The goal of the Housing Community Plan (HCP) for Beale Air Force Base (AFB) is to provide a long-range plan for providing Air Force families with high-quality, energy-efficient housing to support the needs of the military family and reinforce a strong sense of community. The final product will be a comprehensive plan to be used in conjunction with the Air Force Family Housing Design Guide for future programming and design of all military family housing projects on the base. This document utilizes Beale’s current Housing Market Analysis and is intended to be fully compatible with the Air Force Housing Master Plan. It will be instrumental in bringing the family housing community at Beale AFB up to contemporary military family housing standards. The plan includes both whole-house and whole-neighborhood requirements.

The plan outlined in this document will:

• Serve as a guide for bringing the entire housing area, both individual units and neighborhood areas, up to contemporary standards.

• Identify necessary improvements and repairs for the units and the family housing community area.

• Function as a programming guide for development of specific projects as the plan is implemented over a period of time.

• Provide construction costs for improvements and repairs in the family housing community.

• Provide for the orderly, economical implementation of all proposed improvements through the use of a phasing plan that recognizes the priorities of Beale AFB, the variable nature of funding for improvements, and the logical sequence of construction that must be followed in any project.

At the time of this study, the military family housing community of Beale AFB contained 1,712 houses in six neighborhoods: Lakeview Circle, West Beale Heights, Gold Country, Wheatland Townhomes, East Beale Heights, and Mountain View.

Gold Country consists of 200 duplex units built in 1975. The neighborhood is located in the southwestern part of the housing area, south of Gavin Mandery Drive.

East Beale Heights consists of 680 split-level ranch style, and duplex homes built in 1958 through 1960. These are located east of Camp Beale Highway.

Mountain View housing is the newest housing on base, completed in 1998. It consists of 131 single-family units, and is located in the northeastern portion of the family housing area, east of Camp Beale Highway and north of East Garryana Drive.

The MFH Requirements – Detailed Summary table, located in Chapter 2.11, indicates that Beale AFB has an overall deficit of 39 housing units. There is a total indicated deficit of 73 enlisted units and a surplus of 34 officer units. This data was taken from the Housing Market Analysis (HMA) for Beale AFB dated October 1996. A new HMA is scheduled for publication in the summer of 1999, but was not completed in time to be incorporated into this document.

The notable differences in the two HMA’s are in the Net MFH Requirements and the total number of existing family housing assets. While the 1996 HMA shows a requirement of 1,743 housing units, the new HMA will total 1,394 required units. Because the majority of the Wheatland Townhomes are programmed for disposal, the new HMA will show a total family housing asset count of 1,401 units. The 1996 HMA shows a total of 1,712 assets in the family housing community. When final, the totals shown here for the new HMA will change the distribution of units discussed below.

The most notable aspect of the inventory of units at Beale AFB is the total deficit, from all grade categories, of 785 two-bedroom units. This is balanced by surpluses in most all of the remaining categories. A combination of reallocation between grades of occupants and conversion of other bedroom categories to two-bedroom units will result in the deficit of two-bedroom units being reduced to a total of 179 units. While there are additional surplus units in other grade/bedroom categories, those units are more properly utilized in their current configuration and could be utilized, as they exist, to house military members who are only eligible for two-bedroom quarters.

The housing neighborhoods at Beale AFB vary in quality. The Wheatland Townhome area is of the lowest quality, and the Mountainview area is the nicest. The HCP addresses neighborhood issues such as vehicular and pedestrian circulation, the community image and visual character, landscaping, open space and recreational facilities, and utilities.

The neighborhoods currently lack a clear visual identity such as would be found in a private housing development. The HCP recommends entry signage and landscaping to give each individual neighborhood a unique identity.

The development of pedestrian trails and sidewalks is recommended to link the neighborhoods to recreational facilities, and to help create a comprehensive and interconnected jogging and bicycling system for residents of all ages and abilities. Crosswalks are also recommended to provide additional safety for pedestrians.

A hierarchy of recreational facilities has also been introduced to the neighborhoods. These include small totlots for younger children, playgrounds for older children, and ballfields and courts for older children and adults.

Other enhancements of the neighborhood include the addition of numerous shade trees along the streets, in yards, and in common areas; evergreen to block wind and poor views; and ornamental trees and shrubs to improve the aesthetics of the housing areas.

Improvements to drainage around the units are recommended, as well as new lighting along both the streets and for selected recreational areas.

The housing units in all six neighborhoods are well maintained and most are in generally good condition. There are, however, distinct differences between the neighborhoods. The newly constructed Mountain View units are in nearly perfect condition and require only minor additions such as a water supply line to the refrigerator. On the other hand, the Wheatland Townhome units are very small and will require a relatively large amount of improvement to bring them up the Air Force Whole House standards. Some of the systemic problems common to many of the Beale neighborhoods, except Mountain View, include electrical service size, inadequate electric wiring inside the unit, aging air conditioning / heating equipment, ductwork in the crawl spaces, air diffusers, interior doors and door hardware, and transite siding on the exterior of the units. Also, many units still have inefficient single-pane windows.

Size of the living unit is a concern in both East and West Beale Heights and in the Wheatland Townhomes. Many units are as much as 100SF to 200SF smaller than the maximum allowable for their grade and bedroom combination.

These concerns, and others, are addressed in the unit analysis sections of Chapter 3. Modifications proposed to the floor plans include renovating kitchens and bathrooms, enlarging closets, and constructing additional living space.

The Whole House renovation costs for all of the units, again except for Mountain View, exceed $50,000 times the area cost factor. Many also exceed 70% of the replacement cost. The HCP Phasing Plan, located in Chapter 4, has been developed with input from base planning and engineering personnel. It addresses the units in the worst condition first and progresses through a total of 9 phases to improve all of the housing units on base.

Detailed cost estimates are included in the Appendix to provide the flexibility to adjust projects to meet future funding.