The Department of Defense has announced the award of a major planning grant to conduct a Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) in the Fort Bragg region. The purpose of the study is to assess the potential threat to the military training mission from incompatible urban growth and development that has occurred in the areas surrounding Fort Bragg and Camp Mackall since the completion of the 2005 BRAC process.

The grant was awarded to the Mid Carolina Council of Governments and will be managed through the Regional Land Use Advisory Commission (RLUAC) Board of Directors and Full Commission. The RLUAC Executive Director, Jim Dougherty, will serve as the Project Manager.

The study is expected to take twenty-four months to complete. Throughout that period the RLUAC Board of Directors, full Commission, and the selected project contractor will conduct numerous meetings with local government officials and private citizens to obtain public input.

The JLUS will focus major attention on the following issues, concerns and needs:

  • Conduct a major revision of the massive sandhillsgis.com database.
  • Document the extent of new urban development that has occurred within five miles of Fort Bragg and Camp Mackall since 2005.
  • Document the extent of forest loss within the five mile boundary since 2005 and the impact on the Red Cockaded Woodpecker foraging areas.
  • Inventory the location of telecom towers and military aircraft flight corridors.
  • Identify climate change issues affecting the fort and region’s utility infrastructure.
  • Identify undeveloped areas surrounding the military installations that are of greatest risk of being developed in an incompatible manner with the military training needs.
  • Identify the location of solar farms within the region to determine whether or not they pose a potential threat to military aircraft pilots.
  • Identify potential threats to the quantity and quality of the Fort Bragg region’s public water supply.
  • Identify and protect the military airspace needs for the Army’s Gray Eagle unmanned aerial vehicles that will be housed at Camp Mackall later this year.

On August 23rd the JLUS Selection Committee selected Benchmark Planning to conduct the study.