MILITARY House OKs bill for $7.5M air base project

Right now the air base has 76 rooms for reservists.
VIENNA -- The Youngstown Air Reserve Station could be in line for $7.5 million to build new barracks, part of $5.8 billion for base improvements across the nation.
The base housing money is contained in a military construction bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday evening and now moves to the Senate for approval.
The money would fund the construction of about 100 reservist lodging rooms at the air base as part of a three-phase project known as the Joint Services Lodging Facility.
Completion of all three phases would add a total of 338 rooms to the base.
A study of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station suggested that adding reservist lodging would increase the base's ability to compete in the Base Realignment and Closure process.
The Pentagon earlier this month kept the Youngstown base off the closing list. The BRAC commission makes its final recommendations to the president in September.
Because the base currently has only 76 rooms, reservists on drill weekends must be placed into double occupancy in those rooms or moved off base to local hotels.
The construction will improve security by having the troops together and allow the base to save money. The new barracks will replace the wooden 1950s-style construction at the facility.
The funding follows $1 million in federal money Congress appropriated last year to design the housing.
"This money is huge bonus for the Youngstown air base, making it more effective for training soldiers, and hopefully increasing the base's ability to grow," said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th.