How Tucson is protecting Davis-Monthan

Supporting Davis-Monthan Air Force Base can be as small as thanking airmen for their service.

Or it can be as large as buying land to prevent encroachment.

That’s exactly what Pima County hopes to do by asking voters to spend $5 million to buy 232 acres of private and state land near the base.

Also, local governments and military boosters are forming an alliance to pool resources and hire a lobbyist to advocate for D-M in Washington, D.C.

Protecting the base has always been key to the Air Force keeping it here, but it’s becoming crucial in a time of defense budget cuts and the prospect of a new round of base closings.

Efforts to preserve bases tend to increase with the threat of closures, says Tim Ford, CEO of the Washington-based Association of Defense Communities.

The nonprofit group — made up of civilian military support groups, local governments and consultants — sees its conference attendance spike during base-closing rounds.

The DM50 has been active in the Association of Defense Communities for years. Like other groups, it has been more active of late, Ford says.

“They’re becoming engaged,” he says, “and that’s a good thing.”

BRINGING IN EXPERTS

With D-M’s primary flying mission — the A-10 fighter jet — slated for retirement, the timing is right to bring in expert help to protect the base, says David Godlewski, chairman of the Southern Arizona Defense Alliance and president of the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association.

The DM50, a group of business people who support the base, along with the county and the city plan to hire a consultant to develop a strategy to preserve D-M and a lobbyist who will be the face of the effort in Washington. Both can help attract a new flying mission in case of another round of Base Realignment and Closure cuts, also called BRAC, Godlewski says.

The DM50, the city and the county each has pledged $180,000 to the initial, three-year effort. The hope is to extend the program far longer.

The alliance invited more than 25 firms and individuals to submit proposals. Godlewski won’t share how many did so, but says response from both local and national firms was good. A consulting or lobbying contract, or both, could be in place as soon as the next two months, he says.

“When you realize as a community that you need a lobbyist, too often it’s too late,” he says. “While we’ve had these types of consultants in previous rounds of BRAC, we need to be in a position whether or not a BRAC process has begun. Based on what we know, we’re very well-positioned to be prepared should that begin.”

ANTI-ENCROACHMENT MEASURES

For the past 15 years, the city and county have kept developers from building homes in D-M’s southern flight approach “paddle,” a wedge of land stretching several miles where noise and crash potential is higher.

Pima County has taken that a step further by working to acquire land to limit urban encroachment. In 2004, the county used $10 million in voter-approved bonds to buy 461 acres near D-M.

In March, base officials asked the county to secure long-term rights to land D-M has been leasing since the 1950s.

So in a bond proposal voters will decide this November, the county is asking for $5 million to buy the 232 acres D-M leases about two miles south of its main runway. That includes 133 acres of state land and nine parcels of private property encompassing 99 acres. The state lease expired in 2013; the nine private leases expire in September 2016.

The county plans to lease the land to D-M at nominal or no cost, saving the Air Force more than $380,000 a year.

Reducing costs could help convince the Air Force that D-M is worth keeping in case of another round of base closures, says John Moffatt, Pima County’s director of strategic planning.

“When you’re looking at a possible BRAC, we’re just trying to clear these miscellaneous expenses out of the way,” he says.

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The county also has applied for partial funding of the land buys through the state Military Installation Fund, which was created in 2004. Any state funding would offset the amount of bonds needed, Moffatt says.

Another deal recommended for funding through the state Military Installation Fund is the purchase of 33 acres about five miles from D-M’s runway. The land is owned by Rocking K Holdings LP, an affiliate of Diamond Ventures, which wants $843,750 for the property.

The state Military Affairs Commission approved the Rocking K land deal in 2013, but no money was available then. The fund now has about $3.6 million, which will be offered to owners of seven parcels near military installations around the state. Offers will be made in order of priorities set by the commission, until the money runs out, says Travis Schulte, legislative liaison for the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs.

The Rocking K purchase is second on the list. The land is in the paddle considered to be a high risk for noise and crashes.

UNIFIED VISION IS KEY

Beyond lobbying and land buys, local supporters of D-M say the final factor in protecting the base is strong and visible support.

They fear that could be threatened by complaints from residents who object to noise from the base’s jets.

As chairwoman of Tucson’s Military Community Relations Committee, Blenman-Elm Neighborhood resident Alice Roe frequently finds herself refereeing heated debates between D-M backers and neighborhood critics.

The committee, created in 2007, was the result of recommendations by the Military Community Compatibility Committee, formed in 2004 with the help of the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution at the Morris K. Udall Foundation. Its mission was to seek community dialogue and reach consensus recommendations on issues including land use and noise.

Roe, who in 1975 moved to the Blenman-Elm Neighborhood just east of what is now Banner-University Medical Center, blames poor land-use planning that allowed developers to build near the base for years.

“This is the legacy of the ’50s that we’re dealing with today,” she says.

The committee she chairs is an advisory body and only makes recommendations on issues on which it reaches consensus — once even entertaining a motion to dissolve. Roe says the committee and the process that created it are worth keeping.

“I feel very strongly that this dialogue needs to happen,” she says.

Over the past decade, the Air Force has made several operational changes to limit noise over the most populous areas, including taking off and landing at the largely unpopulated southeast end of the base and raising approach altitudes.

“We try not to take off over the city to the north, and generally that works out great for us, because the winds favor a southern departure, says D-M’s commander, Col. James Meger.

About 80 percent of D-M’s flights take off from the south, but when the wind shifts and federal air traffic controllers must move runway operations at Tucson International Airport to the north, D-M must follow suit.

With the base hemmed in by the Santa Catalina and Rincon mountains, some of those fixes are starting to reach their limits, he adds.

“I’m trying to make sure we’re a good partner with the community and then I’m balancing that with what I need to do to execute the mission requirements that I’m given.”

It’s crucial that Tucsonans know what a good economic partner the Air Force is to the region — and understand how critical it is to keep the base here, says Brian Harpel, president of the DM50.

“I think the single most important thing we can do is educating people on the importance of D-M to the local economy,” he says. “I do think community support is very, very important, as well as relationships not only with the Pentagon but with our congressional delegation.”

All of that will work to the benefit not just of Davis-Monthan, but of the entire Tucson area, Harpel says.

“A community with a unified vision, and all the attributes we have here — I like our chances.”