thedrifter
10-09-07, 06:27 AM
Prospect of more Marines prompts coalition
SUE BOOK
October 9, 2007 - 12:47AM
FREEDOM ENC
NEW BERN — An increase in Marine personnel expected to be announced this week has prompted a proposal for coun-ties in eastern North Carolina to form a coalition to prepare for the impact of a significant jump in population.
A buildup of about 11,500 Marines at Cherry Point and New River stations and Camp Lejeune is expected to begin in 2008 and be complete by 2010.Local leaders who attended a briefing on the increase in New Bern last week said state growth projections for the re-gion will jump from just less than 5 percent to 14 percent over the next five years as a re-sult of the additional Marines and families.These are new Marines, part of a Department of Defense standup authorizing military personnel increases over the next five years. They could ini-tially strain infrastructure in six or seven counties, including Craven, Pamlico, Jones, Carter-et, Onslow, Pender and Duplin.
Invitations from Major Gen. Robert C. Dickerson and Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue to an event Friday at Jacksonville City Hall formally announcing the in-creases have been received by area government and business leaders.The meeting is expected to be preceded by a press confer-ence at which more detailed in-formation on the increase will be released.
Havelock Mayor Jimmy Sanders, who also serves as chairman of Allies for Cherry Point’s Tomorrow, confirmed Monday that the number of new Marines in the region is expected to be about 11,500 and that Marine Corps Air Sta-tion Cherry Point is expected to get at least 2,000 of the new bil-lets in helicopter squadrons. “Our question has been, and we still don’t know the answer, is will that growth be front-end loaded or linear,” Sanders said.Havelock is planning now for more residents connected to two Navy F/A-18 Super Hor-nets expected by 2010. Sanders attended a Marine consultant’s briefing at a New Bern law office with at least two dozen business and gov-ernment leaders last Wednes-day. He said briefings have been held in other potentially affected counties, too, but that the Marine Corps and state of-ficials want to release most of the information Friday.Key county staff from Cra-ven, including chairman of the commissioners Johnnie Samp-son and county manager Harold Blizzard; New Bern Mayor Tom Bayliss; Havelock and New Bern city managers, and rep-resentatives of Craven County schools, chambers of commerce and the state Department of Transportation also attended the briefing.“Frankly, when the meeting was announced, I thought it was to hear a preliminary an-nouncement on more troops at Cherry Point, Camp Lejeune and New River,” said Blizzard. “But it seems the purpose of the meeting was to consider being part of a multicounty co-alition that would hire a consul-tant, try to obtain grant money and do some planning in an-ticipation of the impact of new troops on the region,” Blizzard said.Sanders said “the whole idea of that would be to speak with one voice for the infrastructure needs for the counties most impacted.”About $3 million in grant money to assist with initial planning is expected to come directly from the Pentagon.
Ellie
SUE BOOK
October 9, 2007 - 12:47AM
FREEDOM ENC
NEW BERN — An increase in Marine personnel expected to be announced this week has prompted a proposal for coun-ties in eastern North Carolina to form a coalition to prepare for the impact of a significant jump in population.
A buildup of about 11,500 Marines at Cherry Point and New River stations and Camp Lejeune is expected to begin in 2008 and be complete by 2010.Local leaders who attended a briefing on the increase in New Bern last week said state growth projections for the re-gion will jump from just less than 5 percent to 14 percent over the next five years as a re-sult of the additional Marines and families.These are new Marines, part of a Department of Defense standup authorizing military personnel increases over the next five years. They could ini-tially strain infrastructure in six or seven counties, including Craven, Pamlico, Jones, Carter-et, Onslow, Pender and Duplin.
Invitations from Major Gen. Robert C. Dickerson and Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue to an event Friday at Jacksonville City Hall formally announcing the in-creases have been received by area government and business leaders.The meeting is expected to be preceded by a press confer-ence at which more detailed in-formation on the increase will be released.
Havelock Mayor Jimmy Sanders, who also serves as chairman of Allies for Cherry Point’s Tomorrow, confirmed Monday that the number of new Marines in the region is expected to be about 11,500 and that Marine Corps Air Sta-tion Cherry Point is expected to get at least 2,000 of the new bil-lets in helicopter squadrons. “Our question has been, and we still don’t know the answer, is will that growth be front-end loaded or linear,” Sanders said.Havelock is planning now for more residents connected to two Navy F/A-18 Super Hor-nets expected by 2010. Sanders attended a Marine consultant’s briefing at a New Bern law office with at least two dozen business and gov-ernment leaders last Wednes-day. He said briefings have been held in other potentially affected counties, too, but that the Marine Corps and state of-ficials want to release most of the information Friday.Key county staff from Cra-ven, including chairman of the commissioners Johnnie Samp-son and county manager Harold Blizzard; New Bern Mayor Tom Bayliss; Havelock and New Bern city managers, and rep-resentatives of Craven County schools, chambers of commerce and the state Department of Transportation also attended the briefing.“Frankly, when the meeting was announced, I thought it was to hear a preliminary an-nouncement on more troops at Cherry Point, Camp Lejeune and New River,” said Blizzard. “But it seems the purpose of the meeting was to consider being part of a multicounty co-alition that would hire a consul-tant, try to obtain grant money and do some planning in an-ticipation of the impact of new troops on the region,” Blizzard said.Sanders said “the whole idea of that would be to speak with one voice for the infrastructure needs for the counties most impacted.”About $3 million in grant money to assist with initial planning is expected to come directly from the Pentagon.
Ellie