Save Sandy Hook wants court to delay ruling Group asks court to wait for results of gov't investigation BY LIZ SHEEHAN Correspondent TRENTON - A group formed to block commercial development on Sandy Hook has asked a federal court to hold off ruling on its lawsuit while the federal government investigates a developer's lease for buildings on Fort Hancock. Lawrence Lutrell, the attorney for Save Sandy Hook, Friday asked Judge Mary L. Cooper of the U.S. District Court to wait for the results of an investigation into the lease by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of the Interior before ruling on its suit to overturn the lease agreement. The grassroots organization was formed to block development at the fort and sued to overturn the 60-year lease granted to James Wassel, head of Sandy Hook Partners, to commercially develop a portion of historic Fort Hancock. SSH filed the suit in December 2004, five months after Wassel, a Rumson resident, signed a lease with the National Park Service that permitted him to renovate at least 36 buildings on the fort and use them as offices, restaurants, overnight accommodations, conference centers and educational and environmental facilities. After hearing the case in June 2006, Cooper issued an opinion in July 2006 that dismissed the suit but gave the plaintiffs time to appeal her decision. Lutrell, Atlantic Highlands, filed an amended complaint. On Friday, Cooper heard Lutrell, Assistant U.S. Attorney Irene Dowdy, who represents the DOI and the park service, and Ronald Heksch, Wassel's attorney, present their arguments in the lawsuit at the Federal District Court, Trenton. Heksch said Wassel had been delayed for three years already in proceeding with the development because lenders would not make a commitment for funding before the suit is decided. "He can't get funding with the lawsuit pending," he said. Wassel was chosen by the park service to develop the Fort Hancock buildings in early 2000 and since that time has received several extensions of the time in which he was required to prove he has the financial means to carry out his proposal. On July 30, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6) said that the inspector general "had agreed to investigate Sandy Hook Partners' lease agreement to redevelop Fort Hancock." Wassel formed Sandy Hook Partners (SHP) to carry out his proposal at the fort. The company has occupied a building at the fort for several years and recently began renovations on several buildings. In Pallone's announcement, he said he requested the investigation because "for three years, I have voiced serious concerns about why this agreement was signed when SHP never demonstrated its ability to come up with the necessary funding." At court on Friday, Lutrell said the uses of the buildings, including for corporate retreats, proposed in the Wassel plan did not conform with the goals that the national park system was created to fulfill, these being outdoor recreation and wildlife conservation. Fort Hancock is part of the Sandy Hook Unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area. Lutrell said that under the Wassel plan, only 30 percent of the renovated buildings had to be for educational use. Congress had never contemplated such use of Sandy Hook when it handed the land over to the park service, Lutrell said. Heksch said that SSH had "no substantial arguments" concerning the uses proposed by Wassel, but "doesn't like them." "It's our backyard, we like it the way it is. We don't want it to change," is what SSH is saying, Heksch said. Lutrell also asked Cooper for an injunction to halt work that Wassel has begun on three buildings at the fort: the chapel, the theater and the former park headquarters, now occupied by SHP. In June, Richard Wells, superintendent at Sandy Hook, said the U.S. Attorney's Office had assured him that there was no barrier to Wassel working on the buildings, despite the federal lawsuit. Last month, SSH sought an injunction to halt the work being done by Wassel.