Mayor Richard Daley, frustrated lately on casino riverboats, finally scored a victory on a different front Thursday, albeit an expected one.
While cities across the nation are clamoring for their military bases to remain open, Daley has pushed all along to close the Air Force Reserve station at O’Hare International Airport to free 356 acres of prime land for airport-related commercial development.
On Thursday, the Department of Defense’s Base Closure and Realignment Commission in Washington gave Daley the decision he wanted when it approved the relocation of the reserve unit by 1998.
A development plan has not been worked out yet, but the mayor said everything from hotels to office buildings to warehouses could be built on the land, bringing jobs and a new source of tax dollars to Chicago. Daley said additional runways are not planned as part of the development mix.
The O’Hare base is home to more than 1,900 reservists and 800 civilians with the 928th Airlift Group of the Air Force Reserves and the 126th Air Refueling Wing of the Illinois National Guard.
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The most likely destination for the unit is Rockford, but six other communities have expressed interest, and the commission left the door open regarding the base’s destination.
Under the arrangement, the city gets the land if it assumes responsibility for the cost of the move. Under the commission’s recommendation, Chicago would have two years to identify a new location acceptable to the Air Force, develop a financing plan and begin relocating the units.
After the commission’s decision, the mayor thanked everybody in Washington who made it possible.
“The most important thing are the jobs it will create,” he said.
Depending on the development plan chosen for the site, the potential number of full-time jobs could range from 6,000 to 12,000, putting $600 million to $1.3 billion annually into the local economy, he said.
Getting the commission to go along with Daley’s plan was not very difficult. Deciding what will replace the base and who will pay for the move, though, could cause quite a political ruckus.
Suburban leaders said Thursday they were leery that “airfield expansion” are code words for additional runways and increased traffic for noisy jets.
“Once you pour concrete, you open the door to allow more aircraft,” said Charles Zettek, vice chairman of the Suburban O’Hare Commission and former mayor of Elk Grove Village. “My concern is basically that the land not be used to expand operations that exacerbate noise and air pollution.”
A major concern of the city is how to raise the estimated $350 million for the moving costs, but Daley said city taxpayers would not foot the bill. Under the plan he proposed to the commission, the move would be funded by developers who would build on the vacated land. Thursday, he mentioned user fees, but did not say on whom those fees would fall.
James Courter, chairman of the base relocation commission, said, “If the city says it would like to have (the land) to solve the congestion problem and use it for economic development and they are prepared to pick up the tab, it’s a clear case that our commission should say OK.”
The commission members voted 6-1, with Beverly Byron, who toured the base earlier this year, voting against the plan. Byron said she feared that it would set a precedent of having cities lure bases away from their locations by offering to pay for the relocation.
Since Daley first announced plans to move the base, competition for the base has been joined by six other communities: Peoria, Rantoul, Springfield, East St. Louis, Bloomington and the Quad Cities.
“At this point all seven sites are very much in the running,” said Lisa Howard, a spokeswoman for Chicago’s Department of Aviation.
Rockford Mayor Charles Box remained hopeful.
“It would have been better if the commission just said move to Rockford, period, but we are still confident,” he said.
Since opening in the 1940s, the O’Hare base has become known for its part in several international operations. During Operation Desert Storm, for example, the Air Force Reserve’s 928th Airlift Group was called on to carry cargo and personnel to Saudi Arabia. And the Illinois Air National Guard’s 126th Air Refueling Wing fueled aircraft used in the conflict. Both groups performed similar duties in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia.
On March 12, the Pentagon announced that O’Hare and Glenview Naval Air Station were targeted for closing, but it proposed the Great Lakes Naval Training Center remain open. A decision on Glenview and Great Lakes is expected Saturday.
The base closing commission also voted Thursday to close Sawyer Air Force Base in Michigan’s upper peninsula.
“I’m deeply disappointed,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), reacting to the loss of thousands of jobs and the effect on nearby areas.
Sawyer has B-1 and B-52 bombers and KC-135 tankers. It had nearly 3,700 military and civilian workers.
Levin said, “We had made a strong case that Sawyer is an excellent base for the future missions of the Air Force, and closing Sawyer will be more expensive than moving flying operations out of other bases.”
The Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission also voted to give New Jersey’s McGuire Air Force Base a major role in restructured U.S. air power, and for saving hurricane-battered Homestead Air Force Base in Florida, overriding the Pentagon’s recommendations.
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The list of changes compiled by the commission in meetings through Sunday will go to the White House. President Clinton will have until July 15 to accept or reject the list. If he turns it down, the panel has a month to change the list and submit it to Clinton a final time.
If the president accepts the final list, he sends it to Congress, where lawmakers have 45 working days to vote it up or down, with no changes permitted.