Will Horsham Base Closure Take Lead from Warminster?

If there’s one thing that Robert Cormack regrets while overseeing the closing process of the Naval Air Development Center (NADC) in Warminster during the 1990s, it’s that he didn’t bring a video camera along with him while giving tours of the cavernous office buildings for prospective buyers.

“Before we started each tour,” Cormack said, seated in his office at the Bucks County Economic Development Corporation in Doylestown, “I would ask if they wanted the half hour, two and-a-half hour or five hour version. It was a million and-a-half square feet. There was just hallway after hallway.”

With the current activities surrounding the closure procedures for the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Horsham, it may be useful to look back at the challenges presented by the closing of the NADC.

In Horsham - as was the case in Warminster - local officials and some residents are adamantly opposed to continued use of the runway and flight operations. 

"We supported what Warminster wanted and no airport," Horsham Township Manager Bill Walker said, adding that Warminster, Montgomery Township and other neighboring communities have passed resolutions or written letters of support for Horsham currently. "If you let an aiport authority in just a little bit, they’re in ... We as a community can’t even let them get their foot in the door."

Warminster could certainly relate to that sentiment.

“Warminster was very vocal about not wanting the runway operational,” said Cormack. “They did not want the air traffic and noise. It was ultimately up to the Navy, and they agreed to decommission it.”

Horsham officials have said that in order to be successful in closing the base runway for good residents need to attend meetings and voice their opinions. The Horsham Land Reuse Authority meetings - the next one of which is April 20 - are attended by federal officials from Washington who are taking note of community wants and concerns, Walker has said.

Comparing NADC's closure and redevelopment with Horsham

In terms of the Naval Air Development Center, the Warminster property, aside from having a military runway, was originally developed as a manufacturing facility by Brewster Aeronautical Corporation in 1941. Poor management and shoddy aircraft forced the company to sell the land to the Navy in 1944. Over the years, it grew into one of the most important scientific and research facilities in the United States. The early prototypes of GPS were developed there, and its centrifuge was used to train NASA astronauts.

Cormack joined the NADC Advisory Board in 1991 after the Navy targeted the base for realignment. The project originally began subleasing the available office space and grounds, but in 1995, it was decided the entire base would close under the Base Realignment and Closure Act.

“We didn’t want the base closed, originally,” said Frank Burstein, who served on Warminster’s board of supervisors from 1992-1998. “We went down to Washington with Senator (Arlen) Specter and Representative (Pete) Kostmayer to talk to the bill committee. Their meetings were top secret, but we found out their location. They were surprised when we walked in.”

As the ball rolled toward closure, Bucks County formed its Federal Land Reuse Authority, with the 13-person committee made up of representatives from Warminster, Ivyland, Northampton, Bucks County, the Navy and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Horsham has a similar set up with its HLRA, which is comprised of local elected officials, Hatboro-Horsham School District officials and other relevant stakeholders. 

“We had a very good dynamic,” said Cormack, who led the committee. “Everybody had a passion to see this project go in the right direction toward a good conclusion.”

When the Base Realignment and Closure Act was passed in 1995, a flurry of activity began, appointing committees, ordering studies, conducting inspections, drawing plans, throwing away the plans and redrawing new ones and selling off the land.

One of the biggest steps for the base, even from the very beginning of the realignment process in 1991, was getting all of the buildings up to code. Since it was federally owned and operated, the NADC was not required to follow township building guidelines.

“A boat load of money was spent to cover the license and inspection costs and upgrades,” said Cormack. “There weren’t enough access points. You had to be able to exit the building under so many minutes per the fire code.”

Three hangars that had been on the site since it first operated as a manufacturing plant for Brewster were never even considered a candidate for subleasing. Its wooden structure was a complete fire hazard and was torn down in 2002 to make way for Ann’s Choice retirement village.

The FLRA hired Ernst and Young to come up with the Community Reuse Plan. Drafts were developed, taking into account suggestions from each stakeholder.

A similar process is ongoing in Horsham and monthly public HLRA meetings are scheduled through year's end. A redevelopment plan - which could include any of the notices of interest submitted for everything from an airport to park space, daycare centers, roads, homeless housing, a school, or a retirement community - is due to the Department of Defense by December. 

Warminster, in particular, did not want to see retail stores built along Street Road, a position that has obviously changed with the coming construction of Costco.

“What we were specifically against was the building of another strip mall,” said Burstein. “There were already a couple vacant spaces at the Center Point shopping center, and we didn’t want to see another bunch of empty storefronts.”

With the final word on development plans coming from the federal level, Cormack found himself banging heads more than a few times. The Navy had a certain way of doing things, and it was tough getting them to bend.

“At one point,” said Cormack, “one of the Navy guys came to me and said we had to keep the lawn three inches high. It was Navy regulation, and we had to comply. Suddenly, I was expected to find the money to pay for landscaping work. I told them I was going to buy some goats and let them keep the grass short.”

Federal agencies divided up the entire site in accordance with committee requests. Warminster and Northampton, which held the clear zone for the runway, received more than 800 combined acres of open space from the Department of Interior. HUD provided the grounds where now sits Gilda’s Club, a nonprofit agency dedicated to help those living with cancer.

The Willow Grove base requested and received the Shenendoah Woods military housing and six homes in Ivyland. Those sites are now part of a development plan that will be submitted by the Bucks County Housing Group subcommittee of the HLRA.

Ivyland Borough received land to build a new neighborhood development while Bucks County was given the space to construct a new morgue and the 9/11 Emergency Response Center. Finally, the FLRA was given the commercial building space on both sides of Jacksonville Road. By 2000, Cormack had sold all of that space to developers and could wash his hands of the project.

That is, except, for a small matter of asbestos removal. Cormack had thought all of the asbestos had been removed years ago, but developers found that two structures built on top of one office building, which were used by the Navy to monitor landings and takeoffs at the runway across the street, had been wrapped with the material. He out together a plan to have it removed, but the Navy stepped in with its own idea, feeling it had an obligation under the original lease to remediate the asbestos.

“I could have it removed for $125,000,” said Cormack. “But they wanted to spray paint it with an epoxy that would keep it sealed indefinitely. Their idea cost $190,000, but it was their problem and that’s they way they wanted to deal with it.”

Cormack didn’t have much in the way of direct advice for the HLRA and Horsham residents. He watched the township lay a strong foundation at the very beginning of the BRAC procedure in 2005.

“They did a great job dealing with Governor Rendell and finding out what he wanted to do with the site,” said Cormack. “If Horsham just went ahead with whatever they wanted to do, they would end up spending a lot of money defending those plans. They took a wait-and-see approach, and that’s going to pay off.”