March 29, 2024
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Air Force eyes Brunswick for Reserve center

BRUNSWICK – The proposed joint Reserve center at the Brunswick Naval Air Station could be broken up into several components as various branches of the military look to snap up “surplus” property when the base closes.

The original plan called for construction of a $42 million, 209,000-square-foot Armed Forces Reserve training center to serve multiple branches of the military. But that was before the base closing commission decided to close the 3,220-acre facility.

Now the Air Force is considering using existing buildings for a Reserve facility that would be separate from one serving both the Marine Corps Reserves and Maine Army National Guard, said Maj. Gen. John W. Libby, head of the Maine National Guard.

The Air Force already has requested 22.2 acres and seven buildings, while the Army is preparing an “expression of interest” in 36 acres, he said.

Various military branches are participating in the screening process that offers Brunswick Naval Air Station land and facilities to federal agencies before declaring the property “surplus” and therefore open to redevelopment.

As for the Navy, the current proposal is for reservists to go to Bangor. The Navy’s cold-weather survival school instruction facilities also will be moving.

The Brunswick Local Redevelopment Authority, which was briefed by Libby on Wednesday, is expected to weigh in on the proposals because taking away land and buildings could limit efforts to bring in private sector businesses to generate economic growth.

Neither reserve center would bring large numbers of jobs.

“Those seven buildings [requested by the Air Force] would certainly lend themselves to other types of use. We want to be mindful of the big picture,” said Martin Wilk, co-chairman of the Brunswick Local Redevelopment Authority.

The committee hopes to hire an executive director by March 1. A national search will be conducted, Wilk said.


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