'Super Fada' now at the Helm

The new authority will steer the future of Fort Monroe

By Sara Piccini
Port Folio Weekly
Wednesday, May. 30, 2007

The newly constituted 18-member Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority (FMFADA) met for the first time Monday, May 21—joined by nearly a hundred interested citizens and local officials who jammed the small Fort Monroe conference room where the meeting was held.

The event marked the beginning of an uneasy alliance between the Commonwealth of Virginia and the City of Hampton in guiding the post-Army future of Fort Monroe.

Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Preston Bryant, elected chair early in the meeting, was careful to praise the original seven-member Hampton City group superseded by the FMFADA.

"I want to acknowledge the extraordinary work of the Hampton FADA," Bryant said. "We wouldn’t be where we are today without it."

The new authority, created in a compromise bill signed by Gov. Tim Kaine in late March, includes members of the governor’s cabinet and General Assembly. Gov. Kaine also appointed two outside experts: Rex Ellis, vice president for the Historic Area at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and Catharine Gilliam, Virginia program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association.

As part of bridge-building efforts, former chair John Cabot Ishon, owner of Hampton Stationery, was elected vice-chair of the FMFADA. However, The Daily Press reported on May 24 that Ishon and Whiting Chisman have been asked to resign from FMFADA by Hampton City Council. They will be replaced by Wayne Lett, former superintendent of schools in Newport News, and Robert Scott, a former accountant. No reasons were given for the action.

With the Army scheduled to leave Fort Monroe in 2011 under a Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) ruling, the legal counsel to the original FADA—David Knisely of the Boston firm Garrity & Knisely—stressed quick action.

"We need to take an aggressive stance and stay ahead of our partners in the Army," said Knisely, who has provided advice to other localities going through the BRAC process.

"Fort Monroe is unique," Knisely added. "I’ve never seen a BRAC situation where the historic processes are so dominant. It’s much more than the usual BRAC group has to deal with."

Knisely’s observations point to a fundamental dilemma in the closing of Fort Monroe: trying to apply the one-size-fits-all regulations of the BRAC Act of 1990 to a one-of-a-kind military installation.

With Knisely’s urging, the FMFADA held a speedy vote on a Memorandum of Agreement among the FADA, the Commonwealth and the City that will guide the group’s initial operations.

"We wanted to be on the same page as we moved forward working with the Army," said Marc Follmer, deputy assistant to the governor in the Office of Commonwealth Preparedness. "The MOA is the product of 18 months of negotiation—it’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it provides a vehicle for governance while we work out the by-laws."

Del. Tom Gear, a FADA member, raised several objections during the rush for a vote.

"What about public comment?" he asked Chairman Bryant.

"MOAs are governance instruments," Bryant replied. "Typically they don’t invite themselves to public input."

Gear also objected to voting on a document he hadn’t had the opportunity to read: the MOA had only been made public that day. The vote ultimately went forward, with 17 ayes and Gear abstaining.

The MOA doesn’t resolve a key sticking point between the City and Commonwealth: if and how Hampton should be reimbursed for the work it has already done.

"Hampton has put out $1 million in cash," noted Chisman, former vice-chair of the Hampton FADA. "That Army contract to repair the seawall would not exist today if not for the work of the FADA."

Jody Wagner, Virginia secretary of finance, explained that the Governor couldn’t act on his own to approve any reimbursement: it will take action by the General Assembly.

Going forward, Wagner’s deputy Dan Timberlake explained, the state hopes to fund most of the FMFADA’s estimated $1 million per year budget through a grant from the federal Office of Economic Adjustment. The group voted to approve a $60,600 interim budget through the end of June.

In other actions, the members approved the appointment of Conover Hunt as interim executive director. Hunt, a Hampton native, is former executive director of the Historic Richmond Foundation and led the professional team assembled to preserve and interpret Dealey Plaza in Dallas, site of the Kennedy assassination.

The FMFADA also approved a letter requesting initiation of a National Park Service reconnaissance study, as directed by the compromise legislation passed in March.

Speaking during the public comment section, H.O. Malone, president of Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park, thanked the members for moving the park study forward and made an economic argument in favor of park option.

"Why should the Commonwealth shoulder the fiduciary responsibility?" he asked, calling on the Commonwealth to seize the chance to create "a grand public place" at Fort Monroe comparable to San Francisco’s Presidio—"but with far greater historic significance."

Kathleen Kilpatrick, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, emphasized the fort’s historic significance in her presentation to group. She noted that all of Fort Monroe was named a National Historic Landmark—the highest possible designation—in 1960, the first year such designations were made.

"There is a whole here," she said, stressing that whatever development is done in different sections of the property "should not overwhelm the character and quality of the whole."

In public comments, Joanne Berkley, founder of the Norfolk Preservation Alliance, followed up on Kilpatrick’s comments. "We ask you to be visionary—to take a careful look not just at the historic resources, but also the environmental resources, the wetlands, the beaches. … Look extremely carefully at the archeological resources."

She also reiterated earlier comments by Louis Guy, president of the Norfolk Historical Society, that Fort Monroe is a regional asset, of concern not just to the City of Hampton but to all 1.6 million people in the Hampton Roads region.

Facing unresolved financial issues, environmental and ordnance cleanup, disagreements between the state and federal government about reversionary rights, and—above all—competing visions for the Fort’s future—the new FMFADA assumes a formidable responsibility.

But those 18 pairs of shoulders can’t—and shouldn’t—carry the burden alone. Private citizens have already made a critical difference in the planning process. They will continue to play a key role going forward. •

Note: The FMFADA’s next three monthly meetings are scheduled for June 18, July 25 and August 27.

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