Towns in two counties planning for new base
BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer

JACKSON — Three United States military bases in central New Jersey — Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst, Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base — will soon be formally united as Joint Base McGuire, Dix, Lakehurst.

A study is under way to encourage collaborative planning and communication between the base and local communities. The objective is to avoid land-use conflicts and to plan in a manner that supports the military mission and the civilian population.

The Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) is sponsored by the Department of Defense, Office of Economic Adjustment and Ocean County. Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst is in Ocean County.

Burlington County — which is home to Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base — is also a partner in the study, and elected officials from 10 municipalities in the two counties — Plumsted, Jackson, Manchester, Lakehurst, New Hanover, North Hanover, Wrightstown, Springfield, Pemberton Township and Pemberton Borough — which surround the mega-base are actively participating in the JLUS study.

"We are involved in an ongoing study in regard to the consolidation and examination of the three military bases," Jackson's township engineer, Dan Burke, said at the Aug. 4 meeting of the Planning Board. "This is a study to get the consensus of the affected communities and counties on the impact this [venture] will have."

Burke said there has been input from state agencies, representatives of the two counties and the U.S. Department of Defense. He said there will be periodic updates placed on the joint base Web site, www.jointbasenj.org, so that members of the public can become aware of what is taking place.

He said there will be more information presented to the public as time goes on and said a meeting is being planned for September, with a location to be announced in the near future.

Jackson Planning Board member Blanche Krubner said the federal government is in the process of closing military installations elsewhere and may be relocating the work being done at those facilities to the joint base in central New Jersey.

On Aug. 15, McGuire Air Force Base Capt. Derek Lee said officials want to involve the community in the planning process as the joint base takes shape. He said it has been confirmed that some services from a base in Pennsylvania will be moved to the new joint base.

"Even though we will be a joint base, each respective service will be keeping their missions," Lee said. "You won't see Air Force folks doing things that are traditionally Army specific, like training and deploying soldiers. The responsibility for those services remains with those specific services."

In 1985, Congress authorized the Department of Defense to make community planning assistance grants available to state and local governments to help them better understand the military's mission and to incorporate it into their local planning.

A significant number of joint land-use studies have been performed around the country. This is the first time a JLUS has been conducted as three military bases are preparing to join together.

As urban development increases in the vicinity of military bases, there has been an active effort on the part of the Department of Defense and the Office of Economic Adjustment as well as affected communities and the military bases involved to increase joint planning and communication.