By DAN TELVOCK
None of the 22,000 jobs proposed for Fort Belvoir in burgeoning Fairfax will be coming to this region without legislative action.
That decision comes from the Department of the Army, in a letter sent to Spotsylvania County Administrator Randy Wheeler last week.
But there's still a chance 300 jobs now at Fort Meade in Maryland could be transferred to Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline County.
The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in December urging the Department of the Army to move any of the Fairfax jobs to this area. Studies show that much of the work force already lives here.
A week earlier, the Spotsylvania supervisors, along with the Bowling Green Town Council and Caroline County Board of Supervisors, passed a resolution urging the same agency to transfer the 300 civilian and military jobs for the Asymmetric Warfare Group from Fort Meade to Fort A.P. Hill. The effort drew interest from Gov. Tim Kaine, who contacted the secretary of the Army about the job placement.
Cord Sterling, a member of the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce's Military Affairs Council and a former military affairs aide to Sen. John Warner, said the Department of the Army has agreed to meet with a regional delegation about the 300 jobs and the future of Fort A.P. Hill.
Spotsylvania Supervisor Hap Connors said he has been invited to that meeting, which has not yet been scheduled. "I just want to listen to why they think they can't come down here."
But the 22,000 jobs proposed for Fort Belvoir by 2011 is a decision set in stone. The Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission approved the Fort Belvoir job placements in 2005, including sending 3,000 jobs to Quantico. The Office of the Secretary of the Army informed Wheeler that the BRAC decision carries the force of the law.
Connors, who commutes to work in Fairfax, said residents are concerned about the Fort Belvoir jobs and the impact to an already congested road system. He said to change BRAC's decision, it would take legislative action--something he said that's not out of the question.
"There may very well be some new decisions that might be favorable to us," he said.
Dan Telvock: 540/374-5438
Email: dtelvock@freelancestar.com