THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 10, 1995 TAG: 9501100474
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach apparently has survived the first and possibly most critical review of the 1995 military base closing process.
The base - which some Hampton Roads officials feared would be a target for Pentagon budget cutters this year - is not on a list of installations recommended for closure by the Navy's Base Structure Evaluation Committee, according to a source close to the committee.
Another installation, the Norfolk Naval Aviation Depot, also could benefit from the Navy panel's deliberations. Two sources said the committee has recommended closure of a Navy depot in Jacksonville, Fla., that later this year was to take over responsibility for F-14 Tomcat repairs now made at the Norfolk facility.
The Navy group's recommendations, based on more than a year of research, are being reviewed by senior officials of the service and the Defense Department. Defense Secretary William Perry is to release a list of targeted bases for all the military branches by March 1.
The committee source's information is consistent with the assessment of Oceana's prospects by both Adm. Harry D. Train II, head of a state commission fighting for Virginia's bases, and U.S. Rep. Owen B. Pickett.
Oceana, now home to Navy F-14 Tomcat fighters and A-6 Intruder attack planes, has been a focus of concern among Hampton Roads business and political leaders for more than a year.
Because the Navy is phasing out the A-6 and there is considerable commercial and residential development around the base, some officials have feared Oceana might be shut down. But the fears have lessened lately, amid mounting evidence that the Navy still places a high value on the base.
The Navy committee's recommendation is the best news yet for Oceana. But officials cautioned that the base's future - and that of other installations across Hampton Roads - won't be secure until the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission makes final recommendations to Congress and President Clinton this summer.
The eight-member BRAC will review the base closing list that Perry submits in March and hold public hearings in many of the impacted communities. Its recommendations must be accepted or rejected by Clinton and Congress as a package, a legal requirement.
During the last round of closures, in 1993, Oceana was not among the bases the Navy sought to shut. But the 1993 commission broadened its review to include Oceana, as well as such other Virginia installations as Fort Monroe in Hampton and Fort Lee in Petersburg. All those facilities were kept open.
The new Navy recommendations could give the Norfolk aviation depot a fresh lease on life. The 1993 BRAC commission ordered the facility closed, and the Navy has been scaling back its workload.
In Jacksonville, the deputy mayor, Frank Nero, said officials there had been told of the Navy's recommendation and are geared up to fight it. With 3,000 civilian workers, the repair facility is the largest civilian employer among military installations in the Jacksonville area, he said. And its work force had been slated to increase to 4,200, he added.
Workers at the facility earn salaries averaging about $40,000 annually, Nero said, and the money they earn turns over two to three more times in the local economy.
If the Jacksonville depot is ordered to close, Pickett said, ``it would only make sense to let the remaining F-14 work stay at Norfolk.'' Shifting it elsewhere would cost the taxpayers up to $50 million, he said. ILLUSTRATION: Oceana Naval Air Station
A Navy committee reportedly will not recommend the closure of
Oceana Naval Air Station. The development is in addition to the
recent assessment of Adm. Harry D. Train II, head of a state base
retention commission.
Norfolk Naval Aviation Depot
The Navy panel could help the Norfolk Naval Aviation Depot by
recommending the closure of a Navy depot in Jacksonville, Fla., that
was to take over F-14 Tomcat repairs now done at the Norfolk
facility.
KEYWORDS: BRAC COMMISSION DEFENSE BASE CLOSURE AND REALIGNMENT COMMISSION
OCEANA U.S. NAVY by CNB