Base deal to hinge on Concord: Navy wants city's blessing on proposal to trade weapons station

Base deal to hinge on Concord: Navy wants city's blessing on proposal to trade weapons station: "




Posted on Sun, Dec. 10, 2006
TIMES WATCHDOG

Base deal to hinge on Concord: Navy wants city's blessing on proposal to trade weapons station

By Ryan Huff
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

CONCORD - The military won't approve a plan to turn the Concord Naval Weapons Station over to a large, politically-connected federal contractor unless it gets support from the City Council, a senior Navy official told the Times.

A month ago, the Navy floated a proposal to trade the decommissioned base to the Shaw Group in exchange for about $1 billion in military construction at other bases -- a move that would bypass a two-year public planning process.

City leaders had held public hearings and were dreaming of a transit village, miles of open space and perhaps a university campus on the site. They were stunned when the Navy proposed trading the land directly to Shaw before the city could draw up a blueprint for the base. Consequently, the Shaw plan drew immediate protests from city leaders and local federal lawmakers.

One source told the Times last week that the deal has been in the works since March. But Wayne Arny, the Navy's deputy assistant secretary and chief contact on the Concord base, insisted the ide"