Bleak Hill?

December 13, 2006 12:50 am

Bleak Hill?

No. The Army's intelligence is dated: Caroline County ideal for anti-terror command

ALITTLE OVER a year ago, the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors turned down local developer Tricord's proposal to build a 1,500-home subdivision at New Post. The main reason? Concern about the encroachment of development on Fort A.P. Hill, "Where America's Military Sharpens Its Combat Edge."

Now the Army has announced that it may split its new anti-terrorist Asymmetric Warfare Group, sending 300 jobs to Maryland and consigning to A.P. Hill only the billetless role of training ground. Why? Because there's too little development around the fort. "Catch 22," it seems, never runs out of new chapters.

Dear Department of the Army: You can't have it both ways.

Recognizing the value to this region of good government jobs and spurred by the patriotic imperative to support the military's national-security mission, local governments have bent over backward to please the fort's Army overseers. After The Hill's commander argued that the Tricord project would de- grade training, Spotsylvania supervisors nixed the project. After Army officials objected to proposed schools in the area, supervisors scrambled for alternatives. Moreover, Caroline County--The Hill occupies about 24 percent of it, trimming the county's development potential--has always been a good host.

The Army contends that the area near The Hill lacks sufficient housing, medical services, employment for spouses, and schools to permit moving the Asymmetric Warfare jobs there. Poppycock. Gary Wilson, the county's economic development director, notes that "Caroline County led the South in business creation" in 2005. "We have more job announcements than we have job seekers." Four major housing developments are under way, with 11,000 homes approved for construction. The county has two golf courses and a major athletic facility in the Virginia Sports Complex, and it's the new home of the Virginia State Fair. Schools? "We'll build them as we need them," asserts Mr. Wilson. Also, he says, Caroline County recently was named the 10th-fastest-growing county in the nation.

As for worries about idle spouses, state officials have given the stamp of approval to a new hospital in nearby Massaponax. That facility will draw doctors and other health professionals to the area and provide many new job opportunities. In any case, the Fredericksburg region boasts some of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. In October, Spotsylvania County's rate was just 1.9 percent; Caroline's was 3.5. Jobs, shops, schools, homes--the area possesses them all in abundance.

Bob Hagan, former Spotsylvania County supervisor and present head of the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, points out the irony in the notion of positioning the Asymmetric Warfare Group asymmetrically--with the jobs at one end of the Washington metropolitan area, in Maryland, and the training at the other. "It does not, on the surface, make sense," Mr. Hagan says. And have Army logisticians calculated travel time between the two parts of the command?

The Army should reconsider its decision to count Caroline County out of the running for Asymmetric Warfare Group headquarters. Local governments have proved their respect for the integrity of Fort A.P. Hill. It's time to return the salute.