DATE: Wednesday, September 24, 1997         TAG: 9709200624

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: PUBLIC LIFE

SOURCE: BY JOHN MURPHY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   35 lines

180 JETS, 12,500 PEOPLE WHAT WILL THE IMPACT BE? HAMPTON ROADS CITIES STAND TO GAIN TAXES AND PAY UP FOR SERVICES.

The Navy's plan to nest 180 additional F/A-18 Hornets in Virginia Beach would mean a virtual rebirth of Oceana Naval Air Station, infusing the local economy with cash, jobs and 12,500 new residents.

What would all these changes mean for you?

The Navy's draft environmental impact statement helps answer that question. The epic-sized document, pound for pound probably one of the denser documents printed by the military, takes a surgeon's approach to the matter.

Charts, graphs, and maps pepper its pages, examining everything from the number of gallons of water needed for each base employee per day, 30; to the amount of traffic entering and exiting the base's front gate, 46,873; to the percentage of people who will be ``highly annoyed'' by jets thundering overhead at sound levels 75 decibels or above, 37.

Even if the jet's noise is out of earshot, you would still feel the effects of the base changes. There will be new residents in all Hampton Roads communities, more children in the schools and more tax dollars for the cities. The cities, in turn, will need to pay more to supply the increase in city services.

Here are a few statistics culled from the report's pages: ILLUSTRATION: Graphics

KEN WRIGHT/The Virginian-Pilot

SOURCE: Navy's Draft Environmental Impact Statement

[For complete graphical information, please see microfilm]

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