt rural communities be available to meet the soaring demand aren’t going to redevelop bases in a day more than urban locales. Bradshaw and for residential development in the hot either,” advises William Harvey, former others say that’s because such facilities Bay Area housing market. (They got chief of the Army’s BRAC office and account for a relatively large share of their wish.) president of an Alexandria, Va., con- employment and spending in an In some cases, the traits that made sulting firm that helps redevelop economy with a relative lack of business former bases attractive to the military federal property. “The time [required] diversity. The impact of a closure also are also conducive for civilian applica- is based on the area’s absorption capa- depends on the type of installation, tions. For instance, naval facilities could bility and the demand for that type which determines how much of its be well suited for port operations, while of property.” payroll and procurement dollars are other installations with aviation infra- spent locally. (See the cover story, structure could support commercial Being “Brac”-ed “Dollars and Defense,” in the Summer air traffic or house a plane maintenance Before the release of the initial 2005 2003 issue of Region Focus.) facility. BRAC list, news stories appeared with The Army built Fort Pickett during However, there are costs involved in ominous headlines like “Base Closings World War II to prepare Army soldiers realizing the potential value of a mili- Will Hit Like Tsunamis.” Past experience and reservists for battle. Tens of thou- tary installation, some of which are doesn’t justify this level of pessimism. sands of these warriors spent money borne by the Defense Department and A recent analysis by the U.S. Gov- locally during their stay, while the facil- some of which fall on other people’s ernment Accountability Office found ity employed hundreds of civilians to shoulders. Depending on the desirabil- that about 85 percent of local civilian maintain the grounds and purchased ity of the site, these expenses may make jobs lost during previous base closures some supplies locally. Fort Pickett it difficult for developers to get a good have been replaced through the devel- revved up again during the early 1950s return on investment. “Where there is opment of the properties. “Two key to prepare soldiers for combat in North the will, there is a way … and where the economic indicators — the unemploy- Korea, then evolved into a transient economics support it,” notes consult- ment rate and the average annual real facility for training armed forces. ant Bill Harvey. per-capita income growth rate — show President Bush recently proposed that BRAC communities are generally Fire Sale converting bases into oil refineries. The doing well when compared with With the potential negative effects of permitting process for such conversions average U.S. rates,” the report states. a base closure on a local community might be easier compared to building a Other research has found that, in the come the potential benefits of freeing refinery on a virgin site. But energy ana- aggregate, the economic effects of a up military real estate for civilian use. lysts note that many bases aren’t near base closure don’t spread far beyond the For installations where urban develop- existing pipelines or large bodies of immediate vicinity over the long run. ment encroaches upon its borders and water that are accessible to oil tankers, Even then, the ripples rarely become land is at a premium, their property plus they may be too contaminated for the tsunamis that people predicted. could prove very valuable. In fact, the refiners to deal with cost effectively. Summer 2005 • Region Focus 23 RF Summer 2005 FINAL.ps - 7/12/2005 13:52 PM Indeed, many military installations some repair work on water and sewer Although the 1995 BRAC report have problems similar to brownfields. lines before the land transfer. Three noted that Fort Pickett was “low in mil- “They have major toxic conditions buildings transferred for redevelopment itary value compared to other major [in soil and groundwater] that have were demolished, but others were in training area installations,” the Pentagon to be remediated,” notes Debbie Kern, good shape and the Army repaired reportedly decided that the Virginia a San Francisco-based real estate a few beforehand.