NPS option endorsed for Ft. Monroe

HAMPTON, Va. - The Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority endorsed a plan Thursday to make certain areas of Fort Monroe a unit of the National Park Service while retaining state ownership of the property.

"Today, the board endorsed an expanded role for the National Park Service at Fort Monroe that also preserves the state's ownership of the property and adheres to Governor Kaine's goals that we respect Fort Monroe's history, keep it open to the public, maintain open space, and make it as economically sustainable as possible," said FMFADA Chairman L. Preston Bryant, Jr. "Economic sustainability must include tourism, adaptive reuse of existing buildings and limited new construction. We must be able to begin those economic activities as soon as the Army leaves in September 2011."

The FMDADA recommended that the NPS focus on the Historic Fort, moat and outer works, Old Quarters #1, the radar station on the parapets, and Batteries Parrot and Irwin.

The FMFADA would manage, reuse and redevelop other areas of Fort Monroe consistent with the approved Fort Monroe Reuse Plan.

"As we go forward, the State will be in a good position to have a constructive dialogue with the NPS and our congressional delegation to hammer out a well-balanced partnership," said Bryant.

In 2005, the Base Realignment and Closing commission identified Fort Monroe for closure. The Army is scheduled to officially close the facility in September 2011.

More information on the current Fort Monroe Reuse Plan, adopted in August, 2008, is available here.