Fort Monmouth panel reflects on reuse mission

Members of the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority (FMERPA) reflected on their challenges and experiences with the nearly half-decade planning process at the body’s final meeting in Eatontown on Aug. 18.

 

“In July of 2006, nine local citizens were called upon by the governor of this state to embark upon a mission, which none of the nine wanted, endorsed or embraced,” FMERPA Executive Director Frank Cosentino began his farewell remarks.

“Thus, the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority was born. Now, over four years later we gather here tonight on the eve of a transition, which will mark the end of the FMERPA as it hands its creation over to a new entity, the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA) for implementation.”

On Aug. 17, Gov. Chris Christie signed S-917, the bill outlining and establishing FMERA, the entity that will implement FMERPA’s plan, and disbanding FMERPA.

As per the bill, FMERPA will remain active for 30 days after signing while FMERA is assembled.

According to S-917, only three of FMERPA’s seven voting members will definitely hold positions on FMERA: Eatontown Mayor Gerald Tarantolo, Oceanport Mayor Michael Mahon and Tinton Falls Mayor Michael Skudera.

“I look back on all of this with a heavy heart,” Tarantolo said. “One of the first things I was confronted with when I became mayor was saving the fort.”

Despite his efforts, the Department of Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) announced its recommendation to shutter Fort Monmouth in 2005.

“The next aspect of my life then became one where I was testifying before a BRAC committee as to why we should save Fort Monmouth.

“I remember that day very distinctly,” he said.

“Now we’re at a point where we’ve defined how we think we ought to use Fort Monmouth, so the next aspect of my life is how do we implement that plan that we’ve worked so hard on over the years.”

Tarantolo said that Fort Monmouth has been an integral part of the past 12 years of his life.

“I was there from the beginning trying to save it, working up to the point where hopefully we’ll fill the void of what Fort Monmouth meant to this area,” he said.

FMERA will also have voting representatives from the New Jersey Economic DevelopmentAuthority (EDA) and the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

Timothy Lizura of the EDA and Freeholder Director Lillian Burry, the current respective representatives, could reprise their roles on the new authority.

“I too think back on the beginning [of the authority]” Burry, FMERPA’s vice chairwoman, said. “I was extremely opposed to the whole BRAC process.

“I said, ‘What am I doing here? It’s such a contradiction to what I think and what I believe in. This fort shouldn’t close; it’s such an integral part of our history. It’s too important to who we are here as Monmouth County residents, as Americans.’

“But then we all fully realized we had a job to do and it was a challenge. We were going to take a lemon and turn it into lemonade.”

Burry’s optimism continued through Christie’s signing of the bill.

“I don’t like to look at it as legislation to dissolve our authority, but the legislation to create the new authority, the authority that will implement all the hard work and all the planning that took place by this committee here,” she said.

She also recognized the “unsung heroes” of the authority, the FMERPA professional staff, sentiments that several authority members echoed throughout the meeting.

In his brief remarks, the EDA’s Lizura referenced a Winston Churchill quote: “This is not the end; this is not the beginning of the end of the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth. This perhaps may be the end of the beginning.”

FMERPA public member Rosemarie Estephan said that her appointment to the committee honored and terrified her.

“I hope you all can realize that we did listen,” she said to the audience, “and we did the best we could, and I am very proud of what we’ve done.”

Fort Monmouth Garrison Manager George Fitzmaier, who represents the Army in an advisory role on FMERPA, expressed his and the Army’s commitment to making Fort Monmouth’s transition as smooth as possible.

Public member Robert Lucky, the authority’s chair, expressed both his anticipation and trepidation for the area’s future.

“I was stunned with the opportunity that this represented,” he said. “This is … even more rare than a once-in-a-generation opportunity for a community to create a whole new planned town in the midst of itself, in prime property.

“We live in a beautiful area, but has the overall beauty gone up or down over the past 50 years? I think maybe it has gone down some through unplanned development, unchecked development everywhere.

“Here, we have an opportunity to do something right. We have a big chunk of land and we can do whatever we want to. We can plan this and create something beautiful in the midst of our community.”

However, he also expressed his concerns for the future of the redevelopment.

“Going ahead, I do worry that as we go along we could … lose the dream, and that in the end this would be no more than three unremarkable extensions to the existing communities.”

Lucky said that he worries that the realities of cost and how to pay for the area’s redevelopment could stifle its potential.

“There’s no pot of gold that can pay for the dreams that I would like to put in the middle of this community — plus the fact that economic conditions have changed absolutely since we took over. The value of the property has gone way down, the probability of getting good businesses to come in has gone way down; it’s going to be really tough,” he said.

In addition to the pleasure of working with his fellow members, Lucky also mentioned aspects of the authority that disappointed him, including the extensive criticism the authority received from the public.

“When I first thought about public meetings, I thought that we’d get a lot of input from the public; we certainly have, but it certainly hasn’t all been positive or helpful in many cases.”

He also said that he was disappointed that the authority was not allowed to hold executive sessions.

According to Lucky, the authority only met privately once, to discuss the executive director’s salary.

Overall, Lucky said that he was satisfied with the final plan.

“We could have dreamed bigger, but there were a lot of constraints, and given the constraints, I believe that the plan is a really good one,” he said.

The reuse plan currently calls for $1 billion in construction across the fort’s three host towns, with 1,500 total residential units, 375 of which are to be affordable housing.

In additional to residential development, the plan calls for town centers for Oceanport, Tinton Falls and Eatontown; hotels; a medical facility; and a substantial amount of both office space and open space.

FMERPA is additionally required by mandate to convey some existing buildings on the fort as homeless accommodations. The HUD Homeless Assistance Submission includes a new, replacement homeless shelter in Oceanport, a day center and 40 units of permanent supportive housing for the homeless.

The plan, submitted in September 2008, has yet to receive approval from the federal government.

Despite the site’s potential, the authority agreed that Fort Monmouth’s influence and history during its 90-plus years could not be replaced.

As Tarantolo said, “We can fill the void economically and with jobs, but we’ll never fill the void of tradition.”