FORT LEE, Va. (Feb. 12, 2015)-- The feasibility of creating bike paths along A Avenue and extending child development center hours for shift workers were among the items discussed at a recent steering committee meeting here in the Army Community Service conference room.
Col. Paul K. Brooks, Fort Lee garrison commander, chaired the session that is part of the Army Family Action Plan process. Each year, community members are invited to submit issues and recommended courses of action for the annual Fort Lee AFAP forum, usually scheduled in October. That input is first analyzed by volunteer forum "delegates" -- military and civilian employees, family members and retirees -- who, in turn, present their findings to post leaders.
Additional analysis at the installation management level culminates with the steering committee meeting where department directors present findings and/or final recommendations to the command.
Five items were discussed at the meeting. In response to the A Avenue bike lane recommendation, a representative from the Directorate of Public Works noted that a $109 million street improvement project is planned for FY2020 (pending approval of funding). In addition to new street lights, repaving, parking lot work and new drainage systems, it includes additional bike paths along key roadways.
"DPW will review the entire scope of work to determine if it is feasible to separate the (implementation of) bike paths as a separate independent project," the meeting minutes reported.
"Additional review of existing road lanes will be done to see if some of (those) are already wide enough to accommodate bike lanes."
The committee voted to keep the action open.
Issue No. 1715 -- Extended Daycare Hours for Special Duty Personnel -- also will remain active. It proposes night and weekend CDC services for military parents who have non-standard working hours. According to committee members, the issue is currently being studied to determine the level of need in the community, and any future implementation would hinge upon approval of funding by IMCOM. In the interim, parents are asked to consider the authorized in-home family child care providers in the community who can work outside of regular CDC hours.
Fitness opportunities at Fort Lee also garnered a lot of discussion during the meeting. In response to a community member's proposal for "totally free" exercise classes here, committee members noted that ample no-cost opportunities are already abundant at the fitness centers and a Family and MWR "Fitness on Request" program will be implemented in the near future.
"(FMWR) sports/recreation offers 24 free classes a month at Clark Fitness Center and two classes a week at MacLaughlin (for active duty military) and spouses of deployed Soldiers," the meeting minutes reported. "In the next few months, (FMWR) will introduce 'Fitness on Request,' an innovative virtual exercise system that will allow patrons to participate in free aerobic classes 24-7."
Functional Fitness and Crossfit training opportunities are available as well, the committee members said in connection to another community suggestion.
"(A training area) is now located in the lower level of the Post Field House, building 6008, A Avenue," the minutes read. "It is available during Crossfit class times -- Monday-Friday, 4:30-6:30 p.m. Both MacLaughlin and Clark fitness centers also have Functional Fitness equipment located throughout the facilities. MacLaughlin recently (converted) a racquetball court into a Functional Fitness area."
The committee then recommended more advertising through the Traveller and post website to ensure all community members are aware of the fitness class opportunities here, and they voted both issues complete.
Rounding out the list of discussed issues was a proposal to create a leave transfer program for Soldiers. It would allow troops to donate their accumulated vacation hours to others who are faced with a medical or family emergency, rather than putting them in a "negative leave" situation. It would be similar to the current program for Army Civilians.
The committee voted to elevate the issue to Army level since it is far beyond the scope of their command authority.
Community members are welcome to submit ideas to AFAP any time during the year, noted Nancy Burns, the program's coordinator at Fort Lee. For more information about the submission process, to include formatting and issue guidelines, visit www.leemwr.com/army-family-action-plan-afap.
Social Sharing