BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

West Long Branch WEST LONG BRANCH - A Grateful Dead reunion concert will never be scheduled inside Monmouth University's proposed on-campus multipurpose activity center.

Nor will the planned 152,400-square foot-arena ever serve as the track for a monster truck show, according to one university official, who is hoping that the West Long Branch Zoning Board of Adjustment will agree that the facility will benefit both the institution and its host community as a whole.

Instead, the center, with an anticipated permanent seating capacity of 4,842, will be used 88 percent of the time by university students and personnel and by the athletic departments that will be housed within its confines, according to Patricia L. Swannack, Monmouth's vice president for administrative services.

Testifying in support of the use variance application that the board began hearing last Thursday night, Swannack attempted to convince the board, and several skeptical residents in attendance, that the arena is needed to meet the needs of the university's sports programs and to serve as the venue for on-campus functions such as convocations.

Moreover, the multipurpose center, known colloquially as the "MAC," would be the new home of the university's NCAA Division I teams, particularly the men's and women's varsity basketball teams, Swannack said.

As the athletic and intramural sports programs at Monmouth grow in popularity, the campus' 40-year-old Boylan Gymnasium has proven inadequate to house the teams, equipment, offices, and all its users, she went on.

Scheduling practices inside Boylan, even for varsity teams, is a touch-and-go process now, Swannack added.

"Our existing facility [Boylan] is used from 7 a.m. to midnight to 1 o'clock in the morning," said Swannack, who identified herself as a 31-year university employee.

"It's not unusual to see the men's varsity basketball team going in [Boylan] to practice 10 o'clock at night," she added.

With its expected capacity, the arena could also be used for commencements and the annual open house, which usually attracts 3,500 prospective students to campus with their families in early October.

However, the university does not intend to allow shows that would bring thousands of outside spectators, she pointed out.

"We're not looking to host the Grateful Dead on our campus," Swannack said. "This facility is for our use. It's not to have a big monster truck show."

The university is also not trying to recruit more than the 6,000 students already enrolled, she continued.

"This is for our existing population. This is not to increase enrollment," Swannack said. "The folks that are going to use this are here."

If constructed, the center would be the tallest building on the campus, standing at a height of 65 feet, said William Fitzgerald, the university's engineer, who also testified briefly.

Because borough laws set maximum heights at 35 feet, the university is seeking a variance to exceed that limit, Fitzgerald said, noting that Woodrow Wilson Hall is 49 feet high.

Altogether, the university is seeking nine separate use variances pertaining to the area's zoning, the height of the structure, landscaping and other features, Fitzgerald explained to the board.

A map of the campus presented by Fitzgerald shows that the arena would be situated in the middle of the university's south campus and about 647 feet from Larchwood Avenue.

Positioned on the footprint of two existing parking lots, the center would be connected to Boylan, which now seats about 2,200 patrons, via the present-day fitness center, Fitzgerald said.

While the arena itself is situated within an area zoned institutional by the borough, part of the building's designated parking lot, a portion of its loading area, and its truck access route are physically located in the residential or R-22 zone, a condition necessitating the university's use variance application, Fitzgerald pointed out.

The university will lose about 120 parking spots by constructing the center on two existing parking lots near Boylan, Fitzgerald acknowledged.

However, a group of tennis courts nearby is expected to be converted to a parking lot to restock and double that supply at total about 244 stalls, he added.

Currently, the university has slightly more than 3,000 parking spots on-campus, Swannack said later.

Some residents, particularly Larchwood Avenue resident Zavaha Sher, had questions related to traffic flow and overflow parking associated with the prospect of almost 5,000 spectators coming to the a major sporting event at the center.

Fitzgerald, along with Wendell Smith, the university's attorney, advised Sher and the other residents to save their questions for a traffic engineer who is scheduled to testify at a later date.

The university's athletic offices would be relocated from Boylan to the center, which would also house locker rooms, storage space, a Hall of Fame, and a "green room" for media covering sports events, Swannack said.

The green room raised a red flag with Sher.

"If the center is for the existing [student] population, why do you need a green room?" Sher asked.

Media outlets, including ESPN, cover Monmouth's sports events, Swannack replied.

"You give the impression that this is going to be much bigger than it is going to be," Sher told Swannack.

To ensure that the application does not drag on for months, as did the last one presented by the university, the board has scheduled a special hearing for June 15 at 7:30 p.m. at borough hall, 965 Broadway.

"Hopefully, we can make this as succinct as possible," Smith said.