FMERPA to present reuse plan to Eatontown Plan calls for boro to absorb 450 acres of the fort's land BY DANIEL HOWLEY Staff Writer The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority (FMERPA) is expected to present its proposed Fort Monmouth reuse plan to the Eatontown Planning Board on April 21. Renderings of the proposed reuse plan for the FortMonmouth property. The plan calls for creating a new municipal center, an affordable housing complex, a golf course and green space on the Fort Monmouth property that lies within Eatontown. The meeting will be held at Eatontown Borough Hall and will give the borough's Planning Board an opportunity to review the parameters and feasibility of the plan, according to Eatontown Mayor Gerald Tarantolo. "We saw a lot of the things that we were advocating for reflected in the preliminary plan," Tarantolo said about the proposed reuse plan. "We had arranged before we went public with the plan for each town to have the preliminary plan presented to their council members early last week," Tarantolo said. "Our six council members had the benefit of a private screening of the plan, and the general reaction at first showing was that it looked like it was possible, but probably needed some tweaking. "The next step is getting our Planning Board involved," Tarantolo said. In addition to the Planning Board, Tarantolo explained that several other borough agencies will also review the plan. "Essentially, we will have had all of our agencies that are concerned with planning involved with the review of this plan as of April 21," Tarantolo said. FMERPA retained the San Francisco-based consulting firm EDAW Inc. to develop a reuse plan for Fort Monmouth, which was made public on March 19 at Monmouth Regional High School. The plan lays the groundwork for the reuse of the approximately 1,129 acres of land currently occupied by the fort, which is slated for closure in 2011. Plans for the fort's closure call for Eatontown to absorb approximately 450 acres of the fort's land. Both Tinton Falls and Oceanport will absorb the remaining 1,129 acres. The centerpiece of the plan for Eatontown is the acquisition of the fort's Life Cycle Management building, according to Tarantolo. Tarantolo submitted a letter to the Department of Defense, which owns the fort, expressing interest in the borough acquiring the Life Cycle Management building. If approved for acquisition, the borough will use the building as its new municipal center, according to Tarantolo. "[Borough hall] only has 15,000 square feet of office space, and it is unfair to our employees," Tarantolo said. "We are packing them in like sardines. We need more space." The Life Cycle Management building contains approximately 50,000 square feet of office space, according to Tarantolo. "We would have sufficient space in that building to house all borough services, including the police and all other municipal functions," Tarantolo said. "It also has a 650-seat auditorium and a 1,200-seat amphitheatre, so it becomes an ideal municipal center," Tarantolo added. Heating and cooling for the Life Cycle Management building is maintained by a geothermal system located underneath its parking lot, which, according to Tarantolo, would be a source of significant cost savings for the borough. "If we are successful in acquiring that building, we would move out and sell [borough hall] to create a downtown office building," Tarantolo said. Additional possible acquisitions for the borough include the Sun Eagle Golf Course and the currently vacant Howard Commons housing complex. Plans for the Sun Eagle Golf Course call for a possible 150-room hotel and conference center, according to Tarantolo. Plans for Howard Commons call for the site to be redeveloped into affordable agerestricted market housing consistent with the housing currently located in the area, Tarantolo said. "Fort Monmouth closes in September 2011, so everything has to be vacated there by then," he said. Tarantolo said he believes the golf course and the Howard Commons property could be transferred to Eatontown as part of an early conveyance program. "The Sun Eagle Golf Course would be an early conveyance because the military is already thinking of making it a public course this spring," Tarantolo said. Howard Commons would have to be demolished to allow for the construction of the proposed development to begin, Tarantolo explained. The plan unveiled last month by EDAW incorporates the idea of a town center into each of the boroughs that host Fort Monmouth. The town centers would be connected by updated roadways, jitney service and a continuous "blue-green belt" of open space and trails. The reuse plan also proposes to attract "green industry" companies to corporate parks and open up 450 acres of open space by incorporating clustered development. The plan also includes 1,500 units of mixed-income housing, 1.5 million square feet of office space and research and development facilities, two hotels, and the preservation of many of the fort's existing housing and high-tech facilities. Yet it may take as much as two decades to replace the 5,000 jobs that Fort Monmouth will take with it when it closes, and regain the billions of dollars that it pumps into the regional economy. Planners anticipate that about 40 percent of the plan would be realized within 10 years and stated that they would be trying to attract high-tech companies to occupy the facilities and equipment in the existing Myers and McAfee centers. The three host towns are being encouraged to look into sharing services and revenues on Fort Monmouth lands.