The Army has committed more than $10 million over the next four years to environmental and historic projects that will accompany the relocation of 19,000 workers to Fort Belvoir, a base spokesman said Friday.
After an appeal from Col. Brian Lauritzen, Belvoir’s commander, the military agreed to fund eight of the more than two dozen “mitigations” the Army had decided were too costly to adopt immediately.
Among them are the rehabilitation of historic buildings affected by the job shift, new wildlife crossings, the restoration of 2.5 miles of stream habitat and the creation of a invasive plant-control plan, according to a list provided by the base.
“I think that’s fine, anything they can do on mitigation will be good,” said Fairfax County Supervisor Elaine McConnell, who represents the Springfield District.
“(But) I’d rather have roads first,” McConnell said.
None of the new money will go to the 13 road projects that local officials say are essential to managing the job influx to the base, which is mandated to occur by 2011 under a decision by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.
By the Army’s estimates, which are lower than figures from Fairfax County sources, more than $450 million worth of needed road upgrades remain unfunded.
“The Army, Virginia Department of Transportation, [Fairfax] County, state, Federal Highway Administration — they’re all still at the table chipping away at what it’s going to take to get funding for these other projects,” said Belvoir spokesman Don Carr. “The Army hasn’t disowned it’s share of helping to provide for these transportation mitigations.”
The Army’s record of decision, a document released last week that finalizes how the base will be redeveloped, deemed some 25 projects as “not practicable because of high cost and a lack of funding.” With both the state and Fairfax County expecting serious budget shortfalls in coming years, exactly how many of those remaining projects will be undertaken by 2011 is unclear.
