Marine Corps base releases study on how jobs will affect Stafford and Prince William.

Date published: 1/14/2007

By KELLY HANNON

Half of the employees expected to fill 2,658 new jobs at Quantico Marine Corps Base by 2011 already live within commuting distance of the post.

Where the rest of them will live is crucial to Stafford and Prince William leaders as they prepare to cope with housing, school and transportation demands.

The jobs are being assigned to Quantico by the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

"You need good information to make good decisions," said Stafford Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer, who co-chairs a committee of local officials doing the planning.

Quantico's boomlet of jobs is smaller than at its military neighbor to the north, Fort Belvoir.

The equivalent of the Pentagon, 22,000 jobs, is being moved to the eastern Fairfax County army installation by 2011.

Quantico's share of the jobs may be more manageable, but to prepare, the base Business Performance Office did a demographic study looking at where the new workers are expected to live--and whether they'll have children enrolling in public schools.

The base also expects that between 54 and 578 adult students will be enrolled in training academies for investigative agencies.

BRAC's decision moved headquarters for all services' criminal investigation departments and the site of the Counterintelligence Field Activity and the Defense Security Service to Quantico. The base is already home to the FBI Academy and the Drug Enforcement Agency Training Academy.

A quarter of the 2,658 new employees will move into the Quantico area. That's a gain of about 650 workers. Another quarter of the new employees will not relocate, and will have a longer commute to work.

The number of new residents because of BRAC isn't extraordinary in Stafford, which has grown rapidly in recent years, said Tim Baroody, Stafford's director of economic development and legislative affairs.

"The numbers are certainly far from alarming," Baroody said.

Stafford issued 1,400 permits for new dwelling units in 2003, 1,900 permits in 2004 and another 1,600 in 2005.

Accompanying the 650 new employees at Quantico will be an estimated 683 children. Stafford and schools districts to the south would receive 263 school-age students. Prince William and school districts to the north could expect 246 students, according to the demographic study.

Stafford has enrolled 400 to 500 new students a year over the past two years, said Denise Fruik, Stafford schools' supervisor of planning and construction.

The impact of the 263 new students will depend on where they locate, and how much space is available at the schools in their neighborhoods. "Some areas of the county can handle it better than others," Fruik said.

Families moving to Stafford for the new Fort Belvoir jobs could cause a bigger boom in students. She's waiting for more demographic information from that installation.

"Belvoir should probably not be ignored in this equation," Fruik said.

Moving more vehicles on and off Quantico could further clog base entry points.

Want to learn more? The next meeting of the Quantico Growth Management Committee is at 7 p.m., Monday, Jan. 22, 1 County Complex Court in Prince William County.

Date published: 1/14/2007

Most recent reader comments: