[CPEO-MEF] REUSE: Former McClellan Air Force Base (CA) "is booming"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Former Base is Booming: How it All Began


By Winnie Comstock-Carlson
Comstock’s Magazine 
July 16, 2019

Late in October 1997, Comstock’s hosted a roundtable discussion on the future of McClellan Air Force Base, which was slated to be closed July 13, 2001. At that time, the entire business community was struggling with what to do about the upcoming base closure and its anticipated negative economic impact. There were many conversations, of course, but few ideas. Comstock’s decided to pull together a group of military, business, development and education leaders to brainstorm ways to turn the departure of the military into a win for the Capital Region.

Larry Kelley, the force behind the development of Stanford Ranch in Rocklin (one of the most successful planned communities in the United States), and a then-member of Comstock’s editorial board, almost didn’t attend the roundtable that morning, figuring he had no experience in redeveloping a military base. We pushed for his attendance the night before the breakfast discussion, and he reluctantly acquiesced.

Our December 1997 issue included the story about the roundtable discussion and its highlights.  Kelley talked about the possibilities, saying: “Our plan should be to make the McClellan facility a model of redevelopment. To do this will require a private developer risking capital and being rewarded with profit. … McClellan, like Stanford Ranch or any other master-planned community, needs to be planned by one master developer. Regardless of your opinions of developers, they are the people in our community that are best at finding, marketing and creating the opportunities and uses for our land.”


…

For the entire commentary, see
https://www.comstocksmag.com/commentary/former-base-booming-how-it-all-began

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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