PDA

View Full Version : Region faces big demands to accommodate military growth, report says



thedrifter
11-18-08, 06:53 AM
Region faces big demands to accommodate military growth, report says
Comments 0 | Recommend 1
November 17, 2008 - 8:09 PM
Amanda Hickey
The Daily News

By AMANDA HICKEY

Freedom ENC

Eastern North Carolina has a big task in front of it to prepare for the coming influx of Marines, civilian Department of Defense workers and family members.

The region needs to bring new companies to the area, identify the required training and education needed to target new jobs and ensure affordable and adequate housing is available, according to a recent report by North Carolina's Eastern Region Military Growth Task Force.

The region also needs to hire more teachers, expand its child-care workforce and more, according to the report.

The report is a compilation of those issues identified by working groups as a part of the task force's four-phase plan to deal with the substantial growth expected.

The first phase - establishing and funding the task force - is complete. The second phase - the Preliminary Impact Assessment - is nearing completion.

The working committees did about six months of work in two months in order to get the assessment ready, said Tom Gaskill, executive director of the task force.

"It's really put us on good footing for the work that remains to be done," he said.

In the third phase, the Task Force will begin its Regional Growth Management Plan - a detailed study of the concerns that are identified in the Preliminary Impact Assessment and how to deal with them during the influx of troops to Carteret, Craven, Duplin, Jones, Onslow, Pamlico and Pender counties.

Gaskill said the management plan would "add more detail and come up with more specific cost estimates and recommended strategies. The Preliminary Impact Assessment is really designed to identify the myriad of issues affecting us."

The aggressive pace is necessary, Gaskill said, because many counties have already seen the arrival of additional military-related residents.

The seven counties are expected to see an influx of nearly 25,000 additional people, including active-duty Marines, civilian staff and family members, by the end of 2011, according to the report, plus as many as 15,000 people indirectly associated with the Marine Corps expansion.

Normal population growth, according to the report, is expected to bring that number to as many as 61,000 additional people by 2011.

So far, there are about 5,000 of the anticipated 8,500 troops at Camp Lejeune. Cherry Point has seen about 300 of the additional 1,485, according to the numbers Marine Corps Installations East provided the task force.

"It's a significant body of work. We're trying to accomplish in six months what normally takes 12 months. ... The majority of the additional people are already here so the impacts are already being felt," Gaskill said.

Under Gaskill's plan, the detailed study will be conducted from January to June. During the final phase, the task force will follow up on the status of those issues.

The timeline may, however, be extended.

For more information, visit the Military Growth Task Force's Web site at www.nceastmgtf.org.

Amanda Hickey can be reached at 910-219-8461.

Ellie