SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Chapter 2 ⎯ Description of the Proposed Action and AlternativesCantonment Infrastructure: Facilities vacated by the 4/4 th would initially support a majority of thecritical near-term cantonment infrastructure requirements of the 2/25 th SBCT, to include office space,housing, and parking and maintenance space. In addition, Fort Carson is also able to provide adequateschools, medical, recreational, shopping, and other quality of life facilities. There are also space constraintsto future construction within the BCT footprint where the 2/25 th would be stationed (Figure2–14). With the proposed ongoing Army Transformation at Fort Carson, 25 construction projects areplanned for improvement and upgrade of garrison infrastructure and Soldier quality of life. These projectsinclude 18 cantonment area projects and one project to upgrade Butts Army Airfield (USACE2007a) that have been programmed to support BRAC and Integrated Global Presence and BasingStudy (IGPBS) related decisions and were set in motion prior to the requirement to analyze stationingdecisions for the SBCT.Cantonment projects that would be completed for transformation include medical facilities, child developmentcenters, dining facilities, barracks upgrades, and physical fitness centers. About 1,460renovated barracks spaces would be available in the 2010 time frame and unit office building space isplanned for completion and renovation in 2011 and 2012. In addition, the 4/4 th IBCT motor pools arescheduled for renovation to add additional parking space in 2013. These projects, which were plannedto support the 4/4 th IBCT, would continue as planned to support the increased requirements of the2/25 th .Currently however, the 4/4 th IBCT is using temporary facilities to support its garrison operations. BecauseFort Carson is in the midst of planning to support the approximately 8,500 additional Soldiersbeing stationed there as part of BRAC 2005 legislation and GDPR realignments, garrison facilitiesand space are in short supply. The 4/4 th is currently supported by 31 unit administrative office buildings,also built in the 1960s and scheduled for renovation. This would initially support the administrativerequirements of the company-sized units of the 2/25 th , but not the battalion or brigade headquartersunits, which would have to be sited away from the main battalion area. These units would have tooperate out of temporary office space in the form of modular trailers.The 4/4 th IBCT is using 11 renovated barracks that were originally constructed in the 1960s. Thesebarracks have a capacity to accommodate 1,200 single Soldiers, though space for 1,677 is required bythe 2/25 th . This leaves a projected initial shortfall of 477 barracks spaces in single enlisted Soldierhousing and this shortfall would be exacerbated as upcoming renovations would prevent the use of allbarracks to support the enlisted housing requirements of the 2/25 th . When renovations are completedin 2010, the barracks would accommodate 1,460 single enlisted Soldiers.Although Army policy often provides for officers and accompanied enlisted Soldiers to be housedoff-post, the Army typically houses single enlisted Soldiers in installation barracks to promote unitcohesion and allow Soldiers to live close to their administrative offices and workspace. This eliminatestransportation requirements and other quality of life concerns. In the near term, the housing ofsingle enlisted Soldiers off-post would be the only solution for accommodating the additional personneland this would cause those single Soldiers to commute between off-post housing and the unit garrisonarea.February 2008 2–41 2/25th SBCT Final EIS