The City of Foley has sent a letter of intent to the U.S. Navy’s Whiting Field in Pensacola to expand an agreement concerning Barin Field.
The existing agreement that has been in existence for more than 80 years would be changed to allow the City to make improvements and do maintenance work at the training site.
Barin Field has been a training site for the Navy since World War II.
“What we’re doing is entering into an arrangement with Whiting Field that would allow the city to perform some work that they might need to have done over at Barin Field,” Foley city administrator Thompson said. “This is something that they’ve tested around the country with local governmental agencies, either municipalities or counties where they seek out a local government agency to try to manage some of the services that they might need over there.”
“You’re talking about basic things that we normally pay for, roads, maybe some repairs, things that you typically have within your bandwidth which you already support,” Naval operational liaison officer with Whiting Field Randy Roy said. “It’s whether or not those things come to fruition. There’s no dollars that are coming from your coffers to go to this.”
Barin Field is one of six in Alabama that Whiting Field uses for training purposes. Another one is in nearby Summerdale.
Sixty percent of pilots in the Navy or Marines fly over Alabama in training, and all Naval helicopter pilots train in the area.
“Literally, the footprint that you see across the nation cannot be supported without you guys here in Alabama,” said Roy.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email erica.thomas@1819news.com.
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