DATE: Sunday, September 14, 1997            TAG: 9709140061

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN MURPHY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  134 lines

OCEANA GROWTH WOULD BE PAYOFF OF 4-YEAR CRUSADE

In 1993, Oceana Naval Air Station suddenly appeared vulnerable.

The sprawling base, which at its peak had 363 aircraft and more than 12,000 personnel, was home to two types of jets - F-14 Tomcats and A-6 Intruders. But both were due to be retired. The more modern F/A-18 Hornets, which were taking the place of Navy fighters and bombers, were stationed elsewhere.

That didn't seem to leave much justification for the military to keep the base.

The threat shocked local leaders, who began a campaign that was capped by a Navy report made public this week that recommended Oceana become the East Coast hub for Hornets.

If that recommendation gets final approval, it would return the base to Cold War peak levels and bring an infusion of cash, high-paying jobs, and confidence that one of the regions' economic sweethearts would live into the next century.

If all 11 F/A-18 squadrons go to Virginia Beach, they would bring 5,600 military and civilian employees and another 6,900 residents to the area, and inject $226 million into the local economy.

So how did the Beach turn the tide?

Much of the credit, Beach officials said, should go to a group of 25 volunteers who worked with U.S. Rep. Owen B. Pickett.

The group of local politicians, retired military officers and business people was relentless in its campaign to save the base.

One Pickett aide compared the committee to a hive of yellow jackets. Whenever a question was raised about Oceana, they descended on Pentagon officials in force.

``A threat to one was considered a threat to all,'' the aide said.

They fought to pull the base out of closure consideration and then to get the modern jets moved in.

And during the past two years, as the Navy drafted a key Environmental Impact Statement on that move, the committee played a subtle but vital role.

When they heard traffic congestion around the base might be raised as an issue, the committee encouraged Beach officials to strike first by approving $50 million worth of road improvements to Oceana Boulevard and other streets serving the air station.

When the Navy appeared to be behind schedule on the report, Pickett pushed for action. A delay, he realized, could have snarled plans to get the planes and people now based at Cecil Field in Florida here on time. The first planes could arrive at Oceana sometime in spring.

When North Carolina objected to EPA findings that helped Hampton Roads' case by removing the region from the list of smog-troubled cities, Pickett's group marshaled its forces to defend the air base again. Carolinians charged that Virginia had not followed the proper procedure necessary to earn the clean-air designation.

Pickett said the committee concentrated on ensuring that the information the Navy was using was accurate, being confident that Oceana's value to the service would come through if the facts were known.

``The committee stayed in contact with Navy officials making the study, getting all the information to the Navy leadership,'' he said.

Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf, a leading member of the committee, said that the group decided ``we must be vigilant at all times.''

That sense of urgency was generated during the 1993 hearings of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, when Oceana was added at the eleventh hour to a list of potential base closures after residents in Jacksonville, Fla., complained that their Cecil Field had taken too hard a hit and that the Beach's base should shoulder some of the burden.

``That was quite a shock at the time,'' Pickett recalled.

``It was a jarring experience,'' added Mayor Oberndorf. ``We were going along and suddenly we ran into a brick wall.''

Pickett said 1993 was a ``wake-up call'' for him to make sure Oceana was not closed as part of the military downsizing efforts.

The congressman responded by pulling together the committee. It included Oberndorf, Hampton Roads Planning District Commission Executive Director Arthur L. Collins, retired Navy officers, business leaders and politicians.

Pickett's yellow jackets dug in, making their case not only to save Oceana but to get Cecil Field's F/A-18s. The Navy in 1993 had decided to move those jets to the Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry Point, N.C., once Cecil Field was closed.

The volunteers argued that North Carolina lacked essential service facilities and hangars for the planes. Oceana, they said, not only was closest to the ships the squadrons would serve, but it also had all the support facilities in place.

The volunteers conducted their own research on the cost benefits of moving the jets here and made sure the Navy got it.

The facts and the politicking worked.

In 1995, the Navy announced it had revised its plans and would make Oceana the principal East Coast center for the F/A-18 Hornet, a workhorse warplane that would be used well into the future. The Navy estimated it would save $400 million by moving the Hornets to Oceana rather than to Cherry Point.

For Pickett's crew, however, the job was not done.

Government regulations required an environmental study on the move, and North Carolina had grown expert in fighting Virginia Beach in that arena, delaying the Lake Gaston pipeline project a dozen years.

So Pickett's committee kept up its efforts during the Navy's study, and is ready to defend the report's favorable findings as they undergo the scrutiny of Hampton Roads residents and North Carolina.

Pickett sees four areas of the report where Oceana will likely be attacked: the cost of making the move to Oceana vs. the cost of moving to Cherry Point; air quality; traffic congestion; and noise pollution.

Most of these arguments are not new, he said.

But the report did include expanded noise and accident potential zones that affect an additional 39,000 Virginia Beach and Chesapeake residents. That has already raised some concerns among residents of those cities.

Pickett downplayed the negative impacts of the additional flight operations that would accompany the 11 new squadrons.

``Some people will be affected by the noise,'' he said, ``but if they look back, the number of planes is not higher than it was in 1991. We are not talking about anything new.''

Newcomers to the region, he said, might notice a difference because operations have decreased as the number of planes has dropped in recent years.

But Pickett said the boundaries of the zones and the report itself are not final.

Many of the acres added to the noise zones are in Chesapeake, where Fentress Airfield is located. Pilots use Fentress to practice carrier landings.

The new zones came as a shock to Chesapeake leaders, who were not part of the 25 member committee and were not prepped on what was in the report. At first glance, Chesapeake officials say, the plans look good, but they also said they need to take a hard look at the impact of the expanded noise and accident potential zones on their residents.

Pickett said the benefits to Chesapeake should outweigh any drawbacks for the city.

If the Navy approves the transfer of all planes to Oceana, it would mean a great boost to the region as a whole, he said, and the end of worries for some time to come.

``If Oceana is the principal air base on the East Coast, it will settle the issue into the foreseeable future,'' Pickett said, pausing and adding this cautionary note.

``But life is uncertain. . . . You can never know what will come tomorrow.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

STAFF/File

The Navy has recommended moving to Oceana all 180 F/A-18 Hornets in

the 11 squadrons at Cecil Field, shown here, near Jacksonville, Fla. KEYWORDS: MILITARY BASES U.S. NAVY

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu