Don't let state redevelop Fort Monmouth

By JOHN F. COFFEY II

With more than 1,100 acres of real estate located within the boroughs of Eatontown, Tinton Falls and Oceanport, the Fort Monmouth property is the latest bright, shiny object to attract the attention of the financial and ideological mercenaries populating our state's legislative chambers.


Senate bill S-917 is the most recent and most outrageous attempt by our elected and appointed officials in Trenton to inextricably intertwine themselves with the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth. Boiled down to its essentials, the proposed bill vests the appointed and elected officials of the state — the very same people who begat the Schools Construction Corp., Xanadu and the EnCap disaster — with an almost unfettered ability to dictate how the fort property will be redeveloped.

Notwithstanding the fact that officials in Eatontown, Tinton Falls and Oceanport have a decades-long track record of development acumen and fiscally responsible behavior, the sponsors of S-917, Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, and Sen. Jennifer Beck, R-Monmouth, are steadfast in their belief that the state — an entity whose leaders have demonstrated little or no development acumen and absolutely no fiscal responsibility — is best equipped to manage the redevelopment of the Fort Monmouth property.

Residents of the three host communities and their neighbors to the east should be scared out of their wits by what is about to be visited upon them if the bill becomes law.

The legislation creates yet another authority, the "Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority," gives the state five appointees out of nine on its board and, most disturbingly, grants the N.J. Economic Development Authority politburo-like control over the process. The legislation mandates that the EDA shall not only be the "master redeveloper" of the project, it further directs that the authority be staffed by as many EDA employees as the EDA determines necessary.

Under S-917, the costs associated with the EDA as master redeveloper and staffing agent are to be borne by the authority. Incredibly, if the authority doesn't have the money to pay the EDA, then the legislation calls for — and I am not making this up — the EDA to lend money to the authority so that the authority can pay the EDA. If a layperson tried to impose similar controls and conditions upon a private business, prosecutions under the RICO laws would surely ensue.

Quite simply, S-917 has absolutely nothing to do with the economic revitalization of Fort Monmouth and everything to do with the economic sustenance of the EDA. Indeed, when one considers that the EDA's chairperson would be an appointee to the authority's board, a more accurate title for the bill is "The New Jersey Economic Development Authority Full Employment Act of 2010."

Quite simply, S-917 has absolutely nothing to do with the economic revitalization of Fort Monmouth and everything to do with the economic sustenance of the EDA. Indeed, when one considers that the EDA's chairperson would be an appointee to the authority's board, a more accurate title for the bill is "The New Jersey Economic Development Authority Full Employment Act of 2010."


Given the state of fiscal affairs in Trenton today, that the bill's sponsors could consider the EDA, whose last audit showed an operating deficit in excess of $20 million, a more appropriate entity to oversee the property's redevelopment than the local municipalities is emblematic of their "big government is better" mindset. This "Trenton knows best" mentality is representative of the condescending hubris oozing out of Trenton on a daily basis.

The federal government abandoned us by closing Fort Monmouth. That was bad. The effects of S-917, however, would be much worse. If you are a resident of Oceanport, Tinton Falls or Eatontown, make no mistake: S-917's advocates are trying to take the Fort Monmouth property away from you. They want to apply to Fort Monmouth the same uninspired development strategies, tired social engineering policies and suspect financing schemes that have failed the citizens of New Jersey over the past decade. The redevelopment of Fort Monmouth will take decades and Fort Monmouth must look like the Shangri-La of job security to Trenton's entrenched bureaucrats, lobbyists and politicians.

If the residents of Eatontown, Oceanport and Tinton Falls fail to speak up immediately and voice their objections to this proposed bill, they only have themselves to blame. They should be inundating their elected local, county and state officials with phone calls, e-mails and letters directing them to fight tooth and nail to keep S-917 from becoming law. Failing that, one can only hope that Gov. Chris Christie has the good sense to stop this ham-handed legislative attempt at eminent domain by another name when he is asked to sign it into law.

John F. Coffey II, an Oceanport resident, was co-chair of Oceanport's Economic Development Committee prior to the creation of the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority.