Fort panel puts off vote on reuse plan
COAH data lacking, but mayors fail in bid for 30-day delay
BY JENNA O'DONNELL Staff Writer
Held up by unanswered questions about the affordable housing component for the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth, the fort's reuse authority postponed a vote to approve the reuse plan last week.

Oceanport Mayor Michael Mahon

The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority (FMERPA) met Aug. 27 at Monmouth Regional High School in Tinton Falls for what was supposed to be its final meeting before sending the plan on to the Department of Defense and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Oceanport Mayor Michael Mahon made the motion to remove the vote from the agenda, which was supported unanimously by members of the authority once they had verified that a week's hold would still allow sufficient time for the plan's submission to the federal government on Sept. 8.

A vote on the plan will now take place Sept. 3, five days prior to the deadline.

"It probably is a reasonable request," said Eatontown Mayor Gerald Tarantolo regarding the one-week extension. "Obviously the three mayors are concerned about some missing information as it relates to COAH [Council on Affordable Housing]."

Eatontown Mayor Gerald Tarantolo

He said he had an opportunity to discuss the issue with N.J. Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Joseph Doria Jr., who stated that he agreed wholeheartedly with the situation and the fact that the mayors need more specifics related to the COAH issue.

There has thus far been no firm clarification from COAH as to what amount of housing obligation will be generated by growth share on the fort, though it has offered a verbal commitment that the nonresidential growth share on fort lands would be based on net increase over August 2005, the date of the BRAC commission, and civilian government workforce.

In other words, the replacement of the approximately 5,000 jobs that currently exist on the fort will not generate an increased affordable housing obligation for the fort lands, unless the replacement jobs exceed 5,000.

The current plan calls for an overall 1,500 units of housing on 1,126 acres of fort lands, with 375 designated as affordable. Advocates would like to see 1,500 units of affordable housing.

"Essentially I got his support in several areas," Tarantolo said, paraphrasing some of the commitments.

Tarantolo said that Doria favored a special meeting of the COAH committee in order to consider the matter of affordable housing on Fort Monmouth; however, FMERPA members were skeptical that more concrete information could be delivered within a week.

Yet Doria's answers were not the commitment that the mayors were looking for.

FMERPA Deputy Director Frank Cosentino answered inquiries as to whether delaying the vote a week would still allow the authority to submit the plan by the upcoming deadline.

"With the specific date next week, it would still afford us, with the cooperation of the governor's office, to get the plan to the federal government within the time frame of the Sept. 8 deadline," Cosentino said.

Tinton Falls Mayor Peter Maclearie, citing doubts that the definitive answer would come within a week's time after a year of questions, made a motion to request a 30-day extension of the deadline from the federal government, which Mahon seconded.

"It's a fall-back position that would grant us 30 days," Maclearie said.

FMERPA Chair Dr. Robert Lucky doubted that a month's extension would give the mayors the answers or assurances that they are looking for, but did think that a week would give the plan a better chance of being passed.

"We have a much better chance of understanding this and getting it passed next week than if we were to try to do it tonight," he said.

Mahon said that a 30-day extension would allow some of the issues to be firmed up by COAH, allowing Doria and the three municipalities to continue with discussions.

"The opportunity that the later date provides is to allow us to clarify some of these issues," Mahon said, "and address them in such a way that the communities will not be at a disadvantage with the adoption of this plan."

Lucky said that asking for a 30-day extension ran the risk of having the federal government take over the redevelopment of the property, a fear shared by other panel members.

"If we miss the deadline, we run the risk of the federal government taking this away," said public member Rosemarie Estephan. "I don't want to take the risk of someone else making the decisions for this area."

"They had a year," Lucky said. "You're not going to get this by next week, and I would not want to postpone on that basis, counting on that. We can't count on that."

Maclearie argued that the extension allowed for COAH to address the issue during their regular meeting scheduled for Sept. 22 if the council was unable to convene for a special meeting.

"We're not in a rush," Maclearie said. "We agreed we wanted to do this correctly when we asked for the 270 days. It's 30."

FMERPA had initially asked for an extension of the deadline, which was granted by the federal government.

"You can hope, but I'm not going to count on that," Lucky said. "The risk is too great."

Maclearie said he would not vote without the committee's assurance.

The panel outvoted Maclearie and Mahon against the request of the 30-day extension to the deadline, with Tarantolo stating that such a motion might have been more appropriate at the Sept. 3 meeting, if answers were still not forthcoming.

Jack Donnelly, Gov. Jon Corzine's representative to FMERPA, urged members to vote, warning that the Department of Defense could and would take over the redevelopment process.

"We've got this commitment and this process versus this federal law which is telling you that you're going to lose rights to zone it," Donnelly said.

Tarantolo said that the issue was not a new one.

"We brought this to the attention of the DCA last November," he said. "So this is not a new issue with Trenton. This is an issue that's been on their radar for almost a year now."

Tarantolo said the responses were always the same verbal agreements and that the mayors felt uncomfortable without a definitive commitment from COAH.

He hoped that Trenton would get the message to convene a special meeting of COAH and get moving on it.

"We're kind of on a firing line with regard to COAH," he said. "The fact that we're involved with Fort Monmouth only compounds the problem of affordable housing."

Tarantolo added that the towns had lost a year of planning by the establishment of FMERPA.

"We were moving along quite nicely before the state told us we needed an authority," he said. "Now is the time for Trenton to accommodate us. It's not hard to call a special meeting."

Tinton Falls Councilman Paul Ford said that he, for one, would never vote for a plan without having all the facts.

"I applaud Mayor Maclearie for taking a firm stance on this," Ford said. "Please don't vote on it without having all the facts. This will have a huge impact on all three towns."

Lucky responded that with FMERPA up against a deadline, they would likely have to go to vote without having all the facts.

Tinton Falls Planning Board Chairman Joel Davies said the issue was no secret, and that the three mayors had been vocalizing it nonstop.

"To turn around and say that COAH's meeting on Sept. 22 and we can't act until then is disingenuous and a slap in the face to the people that have been working hard on this very issue for months," he said.

Following the discussions, FMERPA's master planner, EDAW Inc., once again outlined the final plan, with a few slight changes made to improve its economic feasibility. These included shifting some of the office development square footage and having a private, taxpaying marina rather than a public one.

Lucky urged the public to look at the positive aspects of the plan.

"There's a lot of good in this plan," he said.

Cosentino said the vote does not force the plan down anyone's throat.

"There is so much more moving forward than we know about," he said. "This is a framework. The ultimate implementation could be three years from now to start."

After deciding whether to pass the reuse plan on Sept. 3, the authority stands to submit it to the Department of Defense and the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Sept. 8.

Fort Monmouth is slated for closure in September 2011, when the majority of operations will be relocated to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland.