White River Military Coordination Alliance To Be Established

Last updated on Tuesday, May 29, 2018

(BEDFORD) - Representatives from Indiana Office of Defense Development and Radius appeared before the Lawrence County Commissioners on Tuesday to speak about the development of the White River Military Coordination Alliance.

Brandi Hughes, Deputy Director of Indiana Office of Defense Development and Matt Craig, Director of Crane Community Support Radius Indiana asked the commissioners to appoint someone from the commissioners and or county council to represent the area once the Alliance is established.

Members from local economic development organizations, city and county representative, regional agencies, advisors and stakeholders will form the Alliance.

As a region, Lawrence County benefits from Crane and they are committed to ensure that the area grows talent to meet the bases workforce needs. Crane has the infrastructure and available land for growth.

The surrounding areas' low cost of living, combined with a boost from the I-69 expansion and the work at Crane makes the base a destination of choice for the defense economy.

The relationship between Crane and the surrounding areas is a healthy and symbiotic one.

The success of one is invariably linked to that of the other
Neither the local community nor Crane can afford the losses or costs associated with the loss of missions or lack of opportunity associated with new missions.

Decisions by Crane, state and local government leadership have serious and real consequences for their mutual stakeholders.

That is why officials are developing the White River Military Coordination Alliance.

According to Hughes and Craig, the purpose of the alliance is to build working relationships.

The Alliance will work to establish effective an timely means of communications between communities within the region and Crane for the purpose of coordinating and addressing mutual concerns and issues.

The Alliance will be comprised of state and local government representatives, regional and local economic development officials and Crane representatives. The creation of efficient and effective coordination among the Alliance members will provide:

An opportunity for collaboration across boundaries.
Value added from participating with fellow residents of the region.
Improved awareness of local planning structures, resources and knowledge.
Maintain continuity and institutional knowledge for items of mutual concern and issues.
Enhanced and formal communication between jurisdictions and Crane.
Opportunity to address public resource sharing where economies of scale may prove beneficial.
Greater public awareness of the Crane military mission.
A forum for Crane to embrace regional initiatives taking place in surrounding communities

The function of the Alliance is to promote compatible development.

The Alliance will review and vote on matters related to supporting the adoption and implementation by military agencies and civilian government measures to:

Protect the public health, safety and welfare
Support economic prosperity of the region
Safeguard the military mission
Promote compatible development measures designed to minimize incompatible land development activities

This includes, but not limited to: providing direction to staff, implementing Joint Land Use Study recommendations and performing public outreach events.

Additionally, the Alliance will utilize the stakeholders sub-committee to execute tasking.

Funding: DoD Office of Economic Adjustment Grant in PROCESS to:

Assist the participating JUS jurisdictions transitioning the JLUS Policy Committee to a permanent Implementation Committee (the Alliance).
Develop and implement a practical, manageable, annual communications and outreach plan with Crane.
Design, host and update a public information website.
Establish baseline inventory of all properties and land use characteristics within a three-mile perimeter of NSA Crane and Lake Glendora Test Facility. Research and identify funding sources that can be utilized to implement encroachment safeguards via easements and other land use controls.

Meeting Schedule

At least one meeting shall be held annually by the Alliance, but the Alliance shall meet as often as necessary for the purpose of transacting the business at hand. Regular meetings shall be held on the third Monday of a month at 1:30 p.m. (for example) or as designated by the Alliance and will be hosted on a rotating basis by the Alliance members.

At least once per year the Alliance should provide briefings to Crane/Lake Glendora Test Facility leadership of changes within the Alliance membership communities Plans that may impact the installation including comprehensive plans, maters plans, transportation plans, zoning, development projects and capital improvement plans.

At least once per year the Alliance will request Crane/Lake Glendora Test Facility leadership present a "State of the Installation" briefing. Plans that include strategic goals, operational changes and proposed construction projects that may impact the Alliance membership.

1340 AM WBIW welcomes comments and suggestions by calling 812.277.1340 during normal business hours or by email at comments@wbiw.com

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