By maura dowgin
Staff Writer
HOLMDEL — The Township Committee is applying for a low-interest state Green Acres loan to help pay for a new park.
Veterans Memorial Park, formerly the Nike Missile Site, is located off Telegraph Hill Road. The park will be adjoining Phillips Park.
Included in the application for the loan is a 50-car parking lot, a memorial area, a picnic grove with an open air pavilion, and a restroom facility, said Bonnie Heard, engineer from T&M Associates, Middletown.
The total proposed cost for the park is approximately $750,000, Heard said.
"The maximum Green Acres low-interest loan is $500,000," Heard said.
The township is applying for a $500,000 loan that would be paid over a period of 20 years at 2 percent interest, said Christopher Schultz, township administrator.
The proposal that will be submitted to the state on April 1 is not the final plan for the park. There can be changes made and things can be moved around, said Mayor Larry Fink.
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Commander and former Mayor Art Davey said he would like to see a building at the park were the VFW can hold meetings.
Anything incorporated into the park must be able to be used for recreation, said Duane Davison, township attorney.
"This property was given to the township, free, from the federal government," Davison said.
The township was given the property with a requirement that the land be used for recreation. If the federal government does not think the use Holmdel chooses is recreation, the deed can be transferred back to the federal government, Davison said.
The government has been "very clear that a stand-alone veterans facility would not be acceptable, but a community building would," Schultz said.
"It’s not going to be a private building. All we’re looking for is a building to have our meetings," Davey said.
The veterans’ building could be seen as recreation because it would be a place for veterans to display artifacts and let children come and learn about the different wars, Davey said.
"It would be better to have a building than a trailer up there with basketball, football or baseball stuff stored," said Garry Aumiller, former mayor and veteran.
People might not go to a building dedicated to veterans when they go to a park, said Terence Wall, township committeeman.
There could be a pavilion that goes along with the veterans theme of the park. The pavilion might be more popular with the people going to the park than a building would be, Wall said.
"There are other ideas that have been talked about and not rejected or accepted. This is a starting point, and these other amendments are things that we’re considering," Fink said.
Plans for Veterans Memorial Park will be reviewed and discussed in more detail at the April 14 workshop meeting, Fink said.
The township does not expect to find out about the state aid until the fall, Schultz said.