AG 2004 01 26 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Resolution No. 2004 CABARRUS COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS RESOLUTION OPPOSING THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN OUTLYING LANDING FIELD IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA WI~.REAS, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Hansford T. Johnson signed a Record of Decision on September 3, 2003, to build an Outlying Landing Field (OLF) on the Washington/Beaufort County line; and Wlt-EREAS, this OLF will accommodate training for the new F / A 18 E/F Super Hornet fighters, the latest and noisiest jets ever built; and WHEREAS, pilots will fly fi.om NAS Oceana, Virginia and MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina to simulate landing on aircraft carriers through repetitive (31,600 annually) touch-and-go practices; and WI~REAS, according to Robert J. Natter, Commander in Chief of the U. S. Atlantic Fleet, in a document dated 30 October 2000 that it is precisely because of community concerns over jet noise in the Norfolk, Virginia area, that the Department of the Navy is exploring the establishment of an additional OLF to accommodate Super Hornet training; and WHEREAS, there wall be no economic benefit to the citizens of Washington County because no military personnel will be based at the OLF; construction will be contracted to large out-of-county compames; and a large number of jobs related to agriculture will be permanently lost; and WltEREAS, more than 70 families will be forced to sell their homes and farms at market value or taken using eminent domain; and WI-IEREAS, with the Navy's acquisition of the more than 32,000 acres of prime farmland, Washington County citizens will either live with reduced county services or shoulder a major tax increase to cover the lost revenue in an already economically depressed area; and WI:IEREAS, the above mentioned losses cannot compare with the potential loss of life and aircraft due to the site location's close proximity to the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, which is home to over 100,000 migratory birds for six months of each year according to Jeffrey J. Short, Colonel (ret.) USAFR and the "father" of the USAF Bird Avoidance Model; and Wgllr. REAS, Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the U. S. Constitution specifies the Federal Govemment may acquire property within a state for erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings but can only acquire jurisdiction over that property if both the state and federal governments agree to the transfer; otherwise the United States does not take jurisdiction over the property and can only be a proprietor of the property; and WHEREAS, North Carolina General Statute 104-7, written in 1907, gave the United States the right to purchase and condemn "land in the State required for the sites for customhouses, courthouse, post offices, arsenals, and other public buildings whatever" and further indicates exclusive jurisdiction wall also be given "for any other purposes of the government."