U.S. Navy photo by Doug Davant Congressman Rob Wittman speaks to Community Relations Council.

Keynoting the meeting was Rep. Rob Wittman of Virginia’s 1st Congressional District of which Naval Support Facility Dahlgren is a part.

Wittman spoke on the Defense Authorization Act which will soon come before Congress and other matters affecting the Dahlgren base as well as Naval Support Facility Indian Head, Md.

‘‘Meetings such as this are critical to ensuring the vitality and viability of our military bases,” Wittman told the council members. He said that he and Rep. Steny Hoyer (Maryland’s 5th Congressional District) who represents Naval Support Facility Indian Head ‘‘are working together to keep the future bright” for the two Navy bases.

‘‘But you need to turn up the volume,” Wittman said, ‘‘to keep us aware of such things like encroachment and other threats. ‘‘

‘‘How this (council) works is that when people in Washington see you meeting, ears begin to perk up. So make sure you turn up the volume locally.”

The Virginia Republican said that the Defense Authorization Act will likely mean a new direction for military acquisition. ‘‘It is going to determine where best we need to fund,” he said. ‘‘There is critical need right now and we need to demonstrate the capability of Dahlgren.”

Of chief concern, Wittman added, was the need for a 313-ship Navy. The co-chairman of the Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus said that a robust naval fleet is critical to America’s long-term security.

‘‘Cost-effective shipbuilding is essential to maintain our naval presence around the world, and maintaining a strong industrial base is vital to the advancement of our shipbuilding goals, our communities and our nation,” he pointed out.

‘‘As a nation, we must do all that we can to ensure that the resources are available for a 313-ship Navy,” he said, underscoring the importance of bases such as NSF Indian Head and Dahlgren that support the Navy’s fleet.

Wittman also noted that ‘‘buildings are important too” at bases.

‘‘There is not just a need to build ships,” he said, ‘‘facilities like South Potomac also need capable structures to do their job...that has to be part of the discussion and I’m looking forward to the debate.”

Also speaking at the council meeting Monday were Wayne Cooper of the Charles County Board of Commissioners; Candice Brown, superintendent for King George County School System; Rick Owen, of Naval Facilities Washington, and Richard Hurley of University of Mary Washington.

Cooper told the crowd that the community relations council ‘‘goes a long way in helping communications and planning for the future.”

‘‘I got into this because of building a hotel over on the other side of the Potomac River from Dahlgren. We were also concerned about a new pier planned for the power plant and barges coming up the river when guns might be shooting,” he said.

‘‘That is what this (council) is all about. It is doing a better job in making us understand each other’s needs and planning for them because there isn’t a citizen in Charles County that is not important, and both the bases and the citizen have a role to the future.”

Brown spoke about the historic relationship that NSF Dahlgren has had with King George County’s schools and about the N-Star summer camp program that is headed up by Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division. Owen pointed out encroachment problems that have plagued military bases and can adversely impact facilities when it comes to Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) issues.

He said that encroachment can have both a direct and indirect affect on bases when ‘‘there are no buffer zones” between testing facilities (such as NSF Dahlgren and Indian Head) and commercial or residential construction begins nearby.

Hurley told the council about the Dahlgren Higher Education and Research Center, planned for a ground breaking later this year.

The University of Mary Washington is hoping to begin the education center, a 23-acre site that will eventually host two 40,000 square-foot buildings featuring classrooms and laboratories with the first buliding opening in the autumn of 2011.

On April 23, 2008, the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate approved a nearly $1.5 billion bond package to finance state construction projects through public borrowing, including the Dahlgren Center. Governor Kaine signed the legislation May 29, 2008. Following A⁄E procurement, UMW selected Burt-Hill, Inc. as the project architect, and will advance the project through inclusive design meetings with stakeholders.

Hurley said the educational facility ‘‘will be as green as we can make it” with grass planned for the rooftops.

‘‘This will be a center for both teaching and research,” he said. ‘‘It will confer advanced technological degrees. We will have laboratories but heavy lab work will still be done in most cases at Dahlgren. We are planning this for the future, so are working at making classroom pods with an eye on future enrollment,” he said.

In projecting future enrollment, Hurley said that UMW’s Graduate and Professional Studies campus at Stafford, Va., two years ago opened a building the same size as the two planned for Dahlgren and currently has 1,000 students attending.