Rebuilding: Fort Monmouth – Part 1

Fort Monmouth was, at one point, a military base of strategic importance to the United States due to its proximity to New York City, Trenton, and Philadelphia. The fort specialized in communications and surveillance which rose to paramount importance in a post-September 11th world.

I grew up down the road from Fort Monmouth about a mile away from one of the main entry gates. I remember many nights, especially in the summer time, hearing “Taps” play at dusk. I played soccer games as a boy against the team from Fort Monmouth, travelling into the base to play on the fields there.

I recall as a child feeling safe during the Cold War years with the Soviet Union, that if they tried to strike on our soil, I lived down the road from a fortress. It helped me to sleep better at night.

Now, that has all changed, because Fort Monmouth was closed after 94 years of  operation in September 2011 (www.app.com).  The closure caused the loss of over 5,000 jobs, most of which were highly skilled positions, from the local economy.

The redevelopment of the former military base has been an evolving situation which I have followed earnestly through the local and regional news sources over the years since the BRAC ruling was announced. It certainly has been and continues to be a very fluid scenario, with several groups involved, each with their own distinct views, on how the massive site should be used moving forward.

This article series will explain the process behind the rebuilding of the former Fort Monmouth site. It will detail the plans for the site and update the changes to those plans. The political, social, and economic factors involved in the redevelopment of the fort will be presented as well as my own perspective being a life-long resident of the area as the base has transitioned over the years.

Overview

The former Fort Monmouth site encompasses a huge area of 1,126 acres spread across two tracts of land spanning through three towns in central New Jersey (www.app.com). The two tracts of land involved are:

1.     Charles Wood area – land which runs through the towns of Tinton Falls and Eatontown

2.     Main Post area – land which runs through the towns of Oceanport and Eatontown

The post has 350 buildings on it currently, and according to the BRAC guidelines, the U.S. Army is not allowed to demolish any of the buildings on the site. The cost of demolition would have to be covered by a developer, and the townships involved would have to approve the appropriate permits involved for the demolition (www.fortmonmouthredevelopment.com).

Governor Christie, via legislation enacted in the New Jersey State Assembly, established a unique public-private sector partnership commission to oversee all aspects of the rebuilding of the site. The commission is known as the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (F.M.E.R.A.) and it was initiated in August 2010 with a focus on the economic growth and development of the former military installation (www.nj.gov).

The entity is primarily tasked with finding ways to innovatively reuse the land that was once a testing ground for the U.S. Department of the Army known for engineering as well as research and development on highly technological equipment. The prototype for radar, night vision devices, portable radios, computers, and helmet radios were all developed at Fort Monmouth (www.app.com).

Fort Monmouth was also instrumental in the development and testing of the Cold War era “Star Wars” space weapons systems which were never utilized. I still remember President Ronald Reagan giving speeches about this defense system, without realizing at the time that these weapons were being made down the road from my home at the fort.

Economic Impact

The base had significant impact for the local economy in Monmouth County and the entire state. In particular toward the final years of operation there, Fort Monmouth had more civilian employees than military personnel (www.defense.gov). The civilians worked either worked for the military or for a defense contractor.

I know people who lost their jobs because of the closure of the fort, and they have experience with high technology equipment or systems. They have had difficulty finding comparable work because those types of jobs do not exist in the current economy in New Jersey.   

In fact, The Asbury Park Press, reported on the impact of the base closure in a series of articles in June 2007. The report estimated the cost of closing Fort Monmouth and moving the operations as well as the research and development functions to Aberdeen, Maryland had doubled from the original figure of $780 million to $1.5 billion.

That same report also concluded that the cost of the base closure to the New Jersey economy would be $3.3 billion. Many residents and community organizations protested the closure, and many more still do not understand why such a vital military installation with state of the art equipment in a key strategic location on the Eastern seaboard would be closed.

The redevelopment of the entire former fort site, all 1,100 plus acres, is expected to take twenty years and FMERA estimates could bring in $100 million, which would be evenly split between FMERA and the Department of the Army.

The original plan for the site, which was commissioned by the entity which preceded FMERA, took three years to develop and called for $1 billion in construction and renovation on the site (www.app.com).

The plan called for 2 million square feet of space for non-residential use and 800,000 square feet of residential development over a 20 year period. This original land reuse plan centered upon a medical facility, office space, a hotel, and 1,500 residences (www.app.com).

However, the 2008 economic recession and the landfall of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 have compelled FMERA to make a number of changes to the plan for the redevelopment of the site in the future. The committee has decided to shift their philosophy on rebuilding the site toward a scenario where they will respond to proposals they receive from developers and prospective property buyers rather than have rigorous usage requirements for specific blocks of land.

The next part in our series will cover the sale of land to a technology company and the shifting priorities involved in the FMERA plan for redeveloping the site.