THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 24, 1995 TAG: 9511240077
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
The Navy, preparing to bring up to 175 new F/A-18 Hornet jets to Oceana, is asking the public from coastal North Carolina to southeast Virginia to say what environmental issues it should study in relation to the moves.
Before the Hornets can come to Oceana, the Navy must complete a full Environmental Impact Statement in the next year that details the planes' impact on air quality, plant and animal habitats and water resources.
The new aircraft are scheduled to come to Oceana as a result of base closings elsewhere.
Ten squadrons of F/A-18s are to leave Cecil Field, Fla., which has been ordered closed, and move to Oceana between 1997 and the early spring of 1999.
In addition, five squadrons of F-14 Tomcat fighters - about 70 planes - are moving to Oceana from Miramar Naval Air Station near San Diego, beginning in May. Miramar has been ordered transferred to the Marine Corps.
Although the F-14s have an impact on the total number of planes at Oceana, they are not the subject of the hearings the Navy is seeking next month. Their presence has been surveyed in an ``environmental assessment'' that does not require such hearings, according to the Navy.
Oceana has had more F-14s in the past and is not exceeding the number it had at its peak in 1989, therefore a full environmental impact statement is not required, according to officials.
In all, if the moves come about as expected, Oceana will be home to 23 aircraft squadrons, 374 aircraft and 13,000 personnel. At its peak in 1989, it had 363 aircraft and 12,473 personnel. It currently is at 181 aircraft and 8,069 personnel because of drawdowns mandated by Congress since 1990.
While studying the F/A-18 impact at Oceana, the Navy also plans to evaluate potential effects on land use patterns, cultural resources, transportation, housing, community services, the local tax base and the regional economy.
It also wants to know from the community what additional items it should evaluate, said John Peters, a spokesman for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Norfolk which is coordinating the study.
Between Dec. 5 and 13, the Navy will hold five ``public scoping meetings,'' three in North Carolina and two in Virginia.
``We are getting input from the public on what they want us to look at when we do the EIS,'' said Peters. ``It is not a comment period. But we are interested if there are concerns about transportation, the loading of highways, noises, the effect on public utilities.''
The Navy is going to the North Carolina communities because it conducts aircraft operations at three bombing ranges in that part of the state: two of them located on the Pamlico Sound near the mouth of the Neuse River and a third located east of the Alligator River, operated by the Air Force.
In Virginia, the hearings are being held because Oceana occupies 5,650 acres in Virginia Beach and also operates the Fentress Naval Auxiliary Landing Field in Chesapeake.
The Navy wants to submit its final environmental impact statement by December 1996 and will issue a draft statement earlier.
At its ``scoping'' meetings, it asks speakers to limit comments to five minutes and encourages agencies and the public to submit written comments as well. MEMO: Written comments should be mailed no later than Jan. 5 to: Commander,
Atlantic Division, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, 1510 Gilbert
Street, Norfolk, Va., 23511, Attn: Code 2032DC (Dean Cecchini),
telephone 322-4891, fax 322-4894.
ILLUSTRATION: IMPACT STUDY
WHAT: Five public hearings on F/A-18 Hornet's impact on the local
environment. Speakers are asked to limit comments to 5 minutes.
WHERE:
Dec. 5, 7 p.m. Carteret County Courthouse in Beaufort.
Dec. 6, 7 p.m. Pamlico County Courthouse in Bayboro.
Dec. 7, 7 p.m. North Carolina Aquarium's main auditorium in Manteo.
Dec. 12, 7 p.m., main auditorium of Seatack Elementary School in
Virginia Beach.
Dec. 13, 7 p.m. Butts Road Intermediate School in Chesapeake.
by CNB