Defense Bill Includes Provision To Transfer Doble Center To City of Portsmouth

Press Release

PORTSMOUTH, NH -- U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte and Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter today announced that the final version of the fiscal year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) authorizes the U.S. Army Reserves to successfully complete the transfer of the Paul A. Doble Army Reserve Center to the City of Portsmouth. Shaheen, Ayotte and Shea-Porter have worked to secure a legislative fix to prevent a redundant Government Services Administration (GSA) disposal process and transfer the facility to Portsmouth -- where officials are pursuing a planned redevelopment of the Doble Center as a senior center.

"With the Doble Center having been replaced by a new facility, we're pleased that this land will be transferred to the city of Portsmouth for the use and enjoyment of local residents," said Shaheen, Ayotte and Shea-Porter.

The final version of the NDAA resolves years-long issue by authorizing the U.S. Army Reserve to finalize the transfer of the Doble Center to the City of Portsmouth. This summer, the Army Reserves originally introduced a plan to transfer the Doble Center to GSA, not the City of Portsmouth. Following this news, Shaheen and Shea-Porter worked with Portsmouth and the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to urge the Army Reserves to reconsider its decision and allow the Doble Center to be redeveloped as a senior center, which the Portsmouth City Council had approved years before.

Shaheen and Ayotte, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee and chair and ranking member, respectively, of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, together introduced language to the Senate defense authorization bill to remove the redundant process and allow the successful transfer of the Doble Center to Portsmouth.

The FY 2014 NDAA builds on the FY 2010 NDAA language that Shea-Porter, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, secured to allow for an Army Reserve Center to be built in the vicinity of Pease, which paved the way for the Doble Center to be transferred to the City of Portsmouth.

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