ON THE RECORD/Base closures, growth pose many questions

When the Pentagon issued its recommendations for reorganizing U.S. military facilities, towns threatened with base closures pushed for a reversal from the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission. By last month, the commission had whittled the list from 33 “major” closures to 22 and recommended reconfiguring 33 bases. Congress is expected to approve the commission’s report by next month, beginning an arduous process for communities to redevelop properties or accommodate new military personnel and their families. Director of the Department of Defense’s Office of Economic Adjustment, Patrick O’Brien, has been meeting with local, state and federal officials to help communities plan for property use.

Q: What impression have you had about local officials’ preparation for base realignment compared to previous years?

A: This round is different because it has a significant growth component to it. Where we have downsizing, clearly, with each successive round, communities have become better at getting themselves organized, coming up with plans in a shorter period of time, recognizing opportunities for job creation, and putting those plans into action. In a growth framework, there isn’t a lot of previous history here for people to build upon. They’re starting to ask questions about important issues locally, such as the housing supply, how the support for the local school system will be adjusted in time to accommodate the influx of military personnel dependents, etc.

Q: Is your office offering any new services or resources to BRAC communities?

A: On the growth side, we’re starting off with working with communities on the preparation of growth management plans. We’re getting them to sit down with the military, understand the growth that’s going to occur, assess what local capacities are to absorb it, and where there are gaps. In addition to our program here in the Pentagon, we also coordinate assistance across the federal agencies through the president’s Economic Adjustment Committee. This year, unlike previous rounds, the Department of Labor actually was very forward leaning and offered national emergency grants to a number of states to assist dislocated workers.

Q: What have communities done following previous base closures that have served them well in redeveloping those properties?

A: Just about every community tries to get focused on the issue of base redevelopment and economic recovery as soon as possible. They may have more than one political jurisdiction, and they all have to discuss how they will work together and speak with one voice to the Department of Defense, to the military department, to the other federal agencies and certainly to the community. It’s important that whatever entity steps forward on behalf of the community has the political and financial backing of that community, that it involves both the public and private sector, and is strong enough to withstand short-term political pressure in favor of long-term economic gain.

Q: Is there any one complaint that you hear most often from communities once they start moving through the redevelopment process?

A: If there is a complaint, it may be that it’s a very long process. There are the complexities that the environment brings into it, that the property disposal regulations bring into it and the BRAC statute itself brings into it that makes for somewhat of a longer process than what anybody anticipates.

The other complaint that we find is that one size doesn’t fit all. You have to approach each location with a set of tools and have the flexibility to apply those tools to meet local needs.