MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. -- With the upcoming year's construction budget at March Air Reserve Base expected to be nearly four times greater than in any previous year, 452nd Civil Engineering has been working hard to finalize designs on a long list of much needed projects at the base.
"In the past, we've had a hard time getting funding for large-scale projects, unless it's associated with a BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) or a new mission," said Sean Feeley, 452nd Civil Engineering chief engineer. "But due to the funding situation, this year particularly, we are targeting about a half dozen substantially large-scale renovations."
Major renovations are planned at the wing headquarters building, March Inn, finance building, Hap Arnold House, fitness center and the base entrance. New construction projects will include an indoor firing range and a running track.
The planning for these projects, as well as the base's top priority smaller projects, has been underway for years, but now, with funding close to being in place, members of civil engineering are readying to begin construction at the end of this year.
"Civil Engineering has done a phenomenal job in planning, especially considering their manning has been so low," said Col. Karl McGregor, 452nd Air Mobility Wing commander. "To be ready is the key. The money goes to the wing who's ready to execute."
All major renovation project packages include upgrades to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, anti-terrorism measures and current health and safety building codes.
At the March Inn, renovation plans include a refurbished lobby, a covered drop-off area, new tiling in the courtyard and new finishes in the guest rooms.
The finance building will be re-combined to house both the contracting and finance
sections.
The fitness center will receive a cosmetic upgrade that will include painting and refinishing the basketball courts.
At the wing headquarters building, an elevator will be installed and the ceilings in the foyer will be raised. Exterior details of the building will be restored to their original designs.
"It's really going to look much more historic than it does now," Feeley said.
The Hap Arnold House is also scheduled for renovations that will include restoring historical details.
Some of the most drastic changes will be at the base entrance, where the engineers have plans to replace some of the chain link fence with a block and stucco wall that
matches the rest of mission/Spanish revival style of the base. They will install a new March Air Reserve Base sign, make upgrades to the guard hut and landscape the traffic circle.
"We'll be doing a xeriscape, or low-water landscaping, around the visitor's center. That whole circular area will be designed at the end of this year. That's really going to set the tone for the landscaping for the rest of the base. It will be exciting. People will see a major transformation there," Feeley said.
Also at the base entrance will be the new, half-mile rubberized running track. The track will be near the softball field and will include shower facilities and a shaded exercise pavilion for calisthenics and stretching.
"Colonel McGregor has made a very concerted effort to emphasize fitness and some of these quality of life projects," Feeley said. "He wanted them done this year."
While the colonel may be especially fond of the plans for the new running track and Hap Arnold House, he is also eager to see other facilities on base upgraded as well.
"He has shown support for everything and tremendous enthusiasm for all the projects. That is very noticeable," Feeley said. "It's very reassuring that we're going to get the help we need, that he's going to do everything he can to support us."
"He really tries to understand the way we have to do business and it sounds like he's had some good success at prior bases because he does that," agreed Ryan Wood, deputy base civil engineer.
As with any construction or renovation project, the start of the actual work is dependent on the project's funding.
"The funding comes from headquarters. They have given us indication they plan on funding a substantial work load, but it's not totally in our hands. All we can do is position ourselves for what could be a record year," Feeley said.
Although the civil engineers strive to minimize impact of construction on Team March members, once the work on the projects begins, there will be unavoidable effects, such as noise and detours. In some cases, personnel in buildings with heavy renovations will need to relocate temporarily to different offices.
"Construction is something that's a little painful, but quality of life (improvements) are important," Colonel McGregor said. "We're a world-class organization. We need to look like a world-class organization."
March Air Reserve Base's unique features include the buildings located within the central triangle of the base. They are together listed as a historical district in the National Register of Historic Places, with a period of significance from 1925-1949. During renovations, the historical preservation of these buildings is a priority.
"You typically have to maintain the exterior look," Feeley said about the requirements when renovating historical buildings. "You have a lot of liberty inside a building, but the exterior really needs to look the same."
The lower level of the wing headquarters building, for example, contains aluminum windows from a previous renovation. During the upcoming renovation, the windows will be replaced with specially fabricated windows that match the windows in historic photos of the building, but will be discreetly modernized to be energy efficient and meet safety requirements.
"There's a lot of things the designers have to grapple with. You want to keep the historic nature, but this is a modern military with modern requirements," Feeley said.
Wood said renovations on historic buildings often exceed the limit of the amount of money that can be spent on a building's refurbishment. While this normally signals the threshold at which a new building is constructed rather than refurbishing the existing one, this is not an option for historic buildings. Instead, the engineers must submit a justification for needing to spend over the set limit. The increased cost of the project, in some cases, causes it to be delayed until there is a budget year that can support it.
Wood estimates there are more than 400 existing projects in the civil engineers' database, some of which have been on the list for nearly 10 years. The projects are assigned a priority level based on mission criticality, funding and other factors, and are reviewed at periodic Facility Utilization Boards with 452nd Air Mobility Wing group commanders.
The projects with the highest priority move forward to the approval, planning and design phase which, in itself, Wood says could take up to two years. Projects originate from group commanders' requests, as well as Civil Engineering five year plans and the Facilities Operations Capability and Utilization Survey conducted on base two years ago.