Politics & Government

UPDATE: House Passes Defense Bill that Could Delay BRAC Move

Bill gives Defense Secretary Robert Gates authority to delay Mark Center move.

UPDATE (3:10 p.m.): The U.S. House of Representatives passed a defense bill with a vote of 322-96 today that includes a provision that would give Secretary of Defense Robert Gates the power to delay seven Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) moves for up to a year.

That would include the Mark Center, the large office building off Seminary Road in Alexandria that would house 6,400 employees come Sept. 15. Local authorities and constituents have expressed concern that it would impact the area's traffic, parking and public safety.

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The U.S. House of Representatives has passed, on a voice vote, a provision offered by U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D) that caps parking to 1,000 spaces at the Mark Center Defense Department building, according to Moran spokeswoman Anne Hughes.

The parking would hold to 1,000 spaces until vital transportation infrastructure improvements are completed, Moran's office noted in a press release announcing the vote. Final passage of the House bill is expected to occur later this afternoon.

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 “This parking cap is critical to prevent a traffic nightmare that will be caused by full occupation of the Mark Center the fall,” Moran said in the statement. “The alternative is unendurable delays on already overcrowded roads.”

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A provision offered by Rep. Jim Moran The House is expected to vote this afternoon on the National Defense Authorization Act, a bill that could delay the move of 6,400 federal employees to Alexandria’s Mark Center.

The bill would give Secretary of Defense Robert Gates the power to delay seven Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) moves for up to a year. The move to Mark Center is scheduled for Sept. 15, 2011, but a delay would allow for construction to begin on transportation improvements that local officials and residents say are badly needed to prevent what

The bill also includes a provision offered by that would cap the building's parking spaces at 1,000 until short and mid-term improvements to the transportation infrastructure have been made.

If the bill passes the House, it would still need to pass the Senate and be signed by the President. And even then, the decision to delay the Mark Center move would be Gates’, who is only given authority to delay by the bill, but not required to.

Patch will update this story as more information becomes available.


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