LAW ENFORCEMENT CENTER BUILDING TEMPORARILY HALTED

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Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP86-00244R000100190024-0
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RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
5
Document Creation Date: 
December 9, 2016
Document Release Date: 
September 27, 2000
Sequence Number: 
24
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
June 1, 1972
Content Type: 
NSPR
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PDF icon CIA-RDP86-00244R000100190024-0.pdf358.99 KB
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Approved For Release 2001/08/09 : CIA-RDP86-00244R000100190024-0 (k3 Approved For Release 2001/08/09 : CIA-RDP86-00244R000100190024-0 Law `a Approved For Re)Sase 2001/08/09: CIA-RDP86-00244ROO6100190024-0 Er'.Iui~djing, Teniporarny H011-ted The people' of Prince George's County have prevailed in the first round of the action to deter fragmentation and ,development of the counted-on open space of the nearby federal property belonging presently to the Department of Agriculture. orally, in writing not to begin construction although they had verbally done so, Judge Cor- coran requested that they agree to wait. Lawyers for Treasury complied with the judge's requests. Such stipulation in court has the binding force of The Department of the Treasury, the agency desiring to law and has the same effect that build. their new Consolidated an injunction would have, had Law Enforcement Training the proceeding gone further. Center on a 500-acre segment of Agriculture property, agreed in court on Friday, May 18 that further construction will not proceed until such time as a new environmental impact statement has been filed as requested by the Prince George's County Planning Board of. the, Maryland- National Capital Park and Plan- It will probably be at least three months before the The Commission ' filed suit against the General Services Administration and the Depart-, ptent of the Treasury last February for their alleged violation of the National En- vironmental Policy Act which required than an Environmen- tal Impact Statement be issued regarding the Training Center proposed for a portion of the Department of Agriculture research farm. statement can be prepared; and The Calverton Citizens after it is filed 90 days must litigation (see THE OUT for elapse to provide time public "review and comment" May 1972) and a motion to in- tervene has been filed by Attor- as required by the Environm~n ney Michael S. Yaroschuk, tall Protection Act. e Street who is ll 237 B vu e 13 , The impact statement will be/ CCA in this action. tiled with and reviewed by the Council on Environmental In the memorandum... in sup- port of motion to intervene, esident's advisor P h ' li y r e t ~ua ty, CC and policy-making body. Par- A states that "the op- steadfastl h i y as on Associat ties to the suit against Treasurymay then request a hearing by posed ' the Government's that council if they dispute the proposal which would result in facts or conclusions of the im- the destruction of the existing pact statement. open green space in the area Treasury's agreement came, and which will have a direct ad- somewhat surprisingly, early in verse effect upon the existing the proceedings as Judge water and sewer facilities and Howard Corcoran interrupted support facilities. such as fire Counsel for the plaintiff David protection, if the proposed ex-. Freishtat, after only several pansion is permitted to con- minutes of his opening tinue." argument, to ask why on the basis of the facts presented the parties were in court. When it was answered that Treasury would not agree for- Approved The memorandum further states that "...citizens have not only a right to the preservation of natural surroundings. the en- vironment, as it presently exists, but also have a direct economic, interest in the development of this property. "Further, the burden upon existing sewer and water facilities will be multiplied. At the present time, building has been curtained (sic) in the Anacostia River Basin and Parkway River basin because ot' lack of sufficient sewage treat- ment facilities. Both Prince George's County and Mon- tgomery County have adopted staying policies to stem the tide of "urban sprawl" and to give direction to the uncontrolled development of the present open lands and to establish. a hierarchy of commitment of the available tax revenues." ' "The proposal of the Treasury Department to expand its present facilities ignores the needs of the community and the impact upon the quality of life to which these citizens are en- titled. . "In passing the National En- vironmental Policy Act 'of, I969...Congress sought to im- pose restraints on the federal Act 'to avoid environnientat degradation, preserve historic, cultural, and natural resources and p.'omote the widest range of beneficial uses of the environ- ment without... undesirable and unintended consequences.' Further reason for interven- tion in the suit is stated thus: "The interest of the Intervenor is not identical to that of the Plaintiff. While each seeks to restrain the construction of the project. the Intervenor is the only one who can speak for the local residents who will hear the burden of the Government's action. "Clearly, under the recent cast's. the Intervenor represents a sufficient interest in the suit which must he recognized. ''As Governmental bodies. the Plaintiffs inay, well choose to conclude the matter on grounds unsatisfactorv to the Intervenor. The only wary that the Intervenor can he assured For Release 2001/08/09: CIA-RDRI& -@OQ GQ1QQ1190Ap24e0 and assert those matters which it believes hear directly upon its Approved For Release 2001-/08109: CIA-RDP86-00244RD00100190024-0 it) 'The Act r-yuires that i Cnvirunnncntal uartract st;ttcmc he submitted for alf Iar,,pWac Government cowtruction. T[ suit contends that the statement filed is it stead an economic statentct which describes j,ah getteratio and financial benefit for th surrounding area but whic takes no cognizance of th physical effect that the ecnte would have on that area. It is also believed that th Federal Government must coot ply with an executive Ordc (Continued on page 3) The ito:ard of lnirectors of the Calvertorn Citizens Association has voted to join the Maryland National Capital Park and Plan- ning Conimission and Ptince Georges County in their suit to oppose construction of the pro- posed Law f{nforcenrent Train- ing Center on federally-owned land that is currently part of the 2,000 acre Department of Agri- culture Research Farm. (See The OUTLOOK, March. 1972.) The vote by members present was overwhclroin?',ly in favor of the motion that "CCA request that the . .. Park and Planning Commission represent it in suit against the Federal Government because we are Ci(i7ens of Prince Georges County and as such are concerned about utilization of land within that County." Board Member Don Margolies summed up the reasons for CC A support of the suit by noting that "we are in a time when .. , it' we don't take stock of the land around us and see what should he conserved and that shouldn't be conser- Ile cotttittancl, "There are tln,-r who cnratettd that (,Over- toll ends at 1'c valet Mill Road and that CCA ahouldn't go past Powder Mill load (iri its corn- cern), because what happens beyond doesn't al(cct Calverton directly. "The argument is fallacious because what happens there does affect Calverton ... If they set it precedent by using that land, that precedent could af- fect Calverton directly one day. For that rca',on, the Board should take a forward--looking point of view and join the County in its suit." Prior to the vote, A INCI'PC Associate General CcntnseI David Freisht,at, who happens to be it Calverton resident. presented the pertinent facts of the suit to the hoard at its April meeting. Fre.ishta.t is Co- Counscl in the action. He stated that the primary ob- jection to the proposed Center is that General Services Ad- ministration, which would over- see construction for the Treasury Department, has not ved, we are goine- to he in very complied with the Environmen- serio?s trouble. Once the land is tal Protection Act enacted by taken we can never pet it back." Cnna toss - Approved, For Release` 2001/08/09 CIA-RDP86-00244R000100190024-0 $ Approved For Ref a 2001/08/09: CFA-RDP86-00244PvOOO F00199024-0 CAA to Join tw,-Ai' Law Training Contor cause it would complement the town center of South Laurel.) (Continued from page 1) requiring that all new Federal installations comply with local master plans. As presently planned, it has not. The 500-acre tract east of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and north of Powder Mill Road has always been .open space, and the master plans for the surroundings areas, South Laurel, Glendale - Seabrook, Fairland - Beltsville, and Greenbelt - College Park, are all based on the Research Farm's remaining undeveloped. It is feared that development of that section of Farm property would destroy the counted-on ratio of densley populated area open space. (A proposed Government use of Farm land for a Food and Drug Administration facility at the north end of the Farm on the west side of the parkway is unopposed by the County be- stating that a given group wish to intervene (join). Other area groups that hav voted to join are the Oaklan Civic Association, the We: Laurel Citizens Associatior and the Isaac Walton Leagut the Sierra Club is considerin intervention also. During the discussion tha followed Freishtat's presen tation it was asked whether th Government has indicated wha other plans it may have for us of Farm land. Freishtat an swered that even though th County has been told that th Center will be the only such use that the assurance has no bin ding force and that there is nt master plan on record deter mining the use of the Farm area It was also asked whether at issue in the suit which coult become more important that any other might be the right of state or local government to tel the Federal Government what i can or cannot do with its land The idea was expressed that i sewage, traffic, and noise local civic groups that wish to r- generation. WSSC has not gran- join the suit or that the groups ted GSA a sewer hookup, so can be represented by someone their intention is either to build of their own choice. their own treatment plant on (The County sitting as the the site or connect to the one District Council represents the presently used by the people and can therefore Agriculture buildings. represent any citizens group Park and Planning contends wishing to become party to their that the first Alternative is un- action by filing a pleading satisfactory because of the limited assimilative capacity of the streams that would be in- volved. The Center location is at the top of the watershed area for several streams that are tributaries of the Anacostia and the Patuxant Rivers. Because the volume and rate of stream slow is not as great at the heads of the streams as it is farther downstream -- they are even dry during periods of drought -- the effluent would be nearly un- diluted as it passed the numerous parks and recreation areas below. Objection to using the facility presently used by Agriculture is that it was never designed to serve the additional 2,000 per- sons who would be living on the Training Center site while studying there. The increased traffic on the area road systems, the increased noise, and the loss of trees ren- der the planned use incom- patible with surrounding land use, the County contends. tioned in the Government's Freishtat stated that Park and "Impact Statement" would be Planning is willing to represent Approved For R2lealse?2001/08/09,: CIA7RDP86-00244R000100i90O24-0 Attendant problems not men- case might be t U VV 1 t~ ~~ ftr" b F 6T6 - DP86-00V( W IW . 4?2 ~So U f The Director of Department of the Treasury's Consolidated Federal Law Enforcement Training Center whose expan- sion is planned on former Agricultural Research Farm property addressed members of Calverton Citizens Association Board of Directors at the May board meeting. William B. Butler opened his presentation with the remark that his purpose was not to per- suade anyone to change his point of view (the Board had voted to intervene in the suit against Treasury and GSA at its previous meeting). He stated that despite the pentling litigation, Treasury is still committed to the use of the 1 site and that no alternative had been chosen; therefore, he said, he wished to acquaint represen- tatives of surrounding com- munities with the plans for the Center and provide background concerning evolution of the concept of the consolidated center. Butler added that the projec- ted center will be about as good a neighbor as possible to attain ' the zoning objective' sought by local groups." (The clear implication was that other ' uses of the Federal land might result in denser use and less care for preservation of green spaces.) lpt_4 total 50(1-acre site, in- cluding the 60-acre portion along the Parkway presently in use by Secret Service, is a roughly triangular area houn- ded by The lialtinnore - Washington Parkway on the west, Powder Mill Road on the cast,' and the proposed Outer Beltway on the north., A rifle and pistol training Proposed additional con- struction is the "central struc- ture," 'Which would be the education and administration buildings and the dormitories to house the 745 students and 50 temporary instructors wt,o would live on the base. A permanent staff of about 540 people--average pay range $13,793 plus 5% with January. 1972 'increase--would probably' live in the surrounding com- munities. Those in the GS 7-11 range will be "regular govern- ment employees" and would probably be renters ratner titan buyers, according to Butler. Permanent administrative and instructional staff members, GS 12-14, are seen as becoming the home buyers who would probably be attracted from out- side the area. The service jobs--cafeteria, maintenance, etc.--will "hopefully" be hired from the community rather than attrac- ted from elsewhere, thus, in Butlers estimation, providing jobs for more unskilled or semi- skilled area residents. Also to be constructed is a driving range to teach high- speed car handling techniques to trainees. It will have a cir- cumference of approximately 5600 feet and will necessitate clearing about 70 acres of what is now wooded land. The noise from the range is not expected to be a "major fac- tor" since only two or three cars would use the range at one time. 100 feet of treed space would be left as buffer surroun- ding the range, supplemented by broad-leaved evergreens which are better sound absorbers. range constructed of sand-tilled concrete block in use for some Concerning It would be late in 1974 before needs would be more substantial; fully operating, the center would need a capacity of' 82.000 gallons a day. Water, Butler said, can be furnished by two wells. An engineering report advises that sufficiettt water can be found to provide the requisite 125 gallons per day per person. .Also part of the site plan is an artificially-created 20-acre lake both for aesthetic reasons and for training. in aquatic-related activities such as underwater search and rescue. Butler emphasized that aesthetic considerations are of great importance to the plan- ning staff of the Center. He says that the' area is designed to have a psychological impact on the trainees. The basic principal of the Center is the "protection of, society." thus it will not have a, 'Marine boot camp at- mosphere." Butler terms the artists' con- ceptions as beautiful buildings, which will be no more than 70 feet tall and located on the lowest part of the site, as requested by Park and Planning so that they can be hidden by trees. The planting of additional trees has been authorized bet- ween the Parkway and the facility and will start pending Parkway widening plans. f e' a Other federal agencies v "pistol. packin' " offic (Butler is from Texas) were a interested in improved train facilities; and as a result o cost-effectiveness study Bureau of the Budget, it concluded that a. consolida facility was the 1111 economically feasible. The present site was rhos Butler stated, because it v deemed necessary that the Co ter be near the "seat-of-go: 'ernment" for convenience pi poses and the property v already federally owned. '1 recruit program and the Al (Advanced, In-Servic Refresher, and Specii programs require a cents location to draw on higl skilled personnel for i struction. (When questioned as to t reasons for ruling out F( Meade and some federal! owned land near Gaithersbu and in Southern Maryla Butler stated that he did n know the specific objection Linda Fobs asked him to ft, nish CCA with copies of t reports on those sites; to date has not done so.) Butler stated that concept of need for a law enforcement training center came about after the assassination of President John Kennedy. Thus the site presently in use along the B-W Parkway was taken over by Secret Service. (The FBI had WSSC denial of built a training facility at Quan- tirnc can he seen through the sewer hookup. Butler states that tiro but said that there was not trees along the Parkway; also in the center can build its own room for the training carried existence there is a facade plant and treat effluent "to con- on by ocher agencies.) `simulating a row of buildings form to legal standards." (The for teaching trainees entrance area now operating, will be ser- and search techniques.* viced soon by. Department of Agriculture via a line now un- der construction which will handle 20,000 gallons a day.1 Approved For Release 2001/08/09: CfA-RDP86-00244068100190024-0