Surviving A Military Base Closure

"After years of lobbying to keep their local military base open, residents of this small city in eastern Alabama lost the fight in 1995. Fort McClellan was going to close after 82 years.

In the ensuing economic downturn, Anniston Mayor Hoyt "Chip" Howell Jr. and a small team took advantage of an increasingly popular federal law that gives local communities the responsibility -- and the risk -- for cleaning up and redeveloping closed military bases.

Instead of waiting for the military to clean up leftover munitions, the team hired its own private contractor and financed massive insurance policies to guarantee development. Then they set an aggressive schedule to turn the thousands of acres on Fort McClellan into a thriving residential and commercial center."