Sea Bright council will hear NPS on Hook plan
Superintendent asks for slot after council votes opposition to development plan
BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer

SEA BRIGHT — Mayor JoAnn Kalaka-Adams says she will gladly welcome a superintendent from the National Park Service (NPS) to speak to the Borough Council about a proposal between the federal government and a private contractor to rehabilitate Fort Hancock.

But that does not mean she will support the controversial redevelopment plan for Gateway National Park unit of Sandy Hook, which Sea Bright officials have already gone on record to oppose.

The council passed a resolution Feb. 1 to support Save Sandy Hook (SSH), a local grassroots organization, in its ongoing legal battle to cancel a 60-year lease between the NPS and Sandy Hook Partners (SHP). In response, NPS Superintendent Richard Wells wrote to Kalaka-Adams requesting that he be allowed to present the proposal to the council at a future meeting.

Kalaka-Adams acknowledged receiving Wells’ correspondence at the March 1 council meeting.

“I have no problem with the National Park Service coming here,” Kalaka-Adams said after the meeting.

Kalaka-Adams indicated that she would reply to Wells and try to arrange a date for him to appear at a council meeting pending further discussion with the governing body.

“I’ll have to talk to the council about it,” she said. “Then we’ll respond to him.”

The council as a whole did not discuss Wells’ correspondence during that meeting or set any date for him to appear.

Allowing Wells to present the NPS plans for Sandy Hook, which include a proposal by SHP to rehabilitate 36 dilapidated buildings that served as part of the former Fort Hancock, is only fair, Kalaka-Adams said.

However, because she has heard directly only from Wells, not from SHP, she would not welcome that private developer to come before the governing body on its own accord.

The mayor and council were prompted to officially oppose the proposed redevelopment at Sandy Hook out of concern that it would negatively impact Sea Bright’s infrastructure.

Through a mutual aid agreement, the borough’s first aid squad serves Sandy Hook and Fort Hancock military base, according to Councilwoman Dina Long, the council’s liaison to public safety.

Though Sandy Hook does have its own fire and police departments, Sea Bright backs up those forces through the same mutual aid agreement, Long said.