Tyndall Waterway proposal moving forward

  • Published
  • By Ashley M. Wright
  • 325th Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Tyndall officials discussed the progress of the Tyndall Waterway Security Proposal during a press conference Sept. 18.

"In May of this year, we released an initial draft proposal on the waterways security package, which is essentially to heighten security measures on the waterways around Tyndall," said Maj. Anthony McCarty, 325th Security Forces Squadron commander, to a group of reporters.
"During that initial release, we received several questions and concerns. We decided to pull the package and thoroughly review each concern. This review led to a substantially changed version of what we want to do."

The proposal is 10 years in the making and took input from two classified security assessments. The original proposal involved having four areas around the 129 miles of coastline labeled as permanent restricted areas and a 500-foot buffer zone around the entire base. The proposal as of now retracts the four permanent restricted areas and spells out more in depth processes and procedures during a threat.

"As part of the process, over the last couple weeks we reached out to our elected officials and let them know that we heard those questions and concerns and that we had significantly modified the verbiage," Major McCarty said. "We provided them with a copy of the proposal to allow them the opportunity to suggest changes before we move on the next phase of our processThe next phase is to talk to community organizations and the public about the proposal."

"Tyndall is working to balance our security needs with the concerns of the surrounding community," the major said. "The next step in our coordination process is to educate the public through town halls and a media campaign."

In the initial comment period, concerns arose in the belief that access to popular recreation areas would be denied or limited resulting in more than 150 comments to the proposal during the public comment period.

"We are not planning to close Shell Island or Crooked Island. We do not plan to close the area around Tyndall unless we have a specific, direct threat to Tyndall, its assets or its personnel," the major said. "The verbiage from the initial version led people to believe we were going to close Shell Island."

The proposal is a working document that is flexible, officials added. Testament to that fact is that current proposal pulls all "permanently restricted areas" from the earlier version and allows for sections of the base to be temporary closed during heightened security deemed by the wing commander.

"Day in and day out, people will not be affected by anything. If we did have to implement any type of restricted area it would be temporary in nature and we would get out to the community that we are implementing a temporary restricted area," the major said regarding the current version of the proposal. "Anyone wanting access to the temporary restricted area could still petition the wing commander for access, and it would be considered on a case by case basis."

After the feedback from the elected officials and the public, a final proposal will be submitted to the Army Corps of Engineers for review and another public comment period before sent back to Tyndall to finalize.