Ben Garrison, of Central Jersey Mechanic in Long Branch, installs a water line for public showers as part of the temporary shelter accommodations at the Monmouth Park grandstand in Oceanport on Nov. 10. The racetrack is being used to provide temporary shelter for residents displaced by superstorm Sandy. PHOTOS BY ERIC SUCAR staff On Saturday, Nov. 10, workers were busy converting the grandstand at Monmouth Park racetrack in Oceanport to provide shelter for 1,500 Shore residents displaced by Oct. 29 superstorm Sandy.
“Yesterday, the governor’s emergency team asked us if we could house 1,500 people in Monmouth Park’s grandstand,” said Dennis Drazin in a Nov. 9 interview.
“So we are setting that up today,” said Drazin, advisor to the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and Darby Development, operators of the racetrack.
“The 1,500 people we are going to house on a couple of floors on the grandstand, and they are setting up showers,” he added. “It is kind of amazing how quickly it has become the control center for the whole area.”
Bruce McPhillips, of Disaster Management, works on the water line for the public showers being installed at the grandstand. Drazin estimated the grandstand could be used for shelter into March.
Along with the converted grandstand housing, there are about 4,000 people sheltered in large tents set up on the Monmouth Park parking lot.
“It started with the utility companies coming in, and we had all their trucks and people there,” Drazin said. “Then the Red Cross came in and [Federal Emergency Management Agency] FEMA came in and ‘tent city’ came in and took over the whole parking lot.
“It’s amazing, they came in and put those up in a day,” he added. “They are big, they look like circus tents but they are more secure than that.”
He said food is being cooked in the tents and will be served in the grandstand.
Drazin noted that the park was used as a temporary shelter in 2011 following Hurricane Irene.
“They came in here because they have come to us before during Hurricane Irene,” he said. “The governor’s emergency team contacted us and asked if they could utilize our space.
“We told them, ‘Anything we can do to help.’ Originally they tried to go up to MetLife Stadium and use those parking lots, and they were rejected by the football teams.” According to Drazin, evacuees have been sheltered at the park since the day after Sandy struck the Shore area.
He also said park administration is working hand-in-hand with the state in running the shelter.
“This is all being coordinated through the governor’s efforts,” Drazin said. “We basically told them that anything they need, we are happy to put our needs aside and service the community.
“We take it upon ourselves to try to provide relief to those who are in need,” he added. “We think that is our first priority and we want to be right out in front of this effort.”
According to Chris McKniff, spokesperson for FEMA, the goal is to filter people out of the temporary shelter as quickly as possible.
“This is a temporary shelter and we have a community relations team and an individual assistance team that are registering people to see if we can move them through our transitional sheltering program,” McKniff said. “So it would be from here into hotels and motels and then into transitional housing through rental properties.
“We want it to be as temporary as possible. That is why we are aggressively working with shelter residents to register them into the federal system,” he added. “Once they do that we can put them into the transitional housing program.”
He said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and state and local officials are currently assessing both the housing needs of those displaced and housing availability in the area.
McKniff also said it is crucial for FEMA workers to be onsite at the shelter.
“We have teams in here who are actively getting people registered,” he said. “We are doing a lot of operations here on the ground as far as working with people to get them into the federal system as a registered applicant.”
According to McKniff, the goal is to move people from the shelter into transitional hotel and motel rooms and eventually into rental properties.
“When we look to housing needs we look at where people can stay for the transitional period,” he said. “That is why we will look at rental properties, so homeowners can get FEMA rental assistance for the near future while they are either rebuilding their homes or doing repairs to their homes.”
McKniff explained the shelter grew from housing out-of-state utility workers to becoming a full-fledged shelter.
“It’s a state-run shelter, they’ve contracted with a company to erect it and facilitate it,” he said. “It initially was a shelter that was housing emergency responders and now it is also housing electrical crews and linesmen as well as evacuees.”
Drazin said the shelter will delay redevelopment of the park’s amenities including a proposed hotel, boardwalk area, waterpark and restaurants.
He added that hosting the shelter outweighs the delay for construction.
“We think our first priority is trying to service the community,” Drazin said. “The disaster relief will obviously delay us on trying to start the projects we planned.
“We think given the fact that the state has given us this lease and given us the opportunity [to run the park] now we want to give back,” he added. “Part of giving back is trying to do whatever you can for those in need and I can’t think of a needier time in our state than what we are experiencing right now.”
Drazin also said the park facilities suffered some damage from the storm but the horses and workers at Monmouth Park were safe.
To access FEMA assistance, call the hotline at 1-800-621-3362. Residents can also visit the recovery office in the Leonardo section of Middletown at 946 Route 36.