Military use gives Ravenna a boost

CLEVELAND (AP) — The growing use of the site of an old arsenal in Northeast Ohio as a training ground for the military has brought economic promise to the surrounding communities.

The more than 21,000-acre site of the old Ravenna Arsenal is now called the Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center, where Ohio Army National Guard soldiers go for a training experience that seeks to prepare them for what they will face in Afghanistan.

The area has had its share of high points and low points, from being a manufacturing center for munitions for World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam wars, to the hangover that later came in the form of contamination.

Surrounding businesses now believe the area may again be on the cusp of better times.

“That’s what we’re hoping,” said Tim Goodwin, owner of T&J’s Family Restaurant, a neighboring military-themed establishment that serves “armed omelets” and “bomb baskets.”

There are plans to spend $20 million at the training camp for more weapons-training ranges, $3.5 million for barracks and a new headquarters. The camp is expected to handle 3,000 trainees for two-week sessions — more than twice the number it can handle now — and the number of full-time employees who work at the camp is also expected to grow 5 percent to 10 percent annually above its current level of 117.

The Ohio National Guard is in communications with officials in the village of Windham and Portage County to build water and sewage lines to accommodate more improvements.

Maj. Gen. Matthew Kambic, assistant adjutant general for the Ohio Army National Guard, said the camp has other benefits, including enabling Ohio’s guardsmen to remain in state for their training and keeping Ohio money around by using local vendors to assist with the camp’s needs.

“It’s just a tremendous piece of ground that provides a great capacity for us to put large numbers of soldiers into an environment we can control, and provides us with everything we need,” Kambic said.

Camp Ravenna has four weapons-training areas, an area that simulates ambushes such as those common in the current wars, and urban-assault training using buildings that formerly housed arsenal workers.

The economic boost to the area is still just potential, said Phil Snyder, Windham village council president.

“We’re certainly hoping for some economic spillover, but we haven’t seen anything yet,” Snyder said. “We really need to attract some additional business to the community.”

Even as the training ground moves further into its new role, remnants of the past are still present. In the last year, three 500-pound live bombs have turned up. Cleanup of the site started in 1989 and isn’t expected to finish until 2018, at a cost of $150 million.