By Shelia Watson
Staff Writer

A U.S. Department of Defense program that examines positive and negative effects of military installations on surrounding communities was the focus of a recent presentation at the Charleston Metro Chamber’s North Area Business Connection meeting.

Rob Caison, project manager for the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments, presented the Joint Land Use Study II, which examines the existing and proposed use of land surrounding the Charleston Air Force Base and the Naval Weapons Station and in adjacent communities.

COG is the sponsoring agency for the Defense Department study. The study’s primary purposes are to encourage cooperative land use planning between military installations and surrounding communities and to seek ways to reduce the operational impacts of a military base on bordering land.

The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process mandated a transition to a “joint basing” management model. The military presence in the Lowcountry consists primarily of the Charleston Air Force Base and the Naval Weapons Station. The two installations total about 20,000 acres combined in Charleston and Berkeley counties.

Community concerns

Among the concerns noted in the study are changes over the past decade in the number of C-17s flying out of Charleston, the increase in nighttime operations and changes in flight paths and noise contours. Other issues include security at the Naval Weapons Station, particularly regarding the location of the brig, and the storage of weapons. A steady increase in the population in the three counties is also noted in the study.

Among the negative military impacts on civilians, the study found, are noise and the potential for accidents. In addition, an increase in development near military installations can interfere with or limit operations.

The study noted that encroachment is one of the factors in Base Realignment and Closure decisions. The Charleston area has been through two BRAC assessments since the closing of the Naval Base in 1995.

“We believe this study sends a positive message to the Department of Defense,” said Caison. “It shows we’re looking at the situation and looking at ways to make it work.”

The primary study area encompasses a one-mile radius around the Air Force Base and a half-mile area around the Naval Weapons Station. A secondary study area includes a 30,000-feet outward range from the runways.

Gaining rights to develop

One of the programs being examined is the Transfer of Development Rights, which Caison explained would grant a landowner the ability to sell the development potential of a site to another landowner while continuing to maintain ownership of the property. These acquired rights may be transferred from one site to another.

The Transfer of Development Rights is not to be considered another form of eminent domain, Caison said.

The area where the development rights are purchased is known as the “TDR sending area.”

The purchaser of these development rights typically would be another landowner who in turn would be allowed by local governments to increase density or intensity of land development in another predetermined location known as the “TDR receiving area.”

He noted that the TDR sending areas could redirect development away from locations where development could pose a potential conflict within proximity to the military installations, such as flight paths over high-density housing areas, for instance.

In turn, the development rights could be transferred and applied to predetermined locations—the TDR receiving area—that would better support development.

“TDR programs are commonly utilized to preserve open space, agriculture, historic buildings or environmentally sensitive areas for purposes of preservation,” Caison said.

“However, as a product of the Charleston Air Force Base and Naval Weapons Station Joint Land Use Study involving areas surrounding these military installations, a TDR program could be implemented to redirect land development away from site-specific locations within the outlying areas surrounding these military installations—the TDR sending area within our

region.”

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