Zoning groups tour NASM

Kemper and Lauderdale counties have appointed airport zoning commissions. The overall tasks of the commissions will be to establish aviation safety zones around McCain and Joe Williams airfields and protect the overall mission of Naval Air Station Meridian. Among their specific tasks will be to update counties’ zoning ordinances within at least a half-mile radius around the base. The groups were on base June 5 to gain a better perspective of air station operations; watching the T-45C Goshawks land in a carrier pattern; and the potential noise affects to nearby homeowners outside the fence line, said NAS Meridian Community Planning Liaison Officer Jim Copeland. Lauderdale County District 2 Supervisor Wyman Newell said the tour was a learning experience. “We’ve got to have the Navy here in Meridian,” Newell said, “so we have got to work together.” (Source: The Skyline 6/12/14) Gulf Coast Note: NAS Whiting Field, Fla., similar Navy aviation training base to NASM, has been recognized by the Navy as being among the best in the nation in establishing and rezoning properties around the primary training facility north of Pensacola.