Politics & Government

Congressman Jim Moran Holds Town Hall Meeting on BRAC

One year remains until mass relocation begins

Congressman Jim Moran has been an outspoken critic of the Base Realignment and Closing plan since it was announced five years ago.

Moran held a town hall meeting last evening for citizens on Virginia's 8th Congressional District in the auditorium of Hammond Middle School. Gerry Connolly, the Representative of Virginia's 11th district—which contains Lorton— has been supportive of Moran on this issue.

Attendance was heavy as the meeting was timed to coincide with the fact that one year remains until the Mark Center in Alexandria adds 6,400 Department of Defense employees.

Find out what's happening in Lortonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

After introductory remarks from city, county, state and federal officials, including Congressman Moran, the officials opened the forum for public input. Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Sharon Bulova and Fairfax County BRAC Coordinator Mark Canale were on hand to represent Fairfax County.

The primary concern for those in attendance, be it the general public, elected
representatives or government officials, was the effect that the changes will
have on an already-stressed traffic environment. Of nearly equal importance among
the general public was the effect that BRAC will have on the Winkler Botanical
Preserve in West Alexandria.

Find out what's happening in Lortonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Moran pointed out that four different studies from separate groups have said that the infrastructure surrounding the Mark Center cannot meet the needs of the influx of personnel that will be arriving this time next year.

Several citizens appealed to Moran to use his influence in the House of
Representatives to delay the relocation. Moran indicated that measures he had put
forth in the House had passed, but were stalled in the Senate, as they were judged
by some members to nothing more than earmarks. Senators James Webb and Mark
Warner had representatives in attendance who reiterated the Senators' support of
Moran's efforts.

Officials were open to suggestion on how to mitigate what was characterized as a "Herculean challenge" facing the Route 395 area of Alexandria, but were sanguine about what could realistically be done at this stage either from a practical or legislative perspective.

Alternatives included staggering the start times of new workers, re-routing traffic or instituting a long-range mass transportation plan to the area. Input from the public was mostly civil, but marked with frustration about a failure to be included in the process and what more than one attendee called a lack of "common sense."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here