Neary-Sighted

2007 has arrived with a bang. And it arrives with one of the most important decisions this Lakewood City Council will have to make.

Let's begin with the assumption that Fort Lewis and McChord are responsible for about one-third of the economic activity in Pierce County. I think you know they're important. If you just glance around most businesses, like restaurants, you'll see members of the military and their families. As I write this on a laptop computer, I'm sitting in the coffeeshop at the Barnes and Noble here in Lakewood. As I look around the coffeeshop, and as I look past the jigsaw puzzles and throughout the store, I can see a huge percentage of the customers are guys with short hair or children with guys with short hair.

The bases themselves provide lots of jobs. My wife, for example, works at Madigan. 'Nuff said.

Let's also begin with another assumption: it would be a local disaster if the nation closes those bases. Now, this could be argued. You could do a lot with the land. Maybe Intel would open up four or five manufacturing plants. Sure. But my experience says we'd have no idea how it would turn out if those bases closed except the situation would at first be bad. When Fort Ord closed in California, Cindy and I lost what was then our life savings invested through our home equity. We figured after we sold our house that we were out $17,000. That was a huge amount to a young couple.

I don't want anything like that to ever happen to anyone in Lakewood.

On Monday, the Lakewood council will hear from consultants who studied an intriguing idea first proposed by one of the smartest people I know in Lakewood, Councilman Doug Richardson. (himself a General in the Reserves)

1. What if Lakewood annexed the bases and collected tax dollars and other sources of revenue that the bases are mostly aleady paying?

2. And what if Lakewood used that money to protect the bases by buying up land in the Clear Zone around McChord?

I think if you asked most folks, they would say they think Congressman Norm Dicks has cast a magic spell and McChord and Fort Lewis will never close. But the bases are open because they are great bases. The concern is that if we allow a lot of development around them, the military could close the bases.

This is how The News Tribune once put the situation in a summary:

The Air Force wants to keep the clear zone as free of development as possible, though businesses do operate there now. Officials from Lakewood and other Pierce County cities worry activity in the clear zone could hinder the mission of the installations, making them vulnerable to future base closures.

The closure of Fort Lewis and McChord, even if it happened 10 or 20 years from now, would drop a bomb, if you will pardon the phrase in this context, on Lakewood. Thousands of people here would move. The economy would be a wasteland.

The consultant's report that we will talk about Monday night says that annexing the bases could bring in enough money to cover up to $55 million in acquiring the land.

Yep. I said $55 million.

That is an enormous amount of money by Lakewood government standards. It represents two years of operations of our city government including the police department. But there is a lot of development in that area right now, and the land is going to cost. Landowners must and should be compensated fairly.

The whole project would require help from the county, other cities, and the state. (Not to mention the federal government, which of course we all know ought to be really the force buying up this land. Good luck getting them to do the right thing)

One thing we will all have to do is read up more about development within the Clear Zone and around bases, a subject known as encroachment. Throughout the nation, various governments have shown awareness that bases are more likely to be closed if development takes place around them. Here's just one example of an older document on the subject.

The subject is extremely complex. I have heavily simplified the numbers involved. Less expensive options are available. We will know more after Monday's 7 p.m. study session. Do not worry that any decision will be rushed.

But do be aware that at some point, we will have to make an enormous decision.
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