With an influx of 22,000 military workers looming over Fort Belvoir, Fairfax County supervisors are demanding that the federal government help plan the move and provide hundreds of millions of dollars in road and school improvements.
The board on Monday voted to send Secretary of the Army Pete Geren its most recent plea ahead of the 2011 deadline for the massive job relocation. Congress mandated the move two years ago as part of the most recent round of Base Realignment and Closure actions.
The army is expected to produce a final blueprint for BRAC next month in a document known as a record of decision.
The move of military families in Northern Virginia is projected to put 3,200 new children in the Fairfax County school system and require at least $458 million in road improvements to prevent massive bottlenecks in the south county.
Foremost on the county wish list is the use of the nearby 70-acre General Services Administration warehouse site on Loisdale Road, which sits close to the Franconia-Springfield Metro station.
“Here’s one of the most logical things they can do to minimize some of the transportation impact costs, by taking advantage of the proximity of federally owned dirt that’s grossly underused next to a regional transit hub,” Lee District Supervisor Dana Kauffman said Tuesday.
Legislation that would force the transfer of the GSA site to the Army is included in the fiscal 2008 Defense Authorization Act now before the U.S. Senate.
Belvoir spokesman Don Carr said the Army can’t consider the site until it’s been given the authority.
Supervisors also urged the Army to provide financial support to Fairfax County schools “through available federal assistance programs or legislative action” and develop an “execution plan and timeline” for transportation funding.
