HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- U.S. Army Engineering Support Center’s Planning and Programming Support Branch received national recognition at the American Planning Associations 2021 National Federal Planning Division Conference held on May 11-13.
During this year's virtual FPD event, the branch won two awards:
Category 3: Outstanding Area/Site Development Plan for Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Campus Area Development Plan.
Located north of the airfield and adjacent to historic housing, the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Campus would provide a location on Joint Base Langley-Eustis (JBLE) to consolidate cyber functions on the installation and allow for an evolving mixed-use development for the entire installation.
Category 4: Outstanding Technical Plan or Study- Joint Base Langley-Eustis 43rd Formal Training Unit Bed down Customer Concept Document.
Following the devastation from Hurricane Michael in 2018, the Air Force ordered the 43rd Fighter Squadron, which handles F-22 training, out of its home at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. Since then, the 43rd has been temporarily housed at nearby Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Currently, the Air Force is performing required Environmental Impact Statements at both Eglin and JBLE to determine where to relocate their F-22 training operations. The PP Branch study included relocating hundreds of personnel and their primary assigned aircraft, generating a critical need for seven facilities covered by the project proposal.
The Federal Planning Division is one of 22 divisions under the Chicago-based, 40, 000 member American Planning Association--a promotion and support organization for the community planning profession.
The APA’s federal division is a worldwide network of planning professionals dedicated to protecting and enhancing federal properties while improving the quality of life for people using federal lands and facilities.
Huntsville Center’s Planning and Programming Support Branch’s worldwide mission provides cost-effective, centralized planning solutions while developing comprehensive installation and facility planning studies, programming/cost-estimating documentation, and a variety of unique studies for federal clients.
Diondra Nichols, community planner, managed the JBLE planning projects.
She said the national conference not only provides federal community planners and contractors an opportunity to showcase federal planning efforts, attendees also receive valuable training via the event’s workshops.
“I learned about innovative best practices in federal planning, gained new technical capabilities through skill-building workshops, networked with practitioners from other sectors and agencies and explored successful federal planning initiatives,” Nichols said.
Jimmie Jackson, Planning and Programming Branch supervisor, said he is proud of the awards and the hard work his staff put into the projects.
He said Planning and Programing is the “Alpha and Omega” of the facilities world because every facility begins life planning and programming for construction.
“The process of orchestrating and executing these elaborate actions fall upon the shoulders of competent and able Military Master Planners,” Jackson said.
“It is through the master planning process that our planners can work with command and installation leadership to develop long-range Installation Master Plans to manage the development patterns of an installation.”