Guard Dumps Sandpoint Armory Plans
The Idaho Army National Guard has abandoned plans to build an $8 million armory north of Sandpoint due to a lack of federal funding. The Guard also will close the temporary armory it placed on the 10-acre site in 2008, and about 40 soldiers who train there will now do so at the Post Falls armory. “Considering all of the conditions and variables, we feel this action is the most prudent option for our organization,” Major Gen. Gary Sayler, commander of the Idaho National Guard, said in a news release Wednesday. The National Guard proposed building the 33,000-square-foot “readiness center” on Bonner County property at the Sandpoint Airport and hoped to receive $8 million in federal military construction funds/Scott Maben, SR. More below.
Thoughts?
But waiting for the money to come through could have taken another 5 to 10 years, said spokesman Col. Tim Marsano.
Leasing and maintaining modular buildings at the site costs $50,000 to $60,000 a year and is a strain on the Guard’s budget, Marsano added. The five-year lease for the buildings is just about up, he said.
“This was a logical time for us to make that decision,” he said.
About 40 water purification specialists with the 145th Brigade Support Battalion, Company A, trained at the armory one weekend each month.