Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) set a new standard in property conveyance in its recent transfer of the former Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant (NWIRP) Toledo to the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority in Ohio.

NAVAIR owns several Government Owned-Contractor Operated (GOCO) facilities and is working with local communities, state agencies, and operating contractors to transfer these properties for economic development. The 28-acre NWIRP Toledo facility was one of them.

Congress authorized the no-cost transfer of the NWIRP property to the Port Authority in November 2002 under Section 2847 of the fiscal year 2002 National Defense Authorization Act. Since then, it’s been a whirlwind of activity and document preparation.

What makes this conveyance unique is that the entire divesting process was turned around in what Joe Kaminski, NAVAIR’s program manager for GOCO facilities, calls “Bureaucratic light speed.” Kaminski proudly proclaimed, “From beginning to end, this process took only six months."

According to David Criswell, an environmental engineer at NAVFACENGCOM Southern Division that worked with this team and deals mainly with early transfers, this was fast track indeed. “For a facility of this type, a typical transfer could take about two and a half to three years,” said Criswell.

Within these six months, the transfer required coordination with and/or approval by: Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur; Acting Secretary of the Navy H.T. Johnson; Ohio Governor Bob Taft; the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); NAVAIR; Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFACENGCOM) Southern Division; the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority; and Teledyne Technologies, Inc., which is the current operating contractor.

Equally impressive is that all of this was accomplished despite known environmental contamination at the site. Various laws, including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), require the Navy to ensure environmental contamination will pose no risk to future site users prior to transfer.

Although NAVAIR has divested the property, the Navy will continue to have remediation responsibilities. NAVFACENGCOM Southern Division will continue to work with the Ohio EPA to determine the most effective cleanup treatment. CERCLA allows early transfer of the property as long as controls are in place to prevent harmful exposure to any contamination. However, these circumstances are not the norm, and the Ohio EPA initially approached this concept with trepidation.

Graham Mitchell, the Ohio EPA federal facilities oversight chief, commented, “The EPA was initially apprehensive in taking this approach, but we’re glad to have gone through this process – this is an unprecedented team approach that worked very well.” This team approach cultivated the trust that was absolutely vital for all parties involved to accomplish this transfer with remediation efforts still underway.

Jim Hartung, Toledo-Lucas Count Port Authority president, is extremely pleased with the rapid progress of the transfer, stating, “This transfer is truly an innovative approach. The Port Authority has joined with the Toledo-Teledyne Business Growth Consortium to pursue government and foreign investment in the economic development and use of this facility. The University of Toledo is eagerly working with us to establish a Small Turbine Institute to study new applications of small turbine technology, and Teledyne is also looking into commercial growth aspects.”

NAVAIR provides advanced warfare technologies through the efforts of a seamless, integrated, worldwide network of aviation technology experts. From aircraft and weapons development to carrier launch and recovery; from sensors to real-time communications to precision targeting; from aircraft and weapons sustainment to state-of-the-art training; NAVAIR provides dominant combat effects and matchless capabilities to the American warfighter.