Plans to build a new military training center in Williamsport are one step closer to reality.
The Army National Guard wants to upgrade its armory on Penn Street. The armory has been located in a residential area for the better part of a century. Plans for a new training center needed approval from a city board that failed to approve the project once before.
The Cochran Memorial Armory in Williamsport is surrounded by homes on all sides. In order to rebuild there, the Army Nationa Guard had to get approval from the city zoning board.
By a vote of three-to-two, the National Guard now has that approval. During a hearing at city hall that lasted several hours, the zoning board heard from neighborhood residents both for and against the multi-million dollar project.
Some feared how a bigger training facility with more troops would impact the traffic and noise levels in the neighborhood. Rebecca Renner told the board the building just would not fit in. "The armory has always been a good neighbor. We've been able to co-exist nicely. Their land functions as a park most the time," said Renner.
However, military officials said the current armory is severely out-dated.
"This is an incredibly important change upgrade from the perspective of the soldiers who train in this armory," said Colonel Wilbur Wolf of the Army National Guard.
The project still needs to clear some more hurdles, but the biggest one has been cleared for the $19 million project that would bring the National Guard and Army Reserve under the same roof.
"Obviously much more economical and it allows us to train together for the betterment of the Williamsport area community," added Colonel Wolf.
The new Army reserve center would allow troops to train at a state-of-the-art facility and stay in the area, according to Colonel Wolf. Otherwise, military officials said the training facility would have likely been built somewhere far from Williamsport.
The project still needs to go through the city planning process and if it gets the go-ahead, officials said construction could start in spring 2010 and would be completed sometime the following year.
The Army National Guard wants to upgrade its armory on Penn Street. The armory has been located in a residential area for the better part of a century. Plans for a new training center needed approval from a city board that failed to approve the project once before.
The Cochran Memorial Armory in Williamsport is surrounded by homes on all sides. In order to rebuild there, the Army Nationa Guard had to get approval from the city zoning board.
By a vote of three-to-two, the National Guard now has that approval. During a hearing at city hall that lasted several hours, the zoning board heard from neighborhood residents both for and against the multi-million dollar project.
Some feared how a bigger training facility with more troops would impact the traffic and noise levels in the neighborhood. Rebecca Renner told the board the building just would not fit in. "The armory has always been a good neighbor. We've been able to co-exist nicely. Their land functions as a park most the time," said Renner.
However, military officials said the current armory is severely out-dated.
"This is an incredibly important change upgrade from the perspective of the soldiers who train in this armory," said Colonel Wilbur Wolf of the Army National Guard.
The project still needs to clear some more hurdles, but the biggest one has been cleared for the $19 million project that would bring the National Guard and Army Reserve under the same roof.
"Obviously much more economical and it allows us to train together for the betterment of the Williamsport area community," added Colonel Wolf.
The new Army reserve center would allow troops to train at a state-of-the-art facility and stay in the area, according to Colonel Wolf. Otherwise, military officials said the training facility would have likely been built somewhere far from Williamsport.
The project still needs to go through the city planning process and if it gets the go-ahead, officials said construction could start in spring 2010 and would be completed sometime the following year.
