Title
Resolution Authorizing the Donation of a Nike-Ajax Missile to Isle of Wight County
Purpose
PURPOSE/BACKGROUND:
The County of Isle of Wight seeks the donation of the Nike-Ajax from the City of Hampton for the purpose of restoration and exhibition at the restored Nike Battery Site, operated by the County’s Department of Parks and Recreation. The City of Hampton through its Parks, Recreation and Leisure Services ("PRLS") supports donating. No intrinsic value of the artifact can be established.
Discussion:
In summer of 2017, the Hampton History Museum was contacted by the County of Isle of Wight for assistance in procuring a Nike-Ajax Missile for exhibit in their restored Nike Battery at Battery Park. Initial conversation revealed several options, the loan of one of the existing warheads, of which there are two (2), or donation of the complete Nike Missiles on Launcher. Simultaneously, PRLS and the History Museum began to develop a plan for improvements at Air Power Park. The most problematic artifact there for restoration and renewed care is the Nike-Ajax. Removal or complete restoration is necessary and restoration is expected to be expensive. Removal would entail scrapping the unit. The donation to Isle of Wight would accomplish both outcomes at no cost to the City.
Since those initial conversations, the Hampton History Museum has performed its due diligence in efforts to find the original owner for permission to transfer the Nike-Ajax. After exhaustively contacting United States Army cultural resource repositories, no owner could be ascertained and no records within the City exist pertaining to ownership.
Contemporaneously, PRLS developed a plan for the restoration of Air Power Park. This plan, Air Power Park Phased Recovery Plan was presented to City Council in November 2018. A constituent part of the plan as presented to Council was the donation of the Nike-Ajax to the County of Isle of Wight. An informal consensus of the City Council s...
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