The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Report (BRAC) is about the future, both of U.S. military base configuration changes and of communities impacted by those changes. However, it is also about preserving the past and protecting the environment.
How BRAC actions impact historic resources both on Fort Belvoir and the surrounding area was the subject of a public meeting last Thursday night at the South County Government Center on Richmond Highway. Those same concerns will be discussed in future sessions concerning natural resources potentially impacted by BRAC.
"What we are embarking upon will change the face of Fort Belvoir forever," said Fort Belvoir Installation Commander Col. Brian W. Lauritzen in opening the two-hour session.
"The landscape, both natural and historical, is very important to all of us. The dynamics of BRAC require involvement with all our partners. We have invested a lot of intellectual capital in these preservation efforts as I told the BRAC Board of Advisors at their meeting yesterday," Lauritzen said.
Although the recently signed and released Record of Decision (ROD) did not specifically identify funds for such preservation and environmental mitigation, Lauritzen assured the group that those funds are being made available by the Army in the amount of $10 million.
"BRAC money can not be spent on environmental mitigation unless there is a direct impact. However, all of the mitigations discussed in ROD have been addressed in other funding areas. Even though the ROD says the money was not provided due to the BRAC law it is available through a second document," Lauritzen explained.
Regular Army mitigation monies will be put into the Fort Belvoir installation commander's budget over the next four years, according Donald N. Carr, director, Public Affairs, Fort Belvoir. "The Army is committed to implementing these measures. They reflect consideration of the sincere concern of the community, and Fort Belvoir's longstanding commitment to environmental stewardship," he said.
Those BRAC mitigations in the ROD included such items as an
invasive/exotic vegetation control plan, restoring stream habitat, rehabilitating the exteriors of historic buildings, and establishing vegetation buffers at least 200 feet wide.
THE PRIMARY EMPHASIS of last Thursday's meeting was identification and preservation of Fort Belvoir's historic resources. Following a complete survey of the entire base more than 175 sites have been identified as "eligible or potentially eligible for the National register of Historic Places," according to Patrick M. McLaughlin, chief, Environmental & Natural Resource Division, Fort Belvoir Directorate of Public Works, who conducted the briefing.
"Of all the areas surveyed only one historic site is possibly impacted by BRAC planning. The South Post golf course does have some historic significance and that is where the new hospital is to be located," McLaughlin said.
Historic sites on the post range from as young as the World War I era to some dating back to prehistoric time, according to McLaughlin. Both architectural and archeological surveys have also been conducted at the base's Engineering Proving Grounds (EPG). "We have determined there are no historic resources present at that site," he said.
In analyzing each of the sites, McLaughlin and his staff took into account four types of adverse impact that could possibly occur as a result of BRAC actions:
* Direct: Such as construction
* Auditory: Areas that might be subject to increased decibels.
* Visual: Where construction could adversely impact a site's viewshed
* Cumulative: Factors such as increased traffic or private development attributed to BRAC
The survey also included the Woodlawn Historic District and Overlook Farm. The former encompasses Woodlawn Plantation, Alexandria Friends Meetinghouse, and George Washington's Grist Mill and Distillery.
Preservation of the sites and actions to be taken to accomplish that will be covered in a Programmatic Agreement, a draft of which now appears on the Belvoir New Vision Web site for review and comment. The goal is to have the agreement signed by Sept. 28, according to McLaughlin.