Eastern Region prepares for military growth

KINSTON - With more than 11,000 new Marines expected to be in Jacksonville two years from now, eastern North Carolina is woefully under-prepared, according to Jay Bender.

Bender, the acting director of the North Carolina's Eastern Region Development Commission's Military Growth Task Force, told members of the Eastern Region board Thursday that the region must get ready to handle the new military members and the expected population growth resulting from their arrival.

"Our overall task is to plan for the changes that occur when you add this many people to a region," he said.

The Military Growth Task Force (MGTF) was formed in 2008 in response to the U.S. Marine Corps' five-year effort to add more than 200,000 active-duty personnel by 2011.

About 9,000 of the Corps' desired 11,477 new Marines for Camp Lejeune and the New River and Cherry Point air stations have already arrived. The total population of Onslow and its six surrounding counties is expected to increase by 61,000 because of the military influx.

Bender said the region's roads, schools, water and sewer systems and emergency services are not currently up to handling the new population.

"We are unfortunately having to be reactive because they're already here," he said.

The Task Force, funded by a Department of Defense grant and local contributions, has spent the past year and a half studying the effects of population growth and how to bring local communities together to handle it.

The MGTF is scheduled to review the final draft of its Regional Growth Management Plan later this month.

The population increase is expected to bring major economic benefits to eastern North Carolina, mostly in Onslow, Jones, Craven, Duplin, Pender, Pamlico and Carteret County.

 Military Growth Task Force at a glance

- North Carolina's Eastern Region Development Commission created its Military Growth Task Force in January 2008.

- It is funded by a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense's Office of Economic Adjustment, plus funds from the Eastern Region and local contributors.

- The DOD grant funding lasts through December, although the Task Force will apply for another grant.