By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
A new National Guard armory for Nephi? Well, someday.
Major General Brian Tarbet, Adjutant General for the Utah National Guard, Colonel Scot Olson, director of construction, facilities and maintenance for the Guard and Master Sargent Reid Jarrett, who lives in Nephi, all attended Nephi City council to request a property exchange.
The Utah National Guard would like to build a new armory in Nephi but, in order for that to be accomplished, the property they now own south of Nephi would need to be traded for city property owned by the city near the city airport.
After the Guard officers made the request, council members agreed, in principle, to an exchange of property and to authorize the additional work required to complete a property exchange agreement.
“Ownership of the land does expedite the process,” said Colonel Olson.
He said that property ownership was always and important consideration in obtaining high-level approval and funding for such projects.
However, said Major General Tarbet, the process of obtaining funding and permissions before actually building the proposed multi-use armory was a lengthy one and could take years. Nevertheless, he said, the Utah National Guard was committed to making the new armory happen.
In spite of the long lead time needed to take a project of this size from zero to completion, there is commitment to see it through.
“We have made a conscious and strategic decision to do that,” Tarbet said.
Olson said the request was being made for a property exchange so that the Guard would have a suitable location for a potential future facility in the Nephi area.
“The piece of property we now have doesn’t suit our strategic needs,”he said. “We want to build a new armory and have a presence in this community.”
When the former armory, now used by city utility departments, was closed, said Olson, the city and the Guard traded property. In the exchange, the city was deeded the old armory for city use and the Guard was deeded property near the county jail.
Now that land is in a commercial development corridor and the Guard would prefer land near the airport for the new armory. That would also give them access to the airport which would be important for training, for defense and for accessibility in case of response to local natural disaster, such as an earthquake.
“We want to build a new armory and have a presence in this community,” said Olson. “We want to be part of a community that wants us to be there.”
The nearby city airport would be used for rotary wing aircraft. Actually, said Tarbet, the airport is already used by the Guard for training on a regular basis. He said some noise, on take-off and landing, would occur.
“We do not want to play hidden ball with you,” he said.
However, said Jarrett, he lives near the airport and, since training had been conducted at the site, he might be a good source to report that most of the noise was not a bother to residents of the area and would not be to townspeople.
“We have done this for 10-years and nobody knows,” he said.
Jarrett said that was because, in spite of take-off sounds, the noise of the helicopters was not offensive to most.
Tarbet said the flight path was not over the city to the east. Flights were usually to the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR), a military testing and training area located in Utah’s West Desert, approximately 80 miles west of Salt Lake City.
UTTR is currently the largest overland contiguous block of supersonic authorized restricted airspace in the continental United States. The Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) is host to a variety of training and testing missions for the United States Air Force, United States Army including the National Guard and the United States Marine Corps.
There are two battalions located in West Jordan, and the Guard intends to keep that facility, said Tarbet, and there is an established air corridor there. Pilots are trained to stay within the corridor. Likewise, flights to the Nephi airport would not have approach nor egress across the community on the east but would go over the area west of the airport to get to the UTTR.
Olsen said the Guard had a long history in the Nephi area and, that when the unit was moved from the community, it was not popular. The people in the community were and are patriotic and the Guard once again wants to be part of a community that wants them to be there.
“I still have members of my Guard that Cleston Park (a long-time Nephi resident) recruited,” said Tarbet.
The same thing had happened in Smithfield, his hometown, as had occurred in Nephi, Tarbet said. That armory was also closed. It was his opinion, he said, that the Guard belonged in small communities for patriotic and strategic benefits as well as to meet additional needs in case of natural disaster.
Man-made and natural disasters continue to be threats and the military continues to be challenged to address the issues of disaster preparedness and coordination of support to civil authorities.
Good and lasting jobs for the area would be a result of the new armory being located back in their historic home of Nephi, said Tarbet.
“Many of those people will be located in Nephi and will make the community their home,” he said.
