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player ready...Rockford, believed to be the most favored site for the relocation of the military airbase at O’Hare International Airport, suddenly has a new challenger: Aurora.
Aurora came out on top in a recent Pentagon survey as the place most members of the Air National Guard and U.S. Air Force Reserve at O’Hare would prefer to move.
Almost 80 percent of the guardsmen and reservists said they would stay with their units if relocated to Aurora, according to the survey, conducted in October and November. A similar survey completed in September found that 74 percent of base personnel would remain in their units if relocated to Rockford.
The findings also showed it would take 12 months to return the military units to acceptable personnel levels if relocated at Aurora, but 18 months if sent to Rockford.
In June, the federal Base Closure and Realignment Commission of the Department of Defense voted to give Chicago the option to close the military base at O’Hare and free 356 acres of prime real estate for airport-related commercial development. Mayor Richard Daley has until 1995 to come up with a site and relocation plan and until 1998 to complete the move.
The 1,900 military personnel at O’Hare have the option to transfer to other units. The surveys were designed to determine how many would participate in the base move.
Results of the surveys recently were forwarded to the Chicago Department of Aviation, which must ultimately pay the estimated $350 million cost for the move once the Pentagon decides on the new location.
The report, obtained Tuesday, surprised officials in Rockford and Aurora, while aviation officials in Chicago cautioned that the results deal only with one of many factors to be considered in relocating the units.
However, Air Force officials said the opinions of the military personnel at O’Hare are critical, because the service wants to lose as few members as possible.
Air Force Col. Joseph A. Feather said, “The retention data is key information in this report in that the percent loss (of personnel) is . . . used to determine the length of time for the units to recover to an acceptable manning level. This recovery time is very important to the mission capability of the units and should be held to a minimum.”
Aurora and Rockford, the two closest proposed locations to the O’Hare base, scored the highest ratings among guardsmen and reservists out of the 10 potential relocation sites in Illinois.
Other proposed sites include Scott Air Force Base at Belleville, Coles County, Bloomington, Decatur, Moline (Quad Cities), Peoria, Chanute Air Force Base at Rantoul and Springfield. All of the sites made overtures to get the airbase, hoping for the resulting economic boost that would come by bringing the units to their community.
When O’Hare military personnel were asked about a move beyond the metropolitan area, the number who said they would stay with the unit dropped considerably. Only 34 percent said they would stay if the units were moved to Belleville and 47 percent if moved to Rantoul.
Aurora Mayor David Pierce said the best the city has to offer is “an outstanding airport.” But he acknowledged that his airport can handle only some of the smaller military aircraft with its present configuration.
Pierce said that the city airport manager contacted several units at O’Hare and at the Glenview Naval Air Station, but he added that the city was not interested in taking all of them.
Samuel Schmitz, Rockford city administrator, said the Pentagon wants to keep the units together.
“We heard they favor keeping the units together rather than splitting them up,” he said. “I don’t know if the Aurora airport has the infrastructure to accommodate (the base). Rockford has that.”
David Mosena, Chicago’s aviation commissioner, said the retention and recruitment of base personnel are only part of what is considered when relocating a base. Cost is another factor.
“Rockford is expensive,” Mosena said, referring to the relocation costs Chicago would have to pay.
“The cost of our acquisition of the property is the cost of transfer,” Mosena said. “So we’re shopping for low cost. It could be Rockford, but that’s yet to be determined.”
Mosena said Robert Rieser, Aurora airport manager, wrote his department in October, expressing an interest in the smaller C-130 aircraft units.
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“That’s the only unit he mentioned,” he said.
So Chicago added Aurora to the list of communities on the survey given to O’Hare military personnel.