The Middletown Planning Board will hear a presentation on redevelopment plans for historic buildings at Fort Hancock on Sandy Hook on Feb. 9 at 7 p.m.
The board extended an invitation to Sandy Hook Superintendent Richard Wells, according to Rosemary Minear, board secretary.
“The consensus was that it was such a public project, the board felt they would like to have a little more information on it,” she said, adding that since the planned development is on federal lands, “normally they would not come before the board.“
The Planning Board meets at the township municipal complex at 1 Kings Highway.
The presentation by Wells will focus on a proposal for The Fort at Sandy Hook submitted by Sandy Hook Partners and chosen by the National Park Service (NPS) for a 60-year historic lease for the rehabilitation of 36 or more historic buildings for a mix of uses.
Save Sandy Hook has filed suit in federal court to block the NPS and the developer from going forward with the development.
Wells said he will be “delighted” to make the presentation to the board, which includes perhaps the most prominent opponent, as well as proponent, of the plan proposed by a private developer.
Board chairwoman Judith Stanley Coleman opposes any privatization or commercialization on Sandy Hook and has formed Save Sandy Hook, a grassroots organization dedicated to keeping Sandy Hook unspoiled by private development. Coleman is president of the Monmouth Conservation Foundation.
Her counterpart in support of the National Park Service plan is board member Mary Lou Strong, who sees the redevelopment as a way to save the historic buildings at Fort Hancock. Strong is also chairwoman of the Middletown Landmarks Commission.