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Ocean County Enjoys Federal Windfall; Will Study Military Base Protections
By Bill McLaughlin
OCEAN COUNTY - What would you do if someone called and offered you $325,000, no questions asked?
The proviso is that you have to accept the funds by September 1. That's what the Federal Aeronautics Administration offered Ocean County administrators.
And they said, ''Thank you very much.''
So, with the check already in the mail, the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders announced recently that the money would be used to fund a crosswind runway project already on the drawing board.
"They called and said 'we have $325,000 we can make available on one condition,'" Freeholder Joseph H. Vicari told the audience at the group's public meeting. "They said, you have to take the money by September or not at all.'"
So the freeholders had to formally vote to accept the windfall. The vote was unanimous in favor.
Since the federal government is on an October to September fiscal year, he explained, unspent money at the end of the budget cycle needed to be accounted for.
Along the same lines, the freeholders amended the 2007 budget to reflect $270,000 in additional funds as the result of a federal grant to study how military bases, private industry and civilian housing could peacefully co-exist.
Freeholder Director John Kelly said the county engineering department had already formulated a plan that was currently under review.
"We're meeting with military representatives next week," Kelly said, "to discuss the plan."
Government representatives of Ocean and Burlington counties, municipalities abutting Fort Dix, McGuire Air Force Base and Naval Engineering Station Lakehurst and ranking military will have active roles in developing a master plan for future growth in the area.
In the announced closing of other military outposts, the creeping growth of businesses, industry and housing around the bases were cited as prime reasons for closure. If the plan is agreeable to all, there would be areas to serve as buffer zones between military bases and civilian uses.
Ocean County has been buying undeveloped lands in proximity to military installations in recent years to serve as buffer zones.
The study was funded 90 percent, or $270,000, by the federal government and 10 percent by Ocean County.
"This is important," Kelly said. "We worked to keep this base open for years."
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