WILLOW GROVE, PA-The state's Department of Military and Veterans Affairs has selected L. Robert Kimball & Associates to prepare an implementation plan for the joint interagency facility on the 1,100-acre former Naval Air Station Joint Reserve base here. The architectural and engineering firm is due to complete its plan in February 2008.
The selection represents the first step in turning the military base, which was doomed by the Base Closure and Realignment Commission, into a security hub that will house military units and civilian emergency response and preparedness agencies. As GlobeSt.com previously reported, efforts to maintain the facility culminated, after a two-year battle, with federal legislation.
The legislation, hammered out in a proposal by Gov. Ed Rendell, requires the Navy to initially transfer the land and facilities to the Air Force, which has agreed to lease it to the state. The state will oversee operations. The operating costs are estimated at between $12 million and $18 million a year, and the costs will be shared among government and non-government entities, which the governor is enlisting to lease or license facilities at the base.
Among the agencies the state is pursuing are FEMA, Homeland Security and EPA. The National Guard's 111th Fighter Wing, currently located at the base, will remain.
Ebensburg-based Kimball's plan will include a business plan outlining operation of the installation, options for the optimum footprint and consideration of numerous infrastructure and planning issues. It will work with a committee that includes representatives from the Horsham Local Redevelopment Authority, the Navy, Air Force and state agencies. An initial workshop for the advisory group is to be held within the next few weeks. Based on a confidentiality agreement, a Kimball spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com the company cannot comment further.
“The preparation of the implementation plan is a major step in our efforts to transform all or part of the Navy property into a model joint installation,” says Major General Jessica Wright, state adjutant general, in a statement. “In the future, the Pennsylvania Army and Air National Guard, other military organizations, federal, state and local government agencies and associated users will work side-by-side at Willow Grove to support vital national defense, homeland security and emergency preparedness missions.”
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