The Fort Monmouth redevelopment authority approved a reuse plan for the fort property last week despite objections from officials, residents and two of the mayors on the panel.

During a Sept. 3 special meeting at the Tinton Falls Municipal Complex, the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority (FMERPA) weighed concerns as to the reliability of affordable housing numbers versus the possibility of missing the deadline for filing the plan and losing control over zoning the fort property.

The approval was originally planned for Aug. 27 but was delayed a week in an effort to obtain more information on the required number of homeless and affordable housing units from the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), which some authority members correctly estimated would not come.

Monmouth County Freeholder Director Lillian Burry cast the final and deciding vote in support of the plan, which she admitted was not perfect.

"The impact of withholding our support would ultimately be disastrous," Burry said.

FMERPA Chairman Dr. Robert Lucky called the plan "a unique opportunity to create a whole new community from scratch" citing the generous open space as one of the benefits of the plan for the 1,127 acres of fort property.

"It's a great plan, but it's being held hostage by the politics of COAH," Lucky said.

Authority Vice Chairwoman Virginia Bauer said that the plan was a work in progress.

"The reality is if we do not take advantage of this opportunity to submit a plan, we will lose the opportunity to define what happens in our community," she said. "I think at this juncture, we do not have anything more concrete that we could expect and I will not take the risk of missing out on this opportunity and letting someone else decide what we should do with this property."

The mayors from the fort's three host communities of Oceanport, Tinton Falls and Eatontown expressed varied concerns with the lack of information that was forthcoming from COAH.

Oceanport Mayor Michael Mahon and Tinton Falls Mayor Peter Maclearie were the only two authority members to vote against the plan.

Eatontown Mayor Gerald Tarantolo voted in favor of the plan.

"We all agree that the plan is a good plan," Tarantolo said after the Sept. 3 meeting.

"However, the state Department of Community Affairs (DAC), which COAH is a part of, dropped the ball on giving us guidance with regard to the [fort's] COAH obligation," Tarantolo said.

COAH officials have told FMERPA members that the fort property will be treated as a region and will receive special treatment in regards to the number of affordable housing units they would have to provide under the reuse plan, but nothing has been set in writing, according to Tarantolo.

He also added that the deadline for approving a reuse plan was Sept. 9.

"If we do not meet the date, technically the federal government can say to FMERPA, 'You've missed your second date extension, and therefore you forfeit your right to provide the FMERPA plan, and as a result we, the government will define the plan,' " Tarantolo said.

"That is really the most paramount part of why I voted on the plan. If we forfeit that right, it would be a disaster to have the government tell us how to reuse Fort Monmouth," he said.

Maclearie, who had stated repeatedly that he would not support the plan without firm numbers from COAH, voted against approving the plan after making motions for a 30-day extension and the inclusion of firm numbers in the resolution supporting the plan.

Authority members waived both motions, unwilling to risk losing state or federal support.

Maclearie had a resolution from his council indicating lack of approval for the reuse plan and homeless assistance submission, which he said was a good plan, but missing vital information.

"I'm very concerned about the COAH numbers that are here," Maclearie said. "Those numbers could be devastating to our community if we had to put up additional housing. We accepted what we have the way the plan was designed, but anything over and above that could be devastating to the taxpayers."

Tarantolo doubted that COAH would be giving the authority firm numbers any time soon.

"If we sit here and wait on the plan, wait for COAH to give us direction, we're not going to get it," he said. "The best we can do is rely on the comments we've gotten from Commissioner Doria."

Commissioner Joseph Doria, of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, has stated in letters cited by authority members that Fort Monmouth should be subject to special treatment in terms of the state-mandated requirement to create affordable housing, but there has been no firm commitment from COAH to do so.

COAH 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 would not generate an increased affordable housing obligation for the fort lands, unless the replacement jobs exceed 5,000.

"We've got to start somewhere," Tarantolo said. "Approving this plan as configured is the first step. We shouldn't expect Fort Monmouth to be the solution to the affordable housing issue that currently confronts us here in the state of New Jersey."

Tarantolo said that the implementation of the plan should take place on a regional basis, with shared ratables and revenues being a mechanism to pay for expenses such as new schools.

Prior to the authority's approval of the final plan, FMERPA heard testimony from the public, urging the panel to vote against it. Both affordable housing advocates and officials who are against additional housing stood up to speak out against the plan.

Tinton Falls Council President Gary Baldwin and Eatontown Council President John Schiels were both opposed to approval of the reuse plan. Tinton Falls Board of Education President Peter Karavites criticized authority members for not rechecking their numbers with schools.

Schiels said his concerns with the plan started at an Aug. 27 FMERPA meeting, when it was initially made public that COAH would not be able to provide FMERPA with the affordable housing obligation for the fort property.

"What you are doing is you don't have a definitive plan and [COAH] can come in and give you something that you may or may not like," Schiels said after the meeting.

Schiels further explained that he requested a special meeting of the Eatontown Borough Council, but it was denied by Tarantolo.

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

In additional to residential development, the plan calls for town centers for Oceanport, Tinton Falls and Eatontown, two 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 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 was reviewed by Gov. Jon Corzine's office for approval before being submitted to the Department of Defense and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where it was due to be submitted by Monday.

Fort Monmouth is scheduled to close in September 2011, when the majority of operations will be moved to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland.

— Staff Writer Daniel Howley contributed

to his story. He can be reached at

dhowley@gmnews.com.