BY LIZ SHEEHAN
Correspondent
The National Park Service (NPS) has given a private developer another year in which to prove it has financing in place to begin the rehabilitation of historic buildings at Fort Hancock.
The extension is the sixth given to Sandy Hook Partners (SHP), headed by James Wassel, of Rumson, by the park service.
The previous six-month extension of SHP’s plan to rehabilitate and lease out buildings at the historic fort expired June 30.
SHP now has until June 2006 to show that it has, in writing, firm financial commitments to complete the first phase of a plan to commercially develop at least 36 buildings at Fort Hancock.
Judith Stanley Coleman, president of Save Sandy Hook, a grassroots group formed to oppose commercialization and privatization on Sandy Hook, said Saturday that it was a “foregone conclusion” that the park service would extend the developer’s deadline.
“Wassel simply does not have the money and never did,” she said. “The lease was never an agreement because no money was shown. It is sheer and utter nonsense that the only way to save Fort Hancock is by commercial development.”
“It seems these extensions are becoming commonplace. I’m concerned the National Park Service continues to have confidence in this failed plan,” said Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-6) in a statement released Tuesday.”I renew my previous call for the park service to terminate its agreement with Sandy Hook Partners so we can work to find an acceptable middle ground.”
Wassel could not be reached for comment on the extension.
The extension comes five years and eight months after SHP responded to a Request for Proposals in November 1999, which required proof of capability to fund the entire project.
The proposal for The Fort at Sandy Hook, a commercial development, was selected in early 2000 by the park service from among almost two dozen others submitted.
The NPS signed a letter of intent with SHP in November 2001, which gave the developer one year to show proof of commitments to finance the entire project.
Another one-year extension was granted in November 2002.
In July 2003, after NPS Northeast Regional Director Marie Rust determined that the privatization of Fort Hancock would not adversely impact “the cultural and natural resources within Sandy Hook,” the developer was given six months to prove he had the financial capability to carry out the proposal. That deadline was moved back by six months in November 2003.
The NPS awarded SHP a lease last July, which gave the developer six months to show proof of firm commitments for financing only phase I of the project. In December, the park service extended that time frame until June 30.
According to Maria Burks, the NPS executive director of the National Parks of New York Harbor, the latest extension is to give Wassel’s firm “a chance to get financing” of the project after the outcome of a lawsuit filed by Save Sandy Hook. The suit filed in December, in U.S. District Court in Trenton, seeks to invalidate the lease awarded to SHP by the park service.
This is the second extension given to SHP by the park service because of the lawsuit. The first was granted in December.
Wassel signed a 60-year historic lease with the NPS last July, which gave him the right to rehabilitate at least 36 of the buildings at Fort Hancock.
Burks said Friday that the park service is confident the developer will assemble the financing and had selected him after a rigorous, intense procedure.
She said the length of the extension was set at a year because the park service is scheduled to file a motion with the court in September and the plaintiff in November.
The latest one-year extension would “allow time” for the court’s decision, she said.
SHP plans to rehabilitate the buildings for commercial offices, overnight accommodations, restaurants, conference centers and educational and research facilities. The lease said the number of buildings covered can be extended at any time by the park service.
The park service has said it does not have the funds to restore the buildings and needs to turn to private investors to do so.
The suit filed by Save Sandy Hook said “the lease will result in degradation of Sandy Hook,” and that the park service was “charged” with providing for the “enjoyment of the park resources and leaving them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”
The suit said that the lease permits “up to 70 percent commercial usage of the buildings leased.”
It also calls for SHP to pay $1.65 per square foot of rent for the buildings, less than the $2.46 that was given as a fair rent by an appraiser hired by the park service.
Under the lease, the developer will pay the square footage rents for up to five years once the lease starts ,and then a percentage of the gross revenues of the buildings.
When the lease was signed by Wassel and the park service last July, the park service declined to release the financial information that the developer had submitted to qualify for the lease.
But the lease required that Wassel provide written evidence that shows he had “obtained commercially reasonably financial commitments from qualified entities” by December 31, 2004, or an extended date agreed upon by the park service “at its sole unreviewable discretion.”
The NPS extended the deadline to June 30 of this year, citing the lawsuit.
SHP’s proposal has met with both opposition and approval.
Opponents include Save Sandy Hook, some local state and national officials such as Rep. Frank Pallone, (D-NJ), the N.J. Chapter of the Sierra Club, the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group, the New Jersey Environmental Federation and the Monmouth County Friends of Clearwater.
Opponents say commercialization of the fort will cause harm to the unique environment at Sandy Hook and exacerbate the already severe traffic problems caused by summer traffic to and from the park.
Those in favor of the plan include the Monmouth County Planning Board, some local and state elected officials and the National Trust for Historic Preservation who say that it is the only way to pay for the preservation of the historic buildings at the fort.