Megabase Study Status

Study on military megabase in New Jersey completed

By Edward Colimore

Inquirer Staff Writer

On the negative side, there's the noise of aircraft and artillery. There's the economic disruption of their neighbors' rising and falling fortunes, and traffic headaches such as that caused by the shutdown of a main road after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

But for 10 Burlington and Ocean County towns, the pluses of having McGuire Air Force Base, Fort Dix and Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst in their midst far outweigh the minuses.

The municipalities are seeing local development and job creation spurred by the hundreds of millions of dollars in investment spent on runways, hangars, housing and other projects at the military's 60-square-mile installation, set to become known officially as Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in October.

Military and state and local government officials, who have held high-stakes discussions over their shared future in recent years, last week announced completion of a $300,000 joint land-use study that calls for improved communication and coordination.

"We want to keep the military here," said Brandi Bartolomeo, the study's project manager, who works for PS&S, a Warren, N.J., engineering firm. "It's a huge boost for the economy of New Jersey. And now we have a road map to move forward."

The 333-page study, funded mainly by the Defense Department, provides recommendations to preserve a buffer zone around the base, improve traffic flow, reduce noise, encourage cluster housing developments, and coordinate business development.

The report - involving the nation's only contiguous Air Force-Army-Navy megabase, 10 towns and two counties - is the first of its kind, said Ed Fox, a regional planning coordinator for the Burlington County Economic Development and Regional Planning Department.

More than 22,000 people work at the three bases, which are surrounded by Wrightstown, New Hanover, North Hanover, Pemberton Borough, Pemberton Township and Springfield Township in Burlington County, and by Lakehurst Borough, and Manchester, Jackson and Plumsted Townships in Ocean County.

With creation of the joint installation, "this is an opportune time for all parties to find out where the common issues are," Fox said. "Municipalities don't want incompatible uses, like buildings near artillery or runways."

The study calls for new traffic patterns to offset road closures, possible public transit, and zoning that would impose building-height restrictions near key runways.

Its recommendations seek to protect all parties, said Mark Remsa, director of the Burlington County Economic Development and Regional Planning Department.

"The military encourages communities to do cluster [housing] developments so they don't sprawl" too close to the bases, Remsa said. "These are smaller-lot developments."

Burlington County has preserved tens of thousands of acres of land near the bases and hopes to preserve more.

While some communities, such as New Hanover, hope to protect their rural character with outside funding, built-out municipalities, such as Wrightstown, hope to provide services to the area's growing civilian and military populations.

More than $500 million in construction has begun at the bases with more investment on the way. Wrightstown is planning a multimillion-dollar town center, including a hotel, a restaurant, retailers and possibly medical offices.

"Wrightstown is trying to be a commercial center," said Mayor Tom Harper. "We're looking to complement the bases and benefit the people living around them."

Harper said he would like to see the joint base and municipalities designate liaisons who would be unaffected by changes in political and military leadership.

He also hopes to have an ordinance passed that would require real estate agents to inform prospective home buyers when a house they're looking at is in an area planes and helicopters might fly over.

"The main thing is to stop housing and development so the planes can land comfortably and without bothering people in the houses below them," he said. The military "wants a buffer zone."

The recommendations of the study will be implemented by a committee made up of the affected parties. The municipalities may make changes in master plans and zoning, but are not required to.

"The study is good," Harper said. "Now, it's time to implement it."