Valley must do all it can to secure air base's future

Creation of an airport zoning district in Vienna Township to regulate construction around the Youngstown Air Reserve Station is a no-brainer for Trumbull County commissioners. Save our Air Reservists, the community-based organization leading the charge to keep the reserve base off the 2005 closing list, is seeking the creation of such a district, as is the Trumbull County Planning Commission.
County commissioners Joseph Angelo, James Tsagaris and Daniel Polivka must move quickly to get it done.
It should not matter to Angelo, Tsagaris and Polivka that one of SOAR's goals is to limit tall buildings in the flight paths to and from the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, which is adjacent to the air base. There's a very good reason for the limit: It would strengthen the case the Mahoning Valley will make next year to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, which has been charged by Congress and the president to come up with a list of military installations that should be closed.
While a zoning district might not seem like such a big deal, it is -- given the intense competition from hundreds of communities around the country to keep their bases off the list. While base-closing commission members will use objective criteria in evaluating each installation, a certain amount of subjectivity on their part is to be expected. Thus, if the Valley can demonstrate that it has paid attention to the Pentagon's concerns about the encroachment of civilian construction on military air bases, it eliminates another possible reason for deactivating the Youngstown station.
Details
The airport zoning district would cover large areas of Vienna, Fowler, Brookfield, Howland and Bazetta townships. The zoning regulations would ban buildings taller than 150 feet within 2.5 miles of the airport, and buildings taller than 400 feet within 3.5 miles. Building heights would also be regulated in two wedges of land extending about eight miles from each end of the primary runway. Trailer parks, apartment complexes and schools could be governed by the regulations.
This isn't about the heavy hand of government, nor is it about taking away property rights. In simple terms, it's about the economic future of the Mahoning Valley.
The Youngstown Air Reserve Station is home to the 910th Air Wing, which trains Air Force reservists, provides airlift of airborne forces, equipment and supplies, delivers forces and materials by airdrop or land, and aerially applies pesticides, herbicides and oil dispersant agents as the defense department's only full-time, fixed-wing, aerial spray capability.
The 910th Wing also participates in joint service exercises supporting active duty forces in airborne training, operates facilities supporting Naval and Marine Corps reservists and other federal agencies and assists military and other federal government air traffic to the region.
The base has a $90 million annual impact on the local economy through the 2,000 full- and part-time jobs filled by reservists, civilians and contractors, and the almost 600 off-base indirect jobs.
In other words, the Valley has a sure thing with the base.
By contrast, a proposed indoor racetrack is still in the talking stages. Developer Bob Brant would like to construct a 400-foot-tall building near the airport, but would be prohibited from doing so if the new zoning regulations are adopted.
Reid Dulberger, SOAR chairman and a member of the committee studying the racetrack, says an alternative site could be found if the current one doesn't work out.
Trumbull County commissioners should ask the committee to look for other sites for the racetrack when they approve the creation of the airport zoning district.
The air base and the racetrack aren't competing interests for Angelo, Tsagaris and Polivka. The commissioners have only one interest: To do whatever they can to secure the future of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.