Mayors object, but ebola plan is extended three months

By Coleen Burnett
Over objections from local mayors, the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority voted to continue to let a site in Eatontown be used as a potential quarantine area for ebola patients.
It was a busy June meeting at FMERA, with votes on that issue, and several potential developments in Oceanport.
The board passed a resolution extending the Memorandum of Understanding between the group and the New Jersey Department of Human Services (DHS) — the state will continue housing asymptomatic, out of state travelers exposed to the ebola virus in the Megill Circle area of Eatontown.

But FMERA, mindful of the wide dislike of the arrangement by residents and politicians alike, reached a compromise where the area may be used only until September 15, after which DHS must find a new site.

Human Services had requested the arrangement be continued until the end of 2015.

No one has ever been housed at the location, which sits near the Suneagles Golf Course. Eatontown Mayor Dennis Connelly, Oceanport Mayor Michael Mahon and Tinton Falls Mayor Gerald Turning all voted against the plan. The three are all members of the FMERA board, but comprise a minority of it.

Timing is essential — it’s expected that FMERA will begin accepting bids for the purchase of Suneagles, which includes 10 acres of property, sometime in July. Tours of the area are scheduled to begin in mid-September.
“We are confident that this short-term extension will not affect FMERA’s process for {purchase of} the golf course,” FMERA Board Bruce Steadman said.

The rest of the meeting concerned three properties in Oceanport. Two properties received approvals of their Purchase and Sale Agreements, while a third went up for sale for the first time.
The Board finalized the sale of