Congressman: Base Closure 'Like Having Building Fall on You'

PLATTSBURGH — The impending closure of the Plattsburgh Air Force Base was the first major issue placed on newly-elected Congressman John McHugh's plate in June 1993.

His chief of staff at the time was present at the Base Realignment and Closure Commission's (BRACC) final deliberations. Moments before the vote, he told McHugh that he had not heard anything negative about Plattsburgh.

"But then the vote came and I got a call, probably no more than 10 minutes later, saying they had just voted to close Plattsburgh," the former North Country representative and U.S. Secretary of the Army told The Press-Republican.

"It was like having a building fall on you."

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

PAFB had served as a Strategic Air Command base for the Air Force from the mid-1950s to its official closure 25 years ago today.

McHugh thought that, running up to the base closure deliberations, locals did an incredible job representing the Plattsburgh community and their support for those stationed at the base.

Plattsburgh attorney Bill Owens, also a former North Country congressman and a retired Air Force captain, similarly noted the strong community interaction at the social and economic levels, with great attendance at virtually all base events.

"That was something I had not experienced at the other base at which I was stationed or others I visited."

McHugh added that the men and women in uniform as well as their families also enjoyed their time serving at Plattsburgh AFB.

"But that apparently was not sufficient."

NEW JERSEY'S FAVOR

McHugh viewed the closure of Plattsburgh AFB — which he said was the first time a BRACC had overturned a military department's recommendation — as a politically-influenced process.

"All you have to do is look to see who was on the commission. It was loaded in New Jersey’s favor."

New Jersey houses McGuire Air Force Base, which like Plattsburgh AFB was up for closure in 1993.

McHugh said the commission's chair, former Congressman Jim Courter, was from the Garden State and had gubernatorial ambitions. He had previously run for the seat in 1989 but lost.

"It's probably not the best platform for a candidate for governor to run on — 'I closed McGuire Air Force Base.'"

Additionally, retired U.S. Air Force Four-Star Gen. H.T. Johnson, who sat on the commission, was a close personal friend of a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee from New Jersey, McHugh claimed.

"So that’s two and a half strikes against Plattsburgh going into the first inning."

NEEDED TO BE TOLD

McHugh's first thought regarding the base closure was, "What could we do to reverse this?"

He was one of several officials, including then State Sen. Ronald Stafford, who filed a lawsuit on behalf of New York State in an attempt to overturn the BRACC's recommendations and keep the Plattsburgh base open.

The suit was not successful.

"It was a long shot but it was a story that needed to be told, in my judgement, and again the community was just terrific in at least trying to make a case that this kind of process shouldn’t go forward in the future," McHugh said.

He added that, as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, he later helped change the law so that future commissions would require a super majority when deciding to close a base.

"If you’re going to allow civilians with very little background, very little expertise and very little time to make very serious considerations, make them the arbiters of those decisions, it ought to be harder, not easier."

SOCIAL LOSSES

Owens said, at the time, he felt great concern over the base closure's economic and social impact on the community.

The economic impacts were problematic, and it took several years for the Plattsburgh region to recover, he continued.

"I don’t think we ever recovered from the social losses of the people who worked in the community and the diversity that it created."

PARC CREATION

Owens first served on the Plattsburgh Inter-municipal Development Council (PIDC), which he said was designed to try to negotiate with the Air Force and create a plan for the base's reuse.

He drafted the documents that created the Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Corporation (PARC) — formed in 1994 ahead of the base's official closure to lead redevelopment efforts — and became the entity's first legal counsel.

Owens explained that the Air Force required a legal entity "for the community to receive redevelopment funds, equipment and real estate."

He said those appointed to the PARC board by officials who wanted a hand in PARC's formation "were good business people, solid in their approach to redevelopment and facilitated and guided the redevelopment of the base."

ASSISTANCE FUNDING

McHugh's role after Plattsburgh AFB closed shifted to working with federal officials to identify any community redevelopment assistance funds available to the Plattsburgh area.

Owens similarly noted that, by the time he was elected to Congress in 2009, the focus remained on bringing new businesses to the base and coordinating state and federal assistance.

While locals did the "nitty gritty" work, McHugh said, his office worked to bring attention to those applications and grant requests as the community worked through that initiative.

A large part of that was the creation of Plattsburgh International Airport, and the necessary environmental clearances and construction moneys that went along with it.

"That all worked out, and that’s all a great credit to people like Garry Douglas and others who worked through the North Country Chamber of Commerce and other redevelopment organizations that decided not to sit in the corner and hold their head in their hands, but to get out there and work like heck to try to rebuild the future of the area," McHugh said.

HISTORY LESSON

Reflecting on the 25 years since the base's closure, McHugh said Plattsburgh's redevelopment played out like he hoped it would but, all those years ago, was not certain it could.

"When you have to reconstruct an entire local economy after so many years of Air Force presence, you don’t know if you can be successful," he added.

But Plattsburgh was fortunate to have both a good geographic location and an invested community who took advantage of available opportunities.

Though he will never say the loss of the base was a good thing, McHugh said the silver lining was the great diversification of the region's economy, thanks to the work of local officials.

"I think other communities that might find themselves similarly challenged in the future might want to take a little history lesson from what the folks up in the Plattsburgh area did to kind of move themselves forward from that big loss."

Email Cara Chapman:

[email protected]

Twitter: @PPR_carachapman

———

Visit the Press-Republican (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) at pressrepublican.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.