BASE REALIGNMENT TO ADD TRANSPORTATION WOES WITH 10000 NEW PEOPLE

You heard, "The British are coming, The British are coming". Well Army, Navy, and Air Force are some of the new folks coming, plus there is some Defense Contractors, who will be following along.


BRAC to add transportation woes with 10,000 new people
Mona Moore
September 29, 2008 - 9:50PM

In just a few years, Okaloosa County residents will have more than 10,000 new neighbors.
As part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure changes, the U.S. Army's 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) will relocate to Eglin Air Force Base from Fort Bragg, N.C., and the Joint Strike Fighter Integrated Training Center will open by 2011.
County officials arranged an informational meeting on the challenges the influx of 10,000 residents will bring. State, county and city officials met with representatives from Eglin AFB and the U.S. Army on the campus of Northwest Florida State College Monday morning.
"We worked with Representative Sansom and Senator Gaetz to bring key players together to have a discussion about the primary infrastructure needs for both the Army 7th Special Forces beddown as well as the Joint Strike Fighter," said Jim Curry, Okaloosa County administrator.
Senators Don Gaetz and Charlie Clary, Rep. Ray Sansom and representatives from the offices of Sen. Bob Martinez, Gov. Charlie Crist and U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller got an overview of Okaloosa County's preparations, including the Joint Land Use Study and a growth management plan.
"As the construction begins, it's going to have an impact on families - military families, on civilian families," Sansom said. "We wanted to get on the same page so as we start moving forward and seeing projects change, permits applied for and construction started, that we have this synchronized so that it will have the least amount of impact on the citizens of this community."
Eglin sent Bob Arnold, chair of the Mission Enhancement Committee, Col. Arnie Bunch, Vice Commander, Air Armament Center; Col. Goerge Ross, JSF Task Force; Col. Rick LoCastro of the 96th Air Base Wing and Col. Dennis Yates, Commander of the 96th Civil Engineering Group to field questions and participate in the discussion.
"It was more about the identification of solutions that we can work towards because our resources are so strained at the county and the state and the federal level," Curry said. "We have to make sure that we use them in the best possible manner."
The group shared ideas about possible road expansions and the immediate need to establish sewer services for the 7th Special Forces Group complex that will be located south of Crestview.
"We're willing to listen and look at what our options are," Yates said.
The real challenge will be transportation issues, Curry said.
Long before the Army or JSF move to Eglin, the county will have to accommodate construction traffic.
Curry said the group considered a temporary traffic light on SR 85. The group also mentioned expanding the state road to six lanes.
"Those that live on the north end of the county have that morning commute. It's a very high-volume traffic," said Curry. "Six-laning Hwy 85 is one option. But unfortunately, that's hundreds of millions of dollars -resources that we just don't have."
Okaloosa county plans to study other solutions to the impending traffic problem.
"Crestview is looking at Arena Road. The county is looking at Rattlesnake Bluff Road," Curry said. "There are just a number of options that we could look at."
Retired Army Gen. Mike Ferguson attended the meeting as a civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army.
"My main focus has to be impact on families and deployed soldiers," Ferguson said. "This is a unit that has already been deployed seven or eight times."
Ferguson asked those in attendance to keep in mind that the Army will have a small window in 2011 to deploy back to the base and relocate families.
"They've got to sell homes at Fort Bragg, train, find new jobs," he said. "Time really is almost over to study decisions. It's time to make decisions."
Curry said time and resources are working against Okaloosa County.
"We want to do everything we can to have as much of those infrastructure needs in place timely with those events," he said after the meeting.