The U.S. Army & Middletown….
(Update 1/13/08) Due to the impending storm and weather advisories, the town meeting on the Army Reserve Training Facility proposed to be built in the Maromas section of Middletown has been postponed and will be rescheduled.
Until 3 years ago Middletown was the home of the 1205th Transportation Railway Operating Battalion , one of two such reserve units in the U.S. Army. Although military railroad operations might seem an anachronism in the 21st century they would nevertheless be vital in certain conditions of national emergency or war. We have seen how vital Army Reserve units are to military their having played a major role in our deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army has proposed closing a substantial number of various reserve training centers and maintenance facilities within Connecticut and relocate and consolidate them at a new large facility here in Middletown. In support of this unit consolidation the Army supplies the following rationale:
The implementation of this recommendation will enhance military value, improve homeland defense
capability, greatly improve training and deployment capability, create significant efficiencies and cost
savings, and is consistent with the Army’s force structure plans and Army transformational objectives.
This recommendation considered feasible locations within the demographic and geographic areas of the
closing facilities and affected units. The sites selected were determined as the best locations because they
optimize the Reserve Components’ ability to recruit and retain Reserve Component soldiers and to train
and mobilize units affected by this recommendation.
Source:
www.hqda.army.mil/ACSIM/brac/
On December 7, 2007 The Hartford Courant reported:
The Army, after closing or consolidating seven Reserve and National Guard facilities in Connecticut, is setting out to build a regional Armed Forces Reserve Center on 40 acres of forestland off Saybrook Road, near Pratt & Whitney Aircraft and the Haddam line.
Though tax-exempt, the project — including a 200,000-square-foot main building the size of two super Wal-Marts — would be a boon to the area’s economy, Middletown officials said.
It would, for example, create business for local tradespeople, maintenance companies, caterers, and, perhaps, night spots. And the extension of city water and sewer services to the site would open the door to private development along the southern end of Saybrook Road, an area just off Route 9 that is now mostly woods.
The reserve center would employ 150 people full time, and 800 reservists would train there three weekends a month, said Jeff Keane, spokesman for the 94th Regional Readiness Command at Fort Devens in Massachusetts. Construction would begin in 2009, the Army Corps of Engineers told Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano in a letter. The corps said it’s negotiating with the landowners — the Connecticut Light & Power Co. — and plans to go ahead with engineering and environmental studies of the site.
A December 20 Hartford Courant article describes objections to the project by local residents and environmentalists.
An action bulletin from The Jonah Center’s John Hall urges all those with an interest in the project attend
“(a) meeting (Monday January 14th, 5 PM at City Hall)…. to discuss a 200,000 sq. ft. Army Reserve training facility proposed for 40 acres of wooded Maromas Open Space (corner of Old Saybrook and Freeman Roads) currently owned by CL&P. On this site, the project would require extending city water and sewer lines along Saybrook Road, which in turn could open up the Maromas area to more development. If you are concerned about this project or want to find out more information, you are strongly encouraged to attend the meeting. Google Army Reserve Training Facility Middletown CT to find more information.”
Tags: The Jonah Center,U.S. Army Reserve Training Center Middletown CT,CL&P, Middletown CT development.
January 20th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
[...] See our earlier report here. [...]
January 20th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
[...] See our earlier report here. [...]
February 15th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
[...] See our earlier posting for more details on the proposal; also more from Right of Middle here. [...]
February 15th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
[...] our earlier posting for more details on the proposal; also more from Right of Middle here. Tags: Middletown ct,middletown common council,u s army reserve [...]