center, and a middle school. More than 40 percent of the former base
was developed as public open space or natural habitat, including two
golf courses and a 32-acre prairie preserve. Redevelopment includes
more than one million square feet of office space; one million square
feet of retail contained within four new shopping areas, including a
$250 million, 470,000-square-foot retail and entertainment center; and
several new public amenities including a commuter train station, fire
station, police station and police/fire training academy.
Owen attributes this project's success to collaboration among multiple
partners, as well as Glenview's annexation of the land prior to base closure.
"Some communities fight over control of the shuttered base," he elaborates.
"But because of the incorporation, we automatically were in control, which
facilitated expedited reuse planning and redevelopment. The Navy already
knew, from their experience with us before, that they were going to get quick
results for their investment. It also helped that the Village had control over the
project, that it was a single jurisdiction. In other instances, you might have joint
redevelopment authorities and things can get overly complicated."
"This project was about building relationships, and creating a vision together
with a common goal. The parties involved spent time early on to get to
know each other and to reach agreement on issues. It was the willingness to
collaborate that made the difference."
For more information, call or write:
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
•
Office of Solid Waste arjd Emergency Response
•
Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse Office
1200 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Mail Code: 5106P
Washington, DC 20460-0001
Phone: (703) 603-0048
www.epa.gov/fedfac
Visit the FFRRO Web site for more information about federal facility cleanups, including success stories,
descriptions of new initiatives, policy and guidance documents, and our newsletter.
EPA-505-F-08-003 April 2008
;RAL FACILITIES RESTORATION AND REUSE OFFICE
Shared Interests Transform
Naval Air Station into New Town Center
Glenview Naval Air Station
Located 20 miles northwest of Chicago, the Village of Glenview, Illinois was home to settlers as far
back as the 1830s, and expanded quickly as a Chicago suburb during the railroad era. Today,
Glenview is home to approximately 45,000 residents, and serves as a model of federal base
closure and redevelopment through the incorporation and reuse of the neighboring Glenview
Naval Air Station.
Comprising 1,121 acres in the geographic center of Glenview, the
Glenview Naval Air Station officially opened on January 1, 1943 and
operated for more than 50 years. Collaboration between the federal
government and Glenview officials was evident early on, as the
entire base was annexed by the Village in 1971 to allow Glenview
to incorporate land on the opposite side of the Air Station (as only
annexation of directly adjacent land was allowed, annexation of the
base was necessary before further expansion could be possible). Through this unique arrangement, the U.S.
Navy retained ownership of the land and full control over the Air Station's operations, even as the Village of
Glenview grew to surround the base.
In 1993, during the third of five rounds of federal military base closures, the Department of Defense (DoD)
announced that the Glenview Naval Air Station would be shut down. The implications were huge for the Village
of Glenview, understanding that most of the base's land—which represented nearly 15 percent of Glenview's
total size—would eventually be transferred to Village ownership. The challenges associated with the reuse of
this new area seemed daunting, but Glenview knew from the base's annexation that federal collaboration
could go smoothly and bring positive results.
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When the Station's closure was announced, the federal government
established a Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Cleanup Team, or
BCT, led by the U.S. Navy, which included representatives from the U.S.
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elements of this project was a willingness to work with the community in
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establishing priorities for cleanup," explains Don Owen, a former Naval
Officer who was assigned as the Navy's Base Transition Coordinator for this project and is now Glenview's
Deputy Village Manager. "From a community standpoint, the environmental cleanup process led by the BCT
was very well received. Because federal and state environmental regulators were part of the process, it kept
communications open and helped to establish trust." To that effect, during the first several years, monthly
meetings with the community were convened to review cleanup progress and keep residents apprised of key
decisions.
unexploded ordnance, and the land's high clay content eliminated
pathways for contamination to spread, which allowed for fast and
efficient remediation. Assessments and cleanup focused primarily on
three areas: underground storage tanks including a large fuel farm
and its fueling lines; a fire-fighting training area; and a dumping site.
Designed to fuel multiple aircraft simultaneously, the fueling line system
contaminated the surrounding soil with petroleum. Cleanup of the fueling
and underground tank areas was conducted under the IL EPA's Leaking Underground Storage Tank Program.
On the fire-fighting training site, a concrete pad used to stage training exercises developed cracks, and some
of the fuel used to set fires migrated into the soil below. The Navy removed the pad itself, as well as all affected
soils. And on the former dump site—which for years had been used for disposal of construction debris—instead
of installing an institutional control (i.e., capping the dump), the Navy and Village combined financial resources
to remove the debris. By 2002, all of the base property was cleaned to residential standards and transferred to
the Village, in recognition of the Village's redevelopment plan.
During the first three years of the project, as the BCT put its
environmental survey and cleanup plan together, Glenview's Local
Reuse Authority (LRA) completed an 18-month reuse planning process
and negotiated a two-phase economic development conveyance
(EDC) with the Navy that established the framework for a no-cost
transfer for most of the property. Regarding the planning process,
"The Village could have independently determined uses for the entire
parcel, but we've always seen this as a community initiative," says Owen. "We invited the schools, library, park
district, the Navy, residents, and the Chamber of Commerce to participate on a multi-jurisdictional planning
task force. We called it our 'rowboat theory,' with the understanding that if one party was going to stomp their
feet and damage the boat, we would all drown. Everyone came to the table with hopes and issues, but also
with a willingness to listen to the concerns of all parties. Following the establishment of reuse goals and formal
evaluation criteria, we tossed different reuse scenarios around, and reached a consensus after 18 months."
With the exception of a golf course on the base that was purchased for fair market value, virtually all of the
base's land was transferred to the Village of Glenview at no cost. This was because the Village's Business Plan
and the Navy's appraisal showed that the high cost of redevelopment exceeded the land's resale value.
About half of the property was transferred in mid-1997, while the rest came during the next several years
as the BCT executed its cleanup plan. A major component to achieving one of the national base closure
goals of swift economic recovery was the communication between the BCT and the community regarding
redevelopment priorities; to the extent possible, the BCT prioritized the cleanup and transfer of parcels based
on the redevelopment phasing plan established by Glenview.
In comparison to other military base reuse projects, cleanup of the former Glenview Naval Air Station was
relatively easy; there were no complicated environmental issues like ground water contamination or
At a total cost of approximately $25 million, cleanup came to approximately $10 million less than the Air
Station's annual operating expenses. Cleanup determinations were made by the Navy, through collaboration
with both the U.S. and IL Environmental Protection Agencies. "It was really a partnership," explains Owen.
"Because these base properties are so big and time consuming, it took a lot of U.S. EPA staff time to get this job
done. That was the U.S. EPA and the IL EPA's most important contributions—not only the expertise they brought
to the table, but their willingness to work with us, and consider alternate solutions to keep the project moving
forward."
The Village of Glenview contributed approximately $2 million toward
cleanup, specifically to assist with the removal of the dump site and to
remove a small area of soil that did not exceed industrial contamination
levels. The federal Economic Development Administration contributed
nearly $4 million in grants for designing and building new infrastructure,
and the state provided approximately $7 million in transportation
funding, some of which was used to extend commuter rail access
through the former base. To raise additional funds for infrastructure
and redevelopment, the Village sold bonds and implemented a tax
increment financing (TIF) district, which together covered Glenview's approximately $400 million project costs.
The Village also sold nearly 650 acres to private developers, generating an additional $200 million. These private
developers understood that they had to conform to the LRA's master redevelopment plan, which directed
specific reuses on different parcels, while demanding high standards for both construction and landscaping.
Today, the former military base within Glenview's center is literally the Village's centerpiece. There are now
more than 2,000 residential units, which are home to over 5,000 people. The new, 140-acre Gallery Park includes
a 45-acre lake, athletic playing fields, a sledding hill, hiking and bike trails, a children's garden, a community
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