August 13, 2005
By DAVID DECAMP After speaking with federal officials Friday, U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, whose
district includes the former Jacksonville base, said the panel also was expected
to hear from Texas officials, who also have lobbied to be home of the Navy's
master jet base on the East Coast.
The Base Realignment and Closure Commission is studying whether to close
Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, where development has left fighter
jet training cramped sometimes.
Gov. Jeb Bush and Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton have led a last-minute bid
to use Cecil Field, which closed as a master jet base in 1999. It is now a
business park.
Bush and Peyton had lobbied eight of the nine commissioners Thursday in
informal, private meetings. Peyton also confirmed he had been told of the
upcoming meeting but had not received formal notice.
BRAC officials did not return calls for comment Friday. Bush and Peyton had
asked for a full hearing Aug. 1. While commission spokesmen initially said a
full hearing was doubtful, commission Chairman Anthony Principi said repeatedly
the panel would examine every option. He invited Bush for Thursday's meetings,
too -- a sign their proposal could gain traction.
Stearns said a full hearing is needed to discuss options to relocate Oceana's
operations, including Texas' $350 million bid to win the nearly 250 fighter
jets. He said questions over costs and effects on business and neighbors justify
a hearing.
In a conversation with Principi this week, however, Stearns said he was told
that moving Oceana "would be difficult because of the political issues and the
limited time."
Stearns, an Ocala Republican who fought the 1993 decision to close Cecil,
also has added an incentive most Florida leaders are not offering.
Making Cecil an interim base could give the Navy additional time to find or
build a new master base, Stearns said, though he's still preparing details to
support his proposal.
"I think it is" a viable proposal, Stearns said. "It's not one anyone else
has [that] I'm aware of."
Oceana has been encroached by housing, prompting the federal panel to
recently begin considering closing the Virginia Beach base. But any change must
be done within six years, a period the Navy said is too tight to build a base.
Bush and Peyton have led arguments to make Cecil, now a business park, the
permanent replacement. Virginia lawmakers led by U.S. Sen. John Warner are
fighting to keep it in Oceana, where Navy officials say their best option
remains.
A decision is due Sept. 8, The panel will start voting on final
recommendations the week of Aug. 22.
U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw of Jacksonville said interim use probably wouldn't
work, and Peyton spokeswoman Susie Wiles said the mayor's focus remains making
Cecil a permanent Navy base. However, U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida said
interim use could be a plausible idea, after an appearance at Cecil Field on
Tuesday.
"If you did it on an interim basis, that probably adds to the problem list in
terms of the existing entities and what do you do with them," Crenshaw said of
current lease-holders at Cecil. "If you did a permanent use, they'd all probably
be relocated or have joint use."
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