Alexandria is opposing Defense Department plans to locate a building at its Mark Center site that would inspect vehicles for potentially explosive or hazardous materials.
The Remote Inspection Facility, along with an anticipated transportation nightmare, is a sticking point over the Army’s plans for the new facility at the site near Interstate 395 and Seminary Road.
The federally mandated Base Realignment and Closure plan requires the relocation of thousands of military personnel by September 2011. A total of 6,400 workers are set to relocate to the Mark Center.
Alexandria plans to send a council member to testify against the hazmat facility at a January hearing of the National Capital Planning Commission, a federal government group that adopts and approves projects that affect the region.
At the forefront of officials’ concerns are potential disasters involving the hazardous materials that would be moved in and around the site.
To that point, U.S. Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner, as well as Rep. Jim Moran, wrote a letter over the summer to Jerry Hansen, who works on installations and environmental issues for the Army. The members of Congress strongly urged the Army to consider putting the facility off-site, away from the dense public and commercial area.
“The [facility’s] current location puts the region’s citizens at possible risk and has the potential to degrade a regional transportation system that is already operating at maximum capacity,” they wrote.
Hansen told them in his response thatthe on-site facility is critical to its long-term effectiveness and that it works to deter potential attacks on military facilities.
“It is a visible component of the many security measures built into these projects and makes clear to potential threats that their vehicle will be inspected prior to entering a facility,” he wrote.
Councilwoman Redella “Del” Pepper said she hoped Alexandria’s representative would express just how much the city was opposed to the on-site facility.
“Never mind the fact that that’s not really part of our mission,” she said. “I think that it’s so inappropriately placed there and limits our access opportunities from the Shirley Highway.”
Because of the Army’s stance, though, city staff has crafted contingency plans that would limit the visibility of the site from adjacent roads.
