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A study only provides information. What is done with the information makes the difference. The city of San Antonio, Texas, learned this lesson over a decade and a half, as the predictions of a 1995 analysis of growth around a key installation came true.
The task focused on Camp Bullis, the training area for Fort Sam Houston. Set aside in 1906 by a fort already encircled by San Antonio's 50,000 residents, the camp sat in farmland 21 miles to the north.
Nine decades and almost a million people later, development brought the issues of light, noise and safety to the outskirts of Camp Bullis. Alerted by the Army, civic, county and industry leaders convened to produce a study predicting further growth, how it would affect the camp and what needed to be done to protect its training mission.
The 1995 Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) predicted severe compatibility issues as areas around Camp Bullis became developed. It recommended land use controls and an intergovernmental oversight board.
A JLUS is a joint planning venture between an active military installation, surrounding cities and counties, state and federal agencies, and other affected stakeholders. It is designed to reduce conflicts, increase communication and collaboration, and result in community action. A JLUS receives funds through the Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment.
There things sat, for the most part, according to Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff, who represents the area around Camp Bullis. "We did a wonderful study but failed to implement some of the things that were asked for in that study."
Meanwhile, San Antonio continued to grow. The area added 33,000 residents between July 2007 and July 2008, making it the third-fastest growing city in the United States, home to more than 2 million people.
Many San Antonio residents are associated with the Army and Air Force. A 2006 city commission determined the military presence was worth an annual $11 billion to the local economy. The military generates more employment and more economic benefit than any other sector, it said.
At 26,000 acres, Camp Bullis is more than a sub-installation to Fort Sam Houston. "At Fort Hood you drive across the cattle guard and you're in the training area," said Paul Dvorak, deputy to the commander at Camp Bullis. "Here you've got 21 miles of urban terrain between main post and the training area." The camp provides field training for all new Army medics. In 2010, all DoD enlisted medical training moves to Fort Sam Houston – and Camp Bullis.
"If we lose the ability to do the field training here, Fort Sam Houston loses the mission of training medics," Dvorak said. "We're the only option available."
New development now cradles Camp Bullis to the south, west and east. "The one remaining undeveloped area is the northern boundary," said Jim Cannizzo, environmental attorney for Fort Sam Houston.
As predicted in 1995, development is beginning to affect training. Even if a military installation predates a nearby neighborhood, "with incessant complaints, at some point leaders make compromises," Cannizzo said. "Over the course of time one little compromise isn't a problem, but if you make one every two or three years, you ratchet down the ability to train." Units then take the opportunity to move where they find fewer restrictions, he said.
This played out when the 797th Ordnance Company and the 79th Ordnance Battalion, two explosive ordnance disposal units, left Fort Sam Houston in 2008. "They just had so many complaints and they got quantities and timing limited down to the point where they just couldn't train," Cannizzo said.
Also in 2008, installation and local officials took another look at the 1995 study. "It basically told us all this would happen and it got ignored," said Cannizzo. It was time, they decided, to conduct another JLUS.
The study, completed in April, looked at five influence areas: light, noise, height obstruction, safety and endangered species. It states the compatibility issues and makes recommendations. Each influence area requires different solutions.
"We're trying to do it differently now," Cannizzo said. "We're going to have an implementation committee of all the governmental entities involved and monitor progress. It's too late in a lot of the areas because there are already houses on that land."
Endangered species protection is turning out to be the biggest issue, Cannizzo said. Camp Bullis has 6,500 acres of prime habitat for the endangered golden-cheeked warbler. Though the migratory birds use only about a third of the habitat, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) requirements restrict the use of potential warbler habitat as well. As development continues, the importance of protected habitat grows. In a three-way arrangement recommended by the new JLUS, Camp Bullis is attempting to transfer the protections on 1,500 acres of potential habitat to 3,000 acres of warbler-occupied aquifer recharge area owned by the city. USFWS is now reviewing the proposal.
With the expansion of Camp Bullis' training mission under BRAC, "It's going to open up big training lanes for us," Dvorak said.
By comparison, the recommendation to reduce lighting within one mile of the camp, and downward lighting within three miles, was well received. Local governments enacted light control ordinances quickly and with little resistance even before the study.
"Downward lighting fixtures cost about the same as other fixtures, and reduced power in the bulbs saves you money in the long run, so the developers have not been resistant to the lighting initiatives," Cannizzo said.
Though counties do not have zoning authority in Texas, the state legislature passed legislation in 2007 specifically giving counties the ability to regulate lighting around military installations, Cannizzo said.
"Light, we've made a lot of progress on," Cannizzo said. "Noise could be a key issue in a few areas, but for most of our boundaries it isn't."
Noise could become an issue as land to the east or south of Camp Bullis fills up, according to Cannizzo. The firing ranges sit close to the installation boundary in that area.
"Because of the concessions we've made over the years, we don't do mortars, we don't do artillery, we don't do .50 caliber machine guns," Dvorak said. Most restrictions come from being in the flight path of San Antonio International Airport.
Even though the largest round fired on Camp Bullis is 7.62mm, about 12 million rounds will go downrange in 2009. With BRAC, Dvorak said some 14 million rounds could be fired each year.
Between Army and Air Force, Guard and Reserve, federal agencies and local police, about 150,000 people train on Camp Bullis in a given year, Dvorak said.
"All we can do is field training and fire on small arms ranges," Cannizzo said. "If we lose the small arms ranges then it's really going to be bad."
The noise issue is far from resolved. Recently, a neighboring school district began planning an elementary school along the eastern boundary, approximately 1,500 feet from the small arms range complex, Cannizzo said.
Wolff said he is working to resolve the issue with school district leaders. "A lot of times word never reaches that particular level," he said. "It's incumbent on us to say at the local government level, make sure you know what's going here."
The top priorities are mitigating endangered species habitat, supporting an endangered species ordnance by the city of San Antonio, requiring real estate disclosure if a property or home is within the five-mile military influence area, managing dark skies through light ordinances and ensuring land compatibility with fixed and rotary wing aviation, according to Fort Sam Houston spokesman Phillip Reidinger.
"This is not a one-time answer, this is not something you fix in one day," Wolff said. "Just because we've finished the latest Joint Land Use Study, just because we took this action today, doesn't mean we aren't going to have 15, 20, 30 actions that we have to take over the next 20, 30 years. That's how you win it."
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