Vermont National Guard lays out multiyear plan for four regional readiness centers; cites rising costs and PCB cleanup

At a Feb. 5 meeting, Colonel Jacob Roy, construction and facility management officer for the Vermont Army National Guard, told a state committee the Guard plans to replace many aging armories with four larger regional readiness centers and is seeking state matching funds as federal construction dollars shrink.

Roy said the Guard is aiming to break ground this spring on a new facility in the Northeast Kingdom near Linden and is working to secure design funds and a state match to accelerate a Franklin County readiness center that would replace the Saint Albans and Swanton armories. "We are heavily looking at, again, roofs, boilers, electrical and heating upgrades. Electrification still is a huge component to that," Roy said.

Why it matters: The Guard’s inventory includes many small, historic armories built between 1912 and 1972 that do not meet current energy, storage or training needs. The department said moving units into larger, modern facilities is intended to improve training capacity, accommodate heavier and larger vehicles and equipment, and position units closer to population centers to aid recruitment and response to state missions.

Key details and budget requests - The department asked for $2.6 million in the FY2026 request to cover sustainment, modernization and the state match tied to the Franklin County readiness center; the Milcon (military construction) federal design match of $1.3 million is included in that total, Roy said. The anticipated FY2029 state match for construction was cited at $1.75 million. - The Swanton/Franklin County readiness center is currently estimated at about $44 million for roughly a 35,000-square-foot facility (estimate based on current inflation assumptions), Roy said. - Roy said per-square-foot construction costs have increased from roughly $400–$500 to about $700–$800 in recent years, citing inflation and long lead times for heating and electrification equipment.

Sustainment and projects Roy reviewed a five- and 10-year sustainment plan that includes roof replacements, heating-system renovations, interior upgrades, a mezzanine at Camp Johnson for storage, and electric-vehicle charging infrastructure. The department’s initial concept is a four-vehicle charging station at Camp Johnson inside the installation fence, with the potential to expand based on need.

Completed and ongoing work cited by the Guard included a 1,500-square-foot, three-bay cold storage building at Linden (recently taken to beneficial occupancy) and a 3,600-square-foot addition and renovation at the Bradford Armory completed in January, which added office and heated storage space and training areas.

Historic properties and regulatory trade-offs Roy said a large share of the Guard’s facilities are historic — he cited about 67% of the inventory — and the department is negotiating trade-offs with the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to offset impacts on historic properties when modernizing other sites. Building 19 at Camp Johnson, a 1920s historic building, is being upgraded as part of an agreement to offset cultural impacts related to other projects.

PCB contamination at older armories Roy described lead remediation and PCB testing carried out after sampling prompted by findings at earlier facilities. The Winooski armory, he said, tested especially high for PCBs in paint and required interior sandblasting; because PCB contamination had migrated into the brick on load-bearing walls, sandblasting compromised structural integrity. "That's why we made the decision that that building just needed to come down," Roy said. He said remediation or encapsulation estimates for Winooski ran into the $5 million–$6 million range.

Funding and federal limits Roy told the committee the Guard anticipates fewer fully federally funded readiness-center builds going forward; the Linden project will be among the last with significant federal funding. That expectation, combined with higher construction costs, means the state match will become a larger driver of project timing and scope. The Guard also noted compliance with federal mandates such as Buy America/Build America affects costs.

Operational drivers and siting Roy and committee members discussed siting strategies. The Guard said it seeks larger parcels (40+ acres) near major population corridors to accommodate larger buildings, vehicle motor pools and to improve recruitment access. Potential southern-Vermont land searches are focused on the Route 7 corridor and Bennington County.

Questions from committee members touched on project sequencing, siting near existing state facilities, the design funding process, EV charging access (initial plan is inside the fence and not publicly accessible) and how changing mission requirements — including more varied domestic operations such as flood, windstorm and search-and-rescue responses — affect equipment and facility needs.

Next steps Roy said the department is pursuing congressional and National Guard Bureau design funds to accelerate projects and is watching inflation, supply-chain lead times and federal program guidance closely as it finalizes FY2026–29 priorities. He invited further committee questions and said staff would continue to update the committee as projects progress.