Oceanport to develop racetrack doomsday plan

Master plan review will include zoning for Monmouth Park site

BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer

With the future of Monmouth Park racetrack unclear, the Oceanport Borough Council has commissioned the borough planner to develop a redevelopment plan should the park close.

The council voted 5-0 at the Oct. 21 meeting to award a contract for $35,000 to borough planner Clark Caton Hintz, Trenton, for a Monmouth Park redevelopment study as the borough prepares to update the master plan.

Council President Joseph Irace said the plan to rezone Monmouth Park is a precaution to protect the borough if the park eventually ceases operation.

“We are updating our master plan to protect the borough should something happen somewhere down the road with Monmouth Park,” he said in an interview. “The borough’s protected so somebody can’t come in there and throw in 3,000 condos.

“This is purely to protect the borough should, down the road, the park be forced to shut down or close, that if someone wants to come in and redevelop it, we have some control over the zoning,” he added.

In September, Democratic legislators held a summit at Monmouth Park to discuss long- and short-term solutions for the horse racing industry, which is experiencing declining revenues and competition from out-of-state racinos and an unstable purse structure.

In view of the uncertain future of horse racing in the state, Irace said the borough would update the entire master plan, specifically zoning of the racetrack property, which hasn’t been done in years.

He said that while the borough is putting protections in place in case the park closes, officials are hoping it doesn’t come to that.

“Obviously it is relatively just a protection to us; what we are more focused on is trying to protect the racetrack,” Irace said. “We don’t want to see anything happen to the racetrack.

“It’s just to go to our planner and say, ‘How should this be zoned so we protect ourselves from having thousands of homes or strip malls?’ ” he added. “What do we envision the area looking like should something happen with the racetrack?”

Irace cited concerns about density and traffic congestion that arose in nearby Eatontown related to a proposal to develop the Old Orchard Golf and Country Club, which Oceanport would like to avoid.

“When they were going to close that down, and they had a plan for all the condos, it didn’t meet [Eatontown’s] master plan,” he said. “So they just shot it down.”

According to borough codes, the permitted uses for Monmouth Park, which is located in the B-2 zone, include horse racing, hotels, motels, eating and drinking establishments, business offices, swimming pools and ice-skating rinks. Golf courses are listed as a special exception use for the zone.

Irace said the borough council is not only buffering the borough from any immediate changes to Monmouth Park, but also for the future.

“Say 10, 20, 50 years, the track closes and someone comes up to the borough and says, ‘We have this plan,’ and somebody who’s in my seat could look at it and say the council decided some years ago that they didn’t want to see that,” he said.

Questions about the future of Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands arose after a state-appointed commission released a 29- page report this summer that made recommendations for the future of gaming and development in the state.

A special advisory commission led by Jon Hanson, former chairman of the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority (NJSEA), which owns and operates Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands, produced the report.

The report listed four options for racing in New Jersey: eliminating harness racing at the Meadowlands; add harness racing to Monmouth Park; lease the Meadowlands to the standardbred horsemen; or privatize both Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands.

However, the report noted Monmouth Park’s value as more than a racing venue.

“Monmouth Park has established itself as a viable summertime family entertainment option that appeals to a broader segment of the public than just big bettors,” the report states.

In addition, Monmouth Park just closed a successful “Elite Meet” summer series that cut the number of racing dates and raised purses in order to attract higher-quality horses and boost attendance.

Irace said the answer to helping the industry would be to put 10,000 slot machines at the Meadowlands.

“If you put slot machines at the Meadowlands, the numbers are amazing,” he said. “It is incredible the amount of money, and to me it is so obvious and so painfully common sense that this is the solution.”

According to Irace, studies show that slot machines would yield about $1 billion in state revenues, and the horsemen would need just $30 million to fund a purse structure.

He also said that the horseracing industry should partner with Atlantic City so that both industries could benefit from implementing slot machines at the Meadowlands.

“You can partner with Atlantic City; nobody is looking to cut Atlantic City out,” Irace said. “The state can figure out how to split the other $970 million.”

Irace said the current fight in the state goes beyond a partisan battle into a more territorial fight.

“It used to be a Democrat-Republican issue, but that’s gone out the window,” he said. “If you look at it now, it is a North- South issue.

“You have Democrats in the north that are pushing for slot machines, and Republicans in the south who are pushing not to have slot machines.”

At the council meeting, Councilman Gerald Briscione cited a study in Pennsylvania following the implementation of a racino in that state in 2004.

According to Briscione, the 2009 study, which was performed by the Pennsylvania Equine Association, shows that the total economic impact from all equine activity rose from $780 million in 2001 to $3 billion in 2008.

Briscione also said that the amount raised from taxes to the state, county and municipalities went from $6.9 million in 2001 to $78.3 million in 2008.

Irace said the study is proof that the state needs to implement racinos at the racetracks to compete with racinos in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York.

“New Jersey’s on an uneven playing field, and it’s not just hurting the horseracing industry, it’s hurting the whole equine industry, because you have the farmers and all that,” he said.

For now, Irace said he would just like some answers for the future of Monmouth Park.

“These things are in limbo right now,” he said. “It just trickles down to everything, and it’s being held up by a couple of people.”

He suggested that the best idea might be to take the decision out of the hands of the legislators and put it to voters in a referendum.

“Let the residents vote. If the residents don’t want it, they don’t want it,” Irace said. “I’d rather have the people decide than a small group of legislators.”

Contact Kenny Walter at [email protected]. ß