Action Required NOW
By Mayor Michael Halfacre, Fair Haven
Right in our own backyards the United States Navy, with complicity from Representative Rush Holt (D12-NJ) is opening a doorway to potential terrorist activity, millions of dollars in local taxpayer obligations, putting the health and safety of future residents at risk, and stressing to the point of breaking local schools.
Pursuant to the provisions of a Lease entered into in 1988 between the Navy and a private developer, the Navy plans on opening to the public roughly 300 housing units located in the “Laurelwood Housing Area” off of Route 34 in Tinton Falls. The lease calls for the housing to be open to the public until 2040, when it will be demolished and removed from the area.
There is currently open, until January 23rd, a comment period for comments to the “Draft Environmental Impact Statement” relating to the construction of a new access road through secured areas of Earle to reach the housing complex. The “D-EIS” looks at four options, and pays lip service to a fifth, the “No Action Option”.
The comments page can be found here:
http://www.laurelwoodeis.com/Comments.aspx
The Draft EIS can be found here (400 pages):
http://www.laurelwoodeis.com/EisDocument.aspx
Any objective reader will realize that the “No Action Option” is in reality the only viable action. This conclusion is not due to the access road options being untenable, but rather it is due to the very idea of opening this area to unrestricted public access. The Lease Agreement calls for the 300 residences to be given unimpeded access to the public, with no background checks. The area will essentially be an unsecured donut hole, with the highly classified ordnance operations of Earle the donut.
Less than 300 feet from the homes will be munitions bunkers, less than 200 feet from the homes are toxic waste sites. There are currently 29 toxic waste sites in proximity to the housing complex.
The plan will put untold numbers of students into local schools, costing millions in taxpayer dollars. The potential residents of the complex could be exposed to environmental containments, as well as the specter of terrorist activity.
Fortunately, there are residents who have formed a Committee to oppose the opening of the base housing to unrestricted civilian access, and they raise a number of significant issues. Their website, http://www.orgsites.com/nj/nope/ is a must-read for residents of Monmouth County.
The No Action Option urged by NOPE relies upon a reading of the Lease Agreement allowing the United States Government to terminate or suspend the lease provisions in the event of a declaration of a national emergency. Former President Bush has renewed a national emergency declaration every year since 9/11/2001. There is, therefore, a legal justification for cancelling the lease agreement. NOPE sets forth a very strong financial analysis for doing so as well.
However, to date, there has been no move by the United States Navy to discuss the option. Further, Congressman Rush Holt has been completely ineffective in addressing resident’s concerns. The Asbury Park Press reported in December:
Many residents have bitterly opposed the plans, citing a potential huge impact to the school system and security concerns.
Holt repeatedly said he was working on the issue and had been consulting with both the Navy and state leaders to come to an agreement that would benefit everyone. He declined to discuss strategy, however.
Bill Holobowski, co-chairman of NOPE — Neighbors Opposed to Privatization of Earle — said he was nonplussed with Holt's answers.
"I didn't get anything here tonight," Holobowski said, adding that he hoped the entire state congressional delegation could come together and speak with one voice in opposition to the Navy's plans.
This, unfortunately, is what residents of the 12th Congressional District in New Jersey are left with: “I’m working on it.”
I urge all residents of Monmouth County to go to the comments page and post their opposition to the plan to open Earle to civilian housing. Our security is at stake, both financial and otherwise.
Posts
23 comments:
You're not being fair here Mayor. Colts Neck, Tinton Falls and Rep. Chris Smith, along with NOPE have been working on this for years with no movement by either the Navy or the owner of the property. They are still in litigation, along with trying to work something out. Rep. Holt, along with Rep.Smith have tried to come to some kind of agreement with the Navy, even going so far as to bring it to Armed Services Committee for review, but to no avail. So, its kind of disingenuous of you to single out Rep. Holt as the person that hasn't gotten anywhere.
Unless, of course, you are starting on your campaign to unseat him....but that would be too transparent...wouldn't it?
Hey Art, I notice a theme here. Sounds like Halfacre has some plans...
Ambrosia, you really are showing blind partisanship here. Ask any of your fellow CN Dems if Holt has ever even return their phone calls on this matter.
Rush Holt has made it very clear that he refuses to help. He would not attend A SINGLE MEETING in Washington D.C. that Smith set up with the Navy or the Dept. of the Interior. His arrogant refusal to fight for his district will be his demise.
I second anonymous above. Multiple sources have said that Holt is compeltely absent on this matter. Ft. Monmouth, ditto.
Americas most liberal Congressman, doing nothing for his District.
As a member of the Tinton Falls Bd of Ed I have been very active on this issue. Mayor Halfacre is correct.
Chris Smith has worked very hard for his constituents in Colts Neck.
Congressman Holt's office on the other hand has specifically refused to support the position of NOPE and has offered no alternative solution to the people of Tinton Falls despite our request for his assistance.
I thank Mayor Halfacre for his support on this issue.
Halfacre should run.
Ohhh...now there's an unbiased opinion...Michael Laffey...Chair of the Tinton Falls Republican Party. Is it any wonder why you would blast Holt?
c'mon, people have been working on this for years so it really is unfair to single out Rep. Holt. The Navy isn't budging, and neither is the owner of the property. It could all be resolved with $20MM or so. Just buy her out, but the Feds will not come up with that money. And its for the security of the surrounding municipalities.
Someone should tell Halfacre that Bateman plans to run again..
Although we all know the Mayor would be a better option than the former Deputy Mayor.
Exactly. Bateman did a terrible job. Maybe a primary would get some attention for the Republicans. They have ignored a district that should be ripe for the plucking for too long.
The Navy, so far, has not seen the local concerns as sufficiently great enough for them to break or alter a contractual agreement with the developer. I disagree with them. The Navy, however, is rigid, even stubborn. They show little interest in the burden on the taxpayers, and they are confident in their own security calculations. I understand and am sympathetic to the concerns of my constituents who are affected by this. Whatever the Mayor’s motives are in castigating me, he need not be concerned. He can tell the residents of Fair Haven they will not be affected in any material way. Excessive statements about my “putting the health and safety of residents at risk” are silly and not helpful.
Rush Holt
Art, I received this today from Rush Holt's office. It shows that he does care and has been involved in this issue for some time now...I would appreciate it if you could post it up as a rebuttal to Mayor Halfacre taking Congressman Holt to task for not doing anything. Clearly, this shows that he has been working behind the scenes to help out with the problem facing Tinton Falls and Colts Neck. Frankly, the only reason I can see Mayor Mike getting involved is completely self - serving and designed to start the process of garnering the nomination for the 12th district.
Rep. Rush Holt sent the following letter to Secretary B.J. Penn, the current manager of installations for the Department of the Navy. He also submitted these comments in response to the draft Environmental Impact Study (EIS) that the Department of the Navy released at the end of 2008. The Navy released the EIS in regard to its recent decision to open approximately 300 housing units to the public in 2010. Holt has voiced concern about the plan adversely affecting the residents of the local towns.
The Honorable B.J. Penn
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations and Environment)
1000 Navy Pentagon
Washington, DC 20350-1000
Dear Secretary Penn:
I am writing to submit my public comments on the Environmental Impact Study recently released by your office in regards to the Laurelwood Housing Complex at Naval Weapons Station Earle and more broadly to share my concerns about the status of this project.
Repeatedly over the last year, my constituents have voiced their concerns over security, schools, infrastructure, and the environment with respect to the Navy’s plan for the housing complex. Although the Navy’s plan to open several hundred housing units to the public is ostensibly designed to save the nation’s taxpayers’ money, if implemented it would have the opposite effect.
First, the existing Navy plan would keep these homes on federal land, thus depriving local and county governments of the tax revenue necessary to pay for crucial first responder services, utilities, and the schooling of local families.
Currently in my district, most notably in Tinton Falls, the Monmouth Regional School District educates several dozen military children from Earle and nearby Fort Monmouth. With the impending closure of Fort Monmouth, this school district is making contingency plans for the future and will continue to be concerned about the need to educate hundreds of civilian children that the Colts Neck school district still does not accept. Well within state law, the Colts Neck School District is not required to educate any children from Earle although the housing is within Colts Neck boundaries. It is my understanding that this will lead to a legal battle, probably costing the affected towns millions of dollars in taxpayer funds.
Within the next year, the New Jersey Department of Transportation, along with the county and local governments, will be required to assist the Navy in building an access road across wetlands to the housing complex. Again, this will cost the townships to assist in the construction of these roads, police the territory and/or legally fight the construction of the project.
While these issues are of great importance, a perceived lack of security for the housing complex is the paramount concern of the citizens who contact me about this issue. Constituents of the 12th District and nearby Colts Neck feel that the decision to open this housing to civilians without security clearances or continued monitoring could put the base at risk. Many cite the local terrorist plot against Fort Dix as an example of the kind of threat they fear. I ask the department to reconsider its decision on the housing complex and to work with me to find an equitable resolution to this issue. I ask that you meet with me in Washington to discuss this in more detail
I appreciate your willingness to continue the dialogue on this important issue, and I look forward to hearing your reply.
Sincerely,
Rush Holt
U.S. Representative (NJ-12)
Allow me to set the record straight.
I am not currently the Chairman of the Tinton Falls Republican party and in fact I am not currently involved in politics other then being a member of the board of Education.
In fact I have at times been at odds with members of the Republican party over the issue of where the children of this proposed development would attend school and I worked with the previous state legislative delgation, who were Democrats, in order to protect Tinton Falls.
I have consistantly put the intrests of Tinton Falls above partisan politics and I resent Mr Ambrosias implication that I am being untruthful. I stand by my previous factual statement.
Mayor, please get your facts straight. Rt. 34 in COLTS NECK not Tinton Falls
Rush, in the event that any of the the nuclear weapons at Earle are activated, and yes, they are there, despite the Navy's security minded denials, all the residents of Fair Haven will be affected in a very unfortunate way. They will all be dead. Hope that information is helpful.
I am pleased that the Congressman has listened to his constituents and has now taken a public stand against the Earle housing plans.
The Navy may like the idea from a fiscal perspective but it is bad for the surrounding towns. Tinton Falls has been supportive of the Navy for many years and we are now asking that they be a good neighbor and drop this plan.
Rick,
When was Holt's letter dated?
I hope the Congressman has done more on this issue than writing a letter. I'd like to hear more about what he has done before I post the letter on the front page "as a rebuttal."
In my mind, the letter is very weak.
Someone should call whine-one-one for a whaaaaambulance for Holts hurt feelings. Give us a break, Congressman. A little late to the party now, aren't you?
Holy Cow, that's a wuss-ass letter. Do Holt and Ambrosia think that letter helps their argument that Holt is fighting for his district? WEAK.
We'll see if Rush Holt cares enough to go to this forum:
http://app.com/article/20090123/NEWS01/901230356/1004/NEWS01
I'll bet he doesn't show.
I would also bet he is a little worried about a Halfacre run, if there is one. Otherwise, why would a six term incumbent worry about some small town mayor posting on a silly little blog?
Good Luck in 2010 to whomever the Republican candidate is.
Rep. Holt
When you say something like "well within state law" it shows that you have not done your homework and just act like you did. It also shows you are willing to sell Tinton Falls down the drain. Maybe you should meet with someone from TF before you write such letters.
Well, Rush missed the forum today. Someone on his behalf handed out that letter, dated yesterday. If nothing else, Halfacres peice got him to do something. Everyone I spoke to said that Rush has been arrogant in his refusal to help, saying it is only a NIMBY issue. It was a universal opinion in the room that Holts sucks.
Halfacre and Bateman were both there, but Bateman cut out early. Halfacre was still there when I left after two hours. They didn't speak to each other.
With all due respect Congressman Holt, whats silly and unhelpful is your half hearted, passionless pseudo-sympathy for your constituents and your waving of the surrender flag because the Navy is "stubborn".
It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you really sympathized with your constituents, you'd be building the case that between the costs of increased security and the costs to build roads across wetlands and move the yellow bellied sapsucker (or whatever endangered species lives on the base)that the Navy would be better off just buying out the developer.
You know...like Chris Smith is doing.
My apologies for showing up late to the party, but I just ran into this site via a Google search and agree wholeheartedly with the mayor's commentary. I am chairman of NOPE and a Tinton Falls resident, and can assure you that the initial post is on the money; and Mr. Laffey has no political agenda here as some of you would suggest. Rep. Holt, though he responded to the D-EIS at my group's urging, would rather work his own angles with the Department of Navy rather than unite with Rep. Smith and the rest of the NJ delegation in protecting the obvious interests of NJ constituents - security (e.g. anti-terrorism) first and foremost, but our financial and environmental well being as well. Therein lies the problem - partisan politics continue to get in the way of effective leadership and what is best for US. I've never met Mr. Halfacre, but encourage him to continue to drum up opposition to the Navy's plan at Earle - which will cost Monmouth County taxpayers (namely Tinton Falls) at least $300 million thru 2040; and that's a low-ball estimate. Mr. Holt's excuse of the Navy being "stubborn" is weak, and yet another passive response focused at winning elections rather than doing what is right. I encourage anyone that wants to discuss the issue to email me or call me at 732.322.0130, and thank Mayor Halfacre for his frank commentary.
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