Jones Lang LaSalle


The Next Battle Of Fort Monmouth
By NJBIZ Staff - 3/13/2006

"We’re assembling the best and brightest to steer the Fort Monmouth area to a new tomorrow," says state Senator Ellen Karcher (D-Monmouth), who co-sponsored a bill ( S-1472) to create the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Committee. The 10-member authority would direct the redevelopment of the 1,100-acre site that employs 5,200 people and gets $2 billion in federal project funding a year. The facility is among the U.S. bases that the Defense Department scheduled for closing last year.

The revitalization group, which could issue bonds, would include the mayors of the three towns in which the post is located—Tinton Falls, Eatontown and Oceanport—as well as members appointed by the governor, plus a local business representative and state officials with expertise in labor, environmental and real estate issues.

Criticizing the measure were local officials who worried that the state is taking too much control over redevelopment in their towns. The bill and its assembly companion (A-2692) passed committees last week.