Cole Keller - Super Blog 3 - Fort Ord

 

Last week I shifted the focus of my project away from how artillery affected the environment at Fort Ord as there was little evidence of major effects. However, after discussing this with Professor Biggs, I was given permission to look into how the base closing had affected the surrounding area. This ended up being very fruitful and interesting to research, so here are some of the sources that focus on the community impact.

 

Source #1:

Defense Technical Information Center, Michael Dardia, Kevin F. McCarthy, Jesse Malkin, and
            Georges Vernes, The Effects of Military Base Closures on Local Communities: A
            Short-Term Perspective § (1996).

            This source helps me look directly at the statistics for how the base closing affected the local community. The main takeaway of this article is that the effects of the closing are more pronounced in a localized area, specifically excluding Salinas. 15% of civilian contractors and military personnel that worked on base lived off base, filling housing throughout the peninsula. Population after the close drops 11%, K-12 enrollment drops 27%, retail sales were down 4%, and Vacancy rate was up 9%. Housing prices throughout the county dropped after the announcement of closure, except in Seaside which was the town nearest the artillery range.

Source #2:

Stahl, Zachary. “Fourteen Years and $100 Million Later, Fort Ord Is Riddled with Dangerous
            Munitions.” Monterey County Weekly, May 17, 2013.
https://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/cover/fourteen-years-and-100-million-later-fort-ord-is-riddled-with-dangerous-munitions/article_b8be263b-cf54-5ff2-9249-ff9655ef662d.html.

            The effects of the bases closure have been attempted to be mitigated by land reuse, however in order to do that they need to clean the enormous amount of unexploded ordnance. Total cost of cleaning up prior to reuse is expected to be roughly 332 million dollars. They could flatten the whole area with an armored bulldozer in a relatively short amount of time, but conservationists and locals alike want to see the region retain its natural beauty. Trails have opened at the time of this article with signs warning people to stay on the path, as unexploded 40 mm shells and grenades are extremely common. This source also offers a great image of artillery firing at Fort Ord.

 

Source #3:

“Fort Ord Background.” FORA. Fort Ord Reuse Authority, n.d.
            http://www.fora.org/Reports/downloads/Fort%20Ord%20Background.pdf.

            This source discussed both the, by all accounts, failed plans for reuse and what plans are still in motion for the future. The first thing planned on the old base would be the 1350 acre site of California State University Monterey Bay that would provide both youth and jobs to the region. They also encouraged economic growth in the area, especially after the 4500 lost jobs after the base’s closing. Their projections for growth on the land were far too ambitious. The 37000 population projection by 2015 actually only reached 12500, 18000 jobs only ending up being 3799, 11000 housing units only being 4476, and the projected 3000000 square feet of commercial space only ending up being 660000. Several projects were ongoing at the time of writing, but the cleanup has been sluggish and enthusiasm to move into the area has been less than expected.

Source #4:

“Groundwater.” Fort Ord Cleanup. US Army Corps of Engineers. Accessed March 1, 2021.
            https://fortordcleanup.com/programs/groundwater/.

            The soil on the Monterey Peninsula is primarily sandy, so when it rains water more easily seeps into the aquifer below. While this would usually be a good thing, with Fort Ord it caused problems. The Salinas Valley is often described as the “Salad Bowl of the World”, and in previous times they were able to get water from the shallow aquifer that extended below the base. This is no longer possible and the whole of the peninsula needs to take their water from the lower 180 foot aquifer for drinking and farming. The Fort Ord Landfill, the vehicle maintenance area in the Main Garrison, and Abrahams Park are the 3 main areas that needed to be focused on in the cleanup as harmful chemicals seeped into the upper 180 foot aquifer. Chemicals that needed cleaning include trichloroethene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), and Carbon Tetrachloride. There is also an image that is provided that displays the aquifer below Fort Ord that is used by the peninsula for water.

 

 

Source #5:

Shalev, Asaf. “Goodbye to the Fort Ord Reuse Authority, California's Last Redevelopment
            Agency.” Monterey County Weekly, July 2, 2020.
https://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/local_news/goodbye-to-the-fort-ord-reuse-authority-california-s-last-redevelopment-agency/article_cf60a21a-bbf7-11ea-bbf8-abbf79261ccc.html.

            While this is a very recent article, I feel like this will be an important thing to tack on at the end of this work. FORA, Fort Ord Reuse Authority, has shuttered its doors during the financial crisis of 2020. It was the last Reuse Authority in the state and left the fate of the land up to the separate jurisdictions of Seaside, Marina, Del Rey Oaks, Marina Coast Water District, and Monterey County. FORA was able to raise 26 million by selling bonds as it closed its doors to fund certain demolition projects, but thousands of acres of blight and undeveloped land are being left behind with millions of dollars further to complete that cleanup and development. This puts the region's future up in the air.