BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer
Eatontown EATONTOWN — Members of the committee exploring future uses of Fort Monmouth after its eventual closing can count on U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) to support their efforts once he becomes governor in January, according to a spokesman for the legislator.
In a Nov. 23 telephone interview, Corzine spokesman David Wald confirmed that the governor-elect has endorsed the Eatontown-based group, known as the Fort Monmouth Reuse Committee (FMRC), in its ongoing endeavor to establish an official redevelopment authority for the closing military base.
Corzine’s support is great enough that the governor-elect plans to ask the lame-duck session of the New Jersey State Legislature to authorize the FMRC to create the local redevelopment authority for the sole purpose of finding new uses for the 1,126-acre base, Wald said.
“The project has to move forward,” Wald said. “[Corzine] wants to see a local redevelopment agency authorized by the New Jersey Legislature.”
In addition, the FMRC’s seven voting members, which include representatives of the fort’s three host communities, namely Eatontown, Tinton Falls and Oceanport, will remain intact even after Corzine takes office on Jan. 1, Wald said.
“The core group will stay,” Wald said.
It is important that the FMRC has the support of the incoming Corzine administration as it moves ahead with plans for Fort Monmouth, according to John Leigh, a program manager from the federal Defense Department’s Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA), who has been working with the committee toward securing government funding.
“We want to have the state’s involvement and keep them informed on this process,” Leigh said after the FMRC’s most recent public meeting on Nov. 18.
The FMRC, created in late August after the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission endorsed the Pentagon’s recommendation to shutter Fort Monmouth by 2011, has a pending application for a $315,000 federal grant before the OEA, according to Eatontown Borough Administrator Michael Trotta, who is also overseeing administrative matters for the committee.
As of Nov. 23, the application had been reviewed for completeness by the OEA, based in Arlington, Va., Trotta said in a telephone interview.
The pending application should be en route to Eatontown for signature by Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo, acting in his capacity as co-chairperson of the FMRC, Trotta continued.
The reviewed application should be received in Eatontown “within two to three weeks,” Leigh said on Nov. 18.
Once Tarantolo signs the completed funding application, it will be returned to the OEA for review. The FMRC will then be notified of any federal funding awarded at some point thereafter, Trotta said.
The actual amount that the FMRC is seeking for starting its work is $350,000. However, the application to the OEA only requests $315,000 in federal funds, Trotta explained.
The remaining $35,000, which is 10 percent of the total $350,000, is expected to come in the form of matching funds from the Smart Growth Program administered through the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA), he noted.
With the $350,000 in hand, the FMRC plans to advertise for requests for proposals (RFPs) from professional planners interested in reviewing future uses for Fort Monmouth’s land and facilities, Trotta said.
Leigh, who has worked with groups similar to the FMRC, indicated that any planning consultants hired by the committee or the redevelopment authority ought to specialize in reinventing closed military installations that have been turned over to their host municipalities for civilian uses.
“The goal is to hire a planning consultant familiar with the base reuse process,” Leigh said.
As the FMRC moves forward, it would apply to the OEA for funding needed to get forthcoming redevelopment authority up and running with a director, legal services, clerical staff, computers, telephone and other business needs, Trotta said.
Leigh confirmed that the OEA will be ready to help the redevelopment authority meet its needs.
“We will provide funding for legal services, staff, computers, telephones, whatever is needed,” he said.
The FMRC has been formed with the intent of setting up the Fort Monmouth Redevelopment Authority (FMRA) as the official agency to be charged with carrying out new construction and uses for the base’s property.
The FMRC’s voting membership also includes Monmouth County Planning Department Director Robert S. Clark, representing the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders.
Virginia Bauer, the state’s secretary of commerce representing the governor’s office, and two private sector members round out the voting membership. Bauer co-chairs the FMRC with Tarantolo.
While no formal plan has been endorsed by the FMRC, a mix of housing, commercial, office and retail is under consideration by committee members.
The FMRC has also mulled luring another government agency, such as the federal Department of Homeland Security, to take up space in the fort property once the current military and civilian work force leaves.
Under the BRAC plan endorsed by the Pentagon, most of Fort Monmouth’s civilian and military work force will be transferred to the Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground by the time the base closes in 2011.

