Returning troops expected to boost economy

Sign of the times in Columbus: a dry cleaning service near Fort Benning welcomes the 3rd ID home. (Dave Bender)

The return of several thousand troops from Iraq in coming weeks, is expected to give a boost to businesses around Columbus in western Georgia. The hoped-for economic shot-in-the-arm will come from some 3,800 combat soldiers of the US Army's Third Brigade, who served in the Baghdad area.

Several units recently redeployed to nearby Fort Benning, in order to prepare families and the post for the main force. But the brigade's year-long absence was felt far beyond the gates of the base.

Mike Gaymon of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce:

“When the Third Brigade left, the growth of Chattahoochee County became the worst in the 159 counties in Georgia, and then when the third comes back, they will lead the state in growth.”

Gaymon says apartments complexes, car dealerships, and furniture and appliance stores are among those eagerly awaiting the “boots on the ground.”

Billboard near Ft. Benning pitches studies at Columbus State University for returning troops. (Dave Bender)

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Benning BRAC Planning Group Meets

(Courtesy Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce)

A coalition of ten Chattahoochee Valley counties met today to hammer out details of a massive program to bring tens of thousands of soldiers and their families to Fort Benning and Columbus.

The army's Base Realignment and Closure program – BRAC for short – will transfer some 40,000 troops from Ft. Knox, Kentucky by 2011.

A consortium known as The Valley Partnership is planning the infrastructure for the influx that will affect ten counties in Georgia, and three across the Chattahoochee River in Alabama.

Officials began working on a Regional Growth Management Plan just after the New Year. They're examining a 35-mile radius around the army training base to coordinate and assess the projected effects of the move on the area over the next 20-years. They include new highways, housing, schools, utilities, and a score of other issues.

Columbus Chamber of Commerce President Mike Gaymon, speaking to the Chattahoochee Valley group, Jan., 23, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Mike Gaymon, president of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce:

“Highways, for example; buildings, for example. Where are these houses going to go, where do these subdivision need to go? Is the water and sewer there? And we know that there are a lot of areas, where there's no water and sewer... so, it's big. It touches every fabric and part of these counties we'll be working with.”

Local officials say the Department of Defense move – the biggest such peacetime personnel and materiel transfer in army history – will bring an estimated two billion dollars in capital investment to the area. In addition, the DoD is assisting the funding of the effort.

Ron Roth, vice president of Science Applications International Corporation, is in charge of the project's planning and integration:

“The Department of Defense – The Office of Economic Adjustment provides funding for communities that are affected by BRAC decisions. Columbus and the surrounding area has revieved the largest grant ever: 3.3 million dollars - so that's a pretty big deal.”

J. Mac Holladay, CEO of Market Street Services consultants, is crunching the research numbers:

“We are going to be specifically looking at the housing needs that this is going to bring to the region; we're going to be helping out on the educational needs, in terms of K-to-12, and higher education and what that's going to mean. The whole team is really working on about 16 different tasks.”

The project will affect Chattahoochee, Harris, Muscogee, Marion, Stewart, Talbot and Taylor counties in Georgia, and Barbour, Lee and Russel in Alabama.

“It has the largest regional impact I've ever seen. So I think it's that need for really looking at it in total, that's an important part of the project,” according to Holladay.

Projected BRAC growth timeline. Click on graph for full-size image. (Courtesy Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce)

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