JOINT LAND USE STUDY (JLUS)

MINUTES OF PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT MEETING # 1

Thursday, September 20, 2007- 6:00 P.M.

Daleville Convention & Cultural Center

The Fort Rucker Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) project held a public involvement meeting at the Daleville Convention and Cultural Center in Daleville, AL on September 20, 2007. The meeting was called to order at 6:02 P.M. by Mr. Thomas B. Solomon, Executive Director of the Southeast Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission, the project sponsor. Mr. Solomon welcomed those in attendance and briefly stated that the JLUS project would be directed by Mr. Scott Farmer, Community Development Director with SEARP&DC along with other staff members. This is the first public involvement meeting for the Fort Rucker JLUS project. Those in attendance who signed in were as follows:

Scott Farmer, SEARP&DC

David Lebert, SEARP&DC

Sarah Hesters, SEARP&DC

Thomas B. Solomon, SEARP&DC

George Steuber, Fort Rucker

Jack Holmes, Fort Rucker

Jessica Sammons

Jane McCardle (Wiregrass Aviator)

Randy Tindell, JLUS Committee Member

Mayor Bob Bunting, City of Ozark

Mayor Wess Etheredge, City of Daleville

Larry Pittman, JLUS Committee Member

Billy Blackwell, JLUS Committee Member

Larry Hicks

Kara Episcopo, (Daleville Sun-Courier)

Gary McDaniel

Joe McDaniel

Halpert Byrd

Brenda Byrd

Mr. Scott Farmer provided a brief overview of the JLUS project and explained the various steps that will be involved including the solicitation of public comment on land use around the Fort Rucker military installation footprint. Mr. Farmer stated the JLUS is being funded through a 90% Department of Defense/Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA) grant and the 10% local matching funds are being provided by the Friends of Fort Rucker. The project is expected to take 15 months to complete.

A Department of Defense video, “The Base Next Door” was shown to the attendees. This video highlighted some of the land use issues associated with military base operations and land use patterns of the surrounding areas. The video also explained in some detail the purpose and scope of conducting a JLUS to mitigate some of these issues.

Following the video, Mr. Farmer narrated a detailed slide presentation highlighting the various training facility locations associated with Fort Rucker’s military readiness mission. Mr. Farmer also explained the JLUS committees, (Technical and Working) and their role in making the final recommendations to regional local governments when the JLUS planning study is completed. Mr. Farmer recognized those in attendance who are serving on the JLUS committees.

Following the presentation of these background presentations, Mr. Farmer asked for comments from the citizens attending the meeting. He stated that the project sponsor would take all comments from the floor and would be passing all comments on to the JLUS Technical and Working Committees for discussion.

The following comments were noted:

• Mr. Joe McDaniel of Enterprise made several statements and asked questions regarding land use around the Molinelli Firing Range. He owns property adjacent to this range and lives nearby. Mr. McDaniel stated that he has complained for years about noise from the range firing machine guns and rockets from helicopters during the night and early morning hours. Mr. McDaniel said he has had no solutions offered from Fort Rucker to his noise complaints. He stated that he cannot sleep at night due to noise, and has not had a good night’s sleep in years due to constant helicopter training and weapons firing by the military near his home. He stated he has had livestock stolen from his property and his fences have been run over by military operations. He stated he has made over 500 calls to officials at Fort Rucker about these problems. He stated many farmers in the vicinity have had their crops damaged by military training and have lost money due from such damages.

• Mr. George Steuber responded to Mr. McDaniel stating that the military at Fort Rucker is taking steps through the JLUS process to address such complaints and to hopefully find workable solutions for all involved.

• Mr. McDaniel said that he is willing to work with the post to find solutions, but he experiences daily around 80db of noise at night from training operations near his home. He said that he always “hits a brick wall” when making complaints to the military at Fort Rucker. He asked if the training could stop at 10 p.m. at night and not go all night long.

• Mr. Steuber replied that he is sympathetic to his problems, but due to the training mission required to fight a war which the U.S. is in, helicopter pilot training is needed to proceed on a 24 hour per day, 7 day per week schedule. The numbers of pilots that must be trained cannot be accomplished in less than such a training schedule time format.

• Mr. Jack Holmes stated that current Army training requirements are 300 Apache helicopter pilots per year rather than 150 and that requires extended training hours in live aircraft. There is only so much training that can be done in a simulator. Eventually, pilots must have the required training time in the air and much has to be done at night since many military missions are done at night.

• Mr. McDaniel stated he has sent numerous letters to the Department of Defense about his problems, but has never gotten a reply.

• Mr. Halpert Byrd of Enterprise stated that the military at Fort Rucker cut down pine trees on his property near Shell Field. He stated the trees were approximately 40 feet inside his property boundary. He wanted to know why this was done and who he needed to discuss this action with at Fort Rucker.

• Mr. Steuber stated the Army has an Environmental Review process which is quite involved and that before any action of this nature is taken it is thoroughly checked out. He said this was the first time he was informed of this and he was not aware of this action being taken. He said the military does not normally take such action unless it is on Fort Rucker property. He indicated that he would be glad to check into this and verify the facts of what happened.

• Mr. Farmer stated that the JLUS committees went to the Molinelli Range recently and observed the helicopter weapons training there and experienced the level of noise that is present.

• Mr. Steuber stated that the concerns of land owners and residents near the range are important to Fort Rucker and that is one of the main reasons for seeking the JLUS study in order to try and find common ground to work together for answers. Mr. Steuber warned that if the military training mission at Fort Rucker cannot be accomplished in the future, the training mission could be relocated to another site. He gave a case in point of the closure of Fort Knox, Kentucky that lost its armor training mission to Fort Benning, Georgia with a loss of many jobs and economic impact in the area. He stated some of the problems with incompatible land use could be addressed with real estate disclosures, better construction standards and other means that would not interfere with development, but would reduce complaints due to noise, dust, vibrations etc. near the training fields for residents living nearby.

• Mr. Gary McDaniel stated he has never heard of stories on how Fort Rucker is encroaching on the surrounding area, only of how the surrounding area is encroaching on Fort Rucker.

• Mr. Steuber stated that the problems are not going away overnight, but there can be a cooperative addressing of the problems if all parties agree to sit down and work together on them.

• Ms. Brenda Byrd asked if citizens could be appointed to the JLUS committees. Mr. Farmer responded to her saying that citizens comments through the JLUS are being actively solicited and that a separate citizens committee might be considered. Ms. Byrd said she feels that local landowners around Fort Rucker’s training facilities should be involved and somehow notified of the public meetings.

• Some questioned why the meeting was not well publicized. Mr. Farmer stated that a detailed notice was sent out to all regional media 2 weeks prior to the meeting. Some did not choose to publicize the meeting. He stated at future meetings we will follow up to make sure the media is aware of meetings and encourage them to publicize all meetings to the public.

• Ms. Byrd stated that her property is about 65% within the Shell Field APZ, they pay ad valorem taxes but cannot develop it. Mr. Farmer stated she may be entitled to possible tax breaks if that is the case. He advised her to consult with the City and County on this.

After ample time was allowed for all comments or questions from the public to be received, the meeting was adjourned on motion at 7:40 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted:

_________________________________