In the Metropolis, a southern California, covering Santa Barbara to the Mexican border, Camp Pendleton has long been the largest undeveloped coastline.
17 miles of beach and coastal hills since World War II have criticality in preparing soldiers for amphibious missions. Bluffai, canyons and mountainous terrain, consisting of the base of the base, was a fertile training place for those sent to conflicts in the Middle East and beyond.
However, changes can be on the horizon.
The United States Defense Department is considering making part of the 125,000 ares base in the North West San Diego County to develop or lease what, if successful, is an unprecedented military device.
“There is no place in southern California, for example, Camp Pendleton, when it comes to open space along the coast,” said Bill Fulton, a professor of practice at the UC San Diego Urbanian Department of Studies.
The recruitment of the sea is resting, and the remaining squad in their company sought to catch up with 2020. Camp pendleton. (Nervin C. Ceped/San Diego Union-Tibune over AP)
At the end of August, Navy secretary John Phelan organized a Camp Pendleton from the plane and visited the Marines at the basement, where Times told Courtney Williams “Primary Calls about Possible Commercial Renting Opportunities”.
“These opportunities are valued to maximize value and taxpayers ‘dollars, while maintaining preparation for mission and security,” said Williams’ statement. “No decisions were made and no more debate is needed.”
Details of websites that deal with commercial leases remain unclear. Officials with a camp Pendleton refused to comment on The Times.
The view of the Marine Corps Basic Camp Pendleton. (All J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Discussions on the 83 -year -old base take place at a time when Trump’s administration is more aggressively trying to use public lands to raise money for the Federal Government and retreat from protection in the open space.
This month, the administration proposed the abolition of the Biden era rule aimed at protecting state -owned lands from industrial development and instead of using land use of oil and gas drilling, carbon mining, wood production and grazing livestock.
Doug Burgum, secretary, has repeatedly emphasized that federal lands are unused property worth of trillion dollars.
“We believe that our natural resources are national assets that should be responsible for growing our economy, helping to balance the budget and obtain revenue for American taxpayers,” says May. In the Congress report.
The man values Camp Pendleton’s assets. The Camp Pendleton has long survived the largest unreserved stretch of California coast. (All J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Although Pendleton is being developed at the campsite for these projects only for military purposes. Recently, a large hospital has been added, and there are also various buildings for more than 42,000 active officials.
Camp Pendleton has won praise for reconciling national security needs with environmental protection.
2022 Camp Pendleton was named after the US Fish and Wild Nature Service of the Military Conservation Partner for his efforts to support several species, including Tidewater Goby, Coastal California Gnatcatcher, Arroyo Toad and Southern California steel.
The lowest amount of Bell Vireo, California Tern and Western snow fiber is significantly increased by the agency, the agency reports.
The Marine passes through the Santa Margarita River passing through Camp Pendleton, where you can find Arroyo toad. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
In addition to the endangered inhabitants, the base contains a north American bison herd, one of the two wild bison herds in California.
Previous efforts to create more in the camp were not popular society.
In the mid -1990s, the US Marine Corps submitted a plan to build 128 houses for officers and their families on 32 acres in Bluck, San Mateo Point near the Trestles Beach, one of the most famous surfing of the nation. The California Coast Commission eventually rejected the project.
2021 The Navy Department has announced an application for information on the “critical energy and water infrastructure resistance projects” shelter on part of the Camp Pendleton.
In the document, the department searched for information on long -term partnerships to plan, design, design and operate equipment that could include energy generation, transmission and storage, microgram technology, water flow, drought mitigation, rainwater control, re -use or alternatives to energy infrastructure, high -speed fiber communication Energy sources.
It is unclear whether any possible projects have been established from the request for information.
Drivers travel 5 motorways with military dwellings in the background San Mateo Point. (All J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
NBC News has reported that Camp Pendleton development funds can finance a short Golden Dome defense project quoting defense sources. However, officials did not publicly state where the funds would be distributed.
Failure to include the specifics of people near the base is difficult to know what to expect and how to prepare, Fulton said.
“Are we talking about small supermarkets or high -rise hotels?” He said. “You would think that the military has some restrictions they would like to impose to protect their activities, but we just don’t know.”
Depending on the location of the base coast, the development of the federal government could certainly be fruitful. The developers have long been watched by smaller coastal land in southern California. Bolsa Chica Chica Huntington Beach and banned a ranch on New Sports Beach, housing and commercial changes were combined. In the end, these projects were abolished.
Pendleton camp, restricted in San Clemement to the north and in Oceanside to the south, opened in 1942. During World War II at a time when the army was looking for large places to train soldiers, especially for amphibian missions in the Pacific. Two years later, she became a permanent installation and trained thousands of members of the service by sending troops in the fight in the execution of Desert Storm and War in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Camp Pendleton maintains deep relationships with its southern neighbor Oceanside, once a sleeping beach town, turning a military city and a recreation center.
1940 The city population was 4,652. It increased to more than 12,800 in ten years and continued to grow when the US entered the Korean War and more service families moved to the region based on census data.
City leaders say the development of the base would certainly have an impact on Oceanside.
Service members and their families often travel from the base to the surrounding communities to shop and lunch, providing stable customer supply to local companies, including those that are very satisfied with Marines, including chemical cleaners, tailors, hairdressing and military excess stores. According to the city, the regional economic impact of the base is greater than $ 6 billion a year.
“I think it would be very important to see a large -scale development without cooperation with local municipalities,” said Eric Joyce, Deputy Mayor of Oceanside. Joyce said the city had not yet been able to understand the plans of the Federal Government on the base.
“We have neighborhoods that are literally directly at the gate that are very affected when traffic or other changes are changing,” Joyce said, adding that the city is very respectful of the base and any change from the original mission – the training of the Marines. “
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This story initially appeared at the Los Angeles Times.
