'If we are to succeed': Joint Base Cape Cod may need new approach to survive. What's next?
A proposal to update Barnstable County’s Joint Base Cape Cod Master Plan to include broader intentions of developing unused or underutilized land for housing and other municipal needs was adopted Wednesday morning by the Barnstable County Board of Regional Commissioners.
Mark Forest, chair of the Board of Regional Commissioners, said the base has undergone significant changes over recent decades in terms of scaling back operations and witnessing the removal of certain installments — such as the 102nd Fighter Wing. He said the National Guard is finding ways to “shrink their footprint” and be more operationally efficient as well.
“We seem to be at a critical juncture in terms of where the base and the facility is at, and this might be a very good time to start thinking about a more comprehensive approach to master planning,” Forest said.
The master plan, last updated in 1998, is a long-range planning mechanism tailored for Joint Base Cape Cod, Forest said, to help guide future investments and optimize infrastructure — such as wastewater and potential housing — both on and off the base to service the municipalities on the Upper Cape and the military community.
“It’s been quite some time since the last master plan was done and a lot has changed at the installation,” Forest said, adding comprehensive planning and investment is necessary for the base’s future. “I'm a strong supporter of the installation and I've been very concerned about the long-term viability of the base.”
Joint Base Cape Cod officials were not able to comment, a spokesman said.
Relationships between Joint Base Cape Cod and Upper Cape towns
Central to the plan is the relationship between the towns bordering the base and the military, Forest said.
“The military has partnerships and arrangements in a variety of areas with the surrounding towns,” he said.
Joint Base Cape Cod sits on land owned by the state and covers nearly 22,000 acres, or about 30 square miles, and comprises four military commands, bases and stations including the U.S. Army Guard (Camp Edwards), the U.S. Air Force (Space Force) the Air National Guard (Otis Air National Guard Base) and the U.S. Coast Guard (Air Station Cape Cod). The base is part of the towns of Bourne, Sandwich and Mashpee, and it borders the town of Falmouth.
'Long-term viability' of Joint Base Cape Cod
The base has undergone a process called Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, a congressionally authorized process that oversees the reorganization and divestment of certain military installations.
“The bases that are closed are the ones that are underutilized, poorly utilized and are not well managed, in the sense that they're not able to manage costs effectively or efficiently,” Forest said. “That was one of the reasons why the fighter jets were relocated from the base.”
During the last round of BRAC, Forest said, the 102nd Fighter Wing was moved to a different military base because it was considered too expensive to be stationed at Joint Base Cape Cod.
The proposal to update the master plan will undergo a process of collaboration over the coming months with Cape towns, the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency and base officials, Forest said, all to spur future investment in the base — a key strategy to hedge against further base closure.
“I honestly believe that if we are to succeed in saving the installation from a future BRAC, we need to update the master plan,” Forest said. “We need to basically help sort of share costs or reduce the burden financially on the military.”
Walker Armstrong reports on all things Cape and Islands, primarily focusing on courts, transportation and the Joint Base Cape Cod military base. Contact him at WArmstrong@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jd__walker.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: New plan to save Joint Base Cape Cod may focus on housing, unused land
