Fort deal good for Eatontown’s future

By Coleen Burnett
At the August 24 meeting of the Eatontown Borough Council, things were generally pretty quiet.

So Mayor Dennis Connelly took advantage of a light schedule to again voice his pleasure at the expected Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders vote — which would take place the next day —  that would guaranteeing up to $35 million in notes and bonds to help redevelop Fort Monmouth through the Monmouth County Improvement Authority (MCIA).

During the Freeholders’s Aug. 25 meeting in Ocean Township, the board voted 4-1 to approve the bonds and notes.  Freeholder John Curley was the lone dissenting vote on the board.

The mayor had high praise for the Freeholders, particularly Freeholder Lillian Burry, who sits with Connelly on the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA) and whom he called a “driving force” in getting the measure passed. “This loan should expedite some of the pending sales, along with helping to facilitate faster transactions with the new property sales,” he told the Council.

“As I said prior, this loan came with the stipulation of the transfer of the Avenue of Memories to Monmouth County, with the intent that the roadway would be open for passenger traffic within the next couple of months. The opening of this roadway should not only help ease the traffic on the surrounding roadways, but may also bring interest for the available properties on Fort Monmouth”.

The measure also gives Connelly high hopes for the eventual construction of the proposed mixed-use Town Center along Route 35. Included in that Town Center would be a cultural arts center, which he says would be a centerpiece for the transformation of the Fort.

“The creation of this {center} would help advance the overall vision of the Fort, which is to create a vibrant community where residents can live, work, and play,” he said.