On Training Base Plans—

Officials Still Waiting For Word From The Army

By Kendra Bobowick

Middletown may be welcoming a military base, but no one has learned of a decision for sites eyed by the US Army in Newtown — yet.

“I do not think we have received anything new,” said Todd Hornback, US Army Corps of Engineers representative in a Tuesday morning email. He is in contact with project managers searching for sites in Newtown and also serves as a liaison for First Selectman Joe Borst.

News Monday night that the Corps of Engineers announced its preferred site for a reserve center in Middletown drew attention locally, where Land Use Director George Benson, for one, has in the past expressed his concerns that the Army will exercise rights of eminent domain. Newtown became a location of interest under legislation forming the Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC). The commission is part of the US Department of Defense effort to reorganize its base structure. The Middletown site still must go through a federal approval process.

Mr Borst also is aware of eminent domain, a subject that has emerged often in past months as the military timeline shortens to establish its new bases. Per BRAC legislation, they must be built by September 2011. Mr Hornback addressed eminent domain Tuesday. “I do not know of any project which has used eminent domain,” he wrote in an email. He reiterated, “We are still waiting” to learn about decisions for Newtown. Mr Hornback said last week, “We have not received additional guidance from the Secretary of the Army’s office on the Newtown project.”

After town officials turned down an offer to purchase open meadow space in Fairfield Hills to locate a training base, the Army next looked at acreage in the proposed technology park parcel off of Commerce Road. On March 30 Mr Borst sent a letter saying that land is also not for sale.

For two main reasons town officials do not want to lose the Tech Park land. Plans for a technology park promise economic development and revenue from the site. Acres not devoted to economic growth are set aside for open space, for one, and rest on a sole source aquifer.

Mr Borst hesitates to speculate about what the Middletown decision may — or may not — mean for Newtown.

Middletown

Middletown and state officials including Governor M. Jodi Rell, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal all are pleased with a decision to occupy industrial, rather than rural, Middletown land. The city and state had endorsed a location adjacent to an industrial park rather than an active farm in another location. Attorney General Blumenthal issued a statement: “This announcement is promising for everyone — providing a training facility that our troops deserve, while protecting environmentally and historically sensitive land. This preliminary decision by the Army Corps of Engineers fairly considers concerns raised by my office and Middletown citizens.”

Will the same considerations apply in Newtown? As of Tuesday morning, Mr Borst had not heard from his contact, project manager for the proposed Newtown reserve center Diane McCartin with the Army Corps of Engineers.

Past conversations in Newtown also have steered the Army toward industrial, rather than agricultural and environmentally sensitive land. The Batchelder property — a former smelting plant in the Botsford section of Newtown — now sits empty, but may not work for the Army.

The Army BRAC Plans

As explained on one base realignment website, www.hqda.army.mil/acsim/brac/braco.htm, a US map indicates Connecticut, and the Secretary of Defense’s plans including the statement “relocate to a new Armed Forces Reserve Center and Maintenance Facility in Newtown, if the Army is able to acquire land …”

The website explains the BRAC plans for Connecticut: Close Turner US Army Reserve Center, Fairfield; close Sutcovey US Army Reserve Center, Waterbury; close Danbury US Army Reserve Center Danbury, and relocate units to a new Armed Forces Reserve Center and Maintenance Facility in Newtown, if the Army is able to acquire land suitable for the construction of the facilities adjacent to the existing Connecticut Army National Guard Armory in Newtown. The new AFRC and OMS shall have the capability to accommodate units from the following facilities: Connecticut Army National Guard Armories in Naugatuck, Norwalk and New Haven, if the state decides to relocate those National Guard units.

Details for the Middletown facility also are found at this website.