THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 28, 1995 TAG: 9510280306
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
The first new arrivals at Oceana Naval Air Station - harbingers of 15 squadrons and 5,000 personnel moving here in the next four years - will begin arriving in just six months.
Some family members, anticipating the move, already are here.
``The smart ones have been calling us and looking for Realtors,'' said Capt. William H. Shurtleff IV, Oceana's commanding officer.
Shurtleff, addressing nearly 500 naval aviators Friday at a Wings of Gold symposium at the Sheraton Ocean Front Hotel, said Fighter Squadron 2, currently based at Miramar, Calif., will be the first to relocate here, in May.
In all, five new F-14 Tomcat squadrons will be making their way to the East Coast during the next two years, in the wake of base-closure decisions made this year.
They will be joining seven F-14 squadrons already at Oceana, which will become the only F-14 base in the country.
Ten squadrons of F/A-18 Hornets, which are leaving Cecil Field, Fla. - also ordered closed - will be here by early 1999.
After current A-6 Intruder squadrons are retired from service and other adjustments are made, Oceana will be host to a total of 12 F-14 squadrons, 10 F/A-18 squadrons and one Fleet Composite Squadron of adversary training aircraft.
Although schedules have a way of changing - ``this . . . changed four times since Hurricane Felix, and I have no doubt it will continue to change,'' said Shurtleff - the schedule is the first public acknowledgment that Oceana's buildup has begun.
The timetable for the new arrivals also signals a host of other projects that need to get moving, said Shurtleff.
They include three $10 million facelifts to enlisted housing projects near the base; $27 million in base improvements in the next two years that are already funded; another $13 million in construction requiring funding; access-road improvements; and three major environmental studies.
One of the most important items needed to keep the timetable in line is an environmental impact statement over the next 18 months, said Shurtleff.
``We can't put a shovel in the ground until that process is complete,'' he said.
Public hearings on an environmental assessment will begin sometime in December. They will be looking at the impact the jets will have on the surrounding communities.
Oceana, which at its peak in 1989 had 363 aircraft and 12,473 personnel, currently is at 181 aircraft and 8,069 personnel because of draw downs mandated by Congress since 1990.
When the moves are complete in the early spring of 1999, the base will be slightly larger than it was in 1989. Projections call for 374 aircraft and 13,003 personnel to be assigned to Oceana by then.
Shurtleff said he expects about 1,000 personnel to arrive in 1996 and in 1997. In 1998, when the influx of F/A-18 squadrons is expected, about 3,000 personnel will arrive. The last 800 to 900 personnel are expected early in 1999, he said.
During that time, road expansion projects are scheduled for the entrances to Oceana, he said. Beginning in February, a portion of London Bridge Road to Shipps Corner to Dam Neck will be expanded to four lanes. Starting in December 1996, Oceana Boulevard will be widened to four lanes, and in October 1997, the rest of London Bridge and Potters Road will be widened. by CNB