$19.25 Million Going To Fairchild Projects $7.6 Million Squadron Operations Building Part Of Package

Wed., Sept. 23, 1998

By Tracy Ellig tracye@spokesman.com

Fairchild Air Force Base will get $19.25 million for construction projects under an appropriations bill signed into law by President Clinton on Tuesday.

The money is part of the 1999 Military Construction Appropriations bill, which will provide more than $160 million for projects across Washington state.

The money appropriated to Fairchild is the result of a compromise between a $25 million Senate proposal and a $17.5 million House proposal.

The House and Senate proposals had three identical construction projects - all of which were funded under the final bill and which were originally in Clinton’s budget:

A $7.6 million squadron operations building. This will be the fourth and final such facility built since 1995 at Fairchild to handle an increase in KC-135 tanker squadrons at the base.

A $1.7 million housing office to replace a World War II-era wooden building.

The new building would hold furniture and other family items for base personnel.

A $2.3 million project to replace some 1952-era housing on the base, the final leg of a project that has replaced or removed 958 houses.

In addition to these three projects, $3.95 million will be spent on a survival school academic training support complex that will consolidate the school into one facility. This project was in the Senate proposal.

Another $3.7 million will build a washing facility for the base’s KC-135 tankers. This project was part of the House proposal.

The projects could be bid out to contractors by next summer, with construction following soon after, said Fred Zitterkopf, of the base civil engineering office.

Construction time could range from five months for the housing units to 10 months for the squad operations facility, Zitterkopf said.

This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S NEXT The projects could be bid out to contractors by next summer, with construction following soon after.

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