The National Park Service will hold an open house and public meeting June 1 at the Sandy Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area to discuss plans for the rehabilitation and adaptive use of the historic buildings at Fort Hancock.
Activities will be held at the Fort Hancock Post theater. An open house to allow the public to see some of the historic buildings proposed for rehabilitation will be held from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. The public meeting will be from 1-3 p.m. Parking at Fort Hancock for those attending the open house of public meeting is free.
The meeting will begin with a brief presentation by the National Park Service on the rehabilitation plans for Fort Hancock. Following the presentation, a panel will take public comments and respond to questions. The public is invited to make a statement or ask questions of the panel about the Fort Hancock plan. Statements or questions will be limited to three minutes. Members of the public may sign up to participate beginning at 10 a.m. on the morning of the meeting. Written comments of any length may be submitted at the open house or public meeting or mailed to the park any time before June 15.
The seven-person panel will consist of Michael Alderstein, associate regional director of the Northeast region of the National Park Service; William Alexander, managing director of the Sol C. Snyder Entrepreneurial Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; Betsy Barrett, trustee of the Sandy Hook Foundation; Frank Corrado, traffic operations engineer at the Federal Highway Administration; Dr. Mary Foley, chief scientist, Northeast Region of the National Park Service; Dorothy Guzzo, New Jersey State Historic preservation officer; and Russel J. Wilson, Sandy Hook superintendent. Kay Jensen of the League of Woman Voters will moderate.
"Sandy Hook is a wonderful place, and our responsibilities are to protect all of its resources," stated Russ Wilson, NPS Sandy Hook Unit superintendent. "Public participation is an essential part of the process."
Twenty-two proposals for leasing landmark buildings at Fort Hancock were received in response to an August 1999 request for proposals. After a comprehensive evaluation process, proposals submitted by the Sandy Hook Partners and the American Littoral Society were selected for lease negotiations. These two proposals, along with the terms of the draft lease, were made available for public review April 20. The remaining 20 proposals, which were not selected and are not part of the plan defined in the environmental assessment, were released May 10. To protect confidentiality, some proprietary business information was not released.
The environmental assessment prepared by the National Park Service outlines proposed preservation treatments for Fort Hancock’s landscape and grounds, and the adaptive rehabilitation of 97 nationally significant landmark buildings located at the core of the fort. These include 60 buildings that will continue to be used by the National Park Service and its current education partners, as well as 37 predominantly vacant buildings proposed for rehabilitation (through leasing) as a mixed-use campus of education, office and hospitality functions.
The assessment was originally released for public review and comment Feb. 15. From the outset of the public review, there has been great interest with more than 1,000 people attending one of three earlier open houses or the first public meeting. The National Park Service hosted an earlier public meeting April 20 and has provided individual briefings to more than 30 organizations.
The environmental assessment is available online at www.littoralsociety.org. Individual copies of the assessment may also be purchased at cost for $5 at the Sandy Hook visitor center, or by writing to the superintendent with checks payable to the National Park Service.
The assessment, as well as the 22 proposals submitted through the request for proposal and the draft lease, are also available for review at the Sandy Hook Park visitor center from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily and at select Monmouth County libraries. Individual copies may be obtained from the Park superintendent’s office at the cost of reproduction.
The National Park Service is continuing to work with the Federal Highway Administration and New Jersey State Transportation planners in the development of a traffic study that is slated to be available by June 1.
Written comments on the assessment will be accepted through June 15, and may be sent to Superintendent, Sandy Hook Unit, Gateway National Recreation Area, P.O. Box 530, Fort Hancock 07732. For more information, call (732) 872-5910.