By Liz Sheehan
SANDY HOOK – As the National Park Service (NPS) continues negotiations with potential lessees for three of the 32 buildings available for leasing at Fort Hancock, Middletown Township and the park service are working to come to an agreement on what local levies would be put in place on the properties. The properties may be used as residences, offices or commercial use at the historic fort in the Sandy Hook Unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area.
Sandy Hook, although not within Middletown’s borders, is considered to be a section of the township but has a Highlands mailing address.
At a recent Fort Hancock 21st Century Advisory Committee meeting held in the chapel at the fort, a proposal was made that would determine the values of the buildings for local levies purposes, and what abatements would be put in place. The committee was formed by the Secretary of the Interior in 2012 to determine the future of the fort.
Asked to comment on the proposal as set forth in the minutes of the advisory committee meeting, Middletown Township Administrator Anthony Mercantante said last week “that it was a proposed idea, and had not been decided.”
According to the minutes of the meeting, the values of the three categories of buildings per square foot would be $150 to $225 for residential properties; $150 to $225 for commercial and bed and breakfast use; and $175 to $250 for office use.
The final value of the buildings after renovation would be discounted by 55 percent to account for extraordinary costs of construction, lack of land value, and services provided by the landlord (NPS).
There would be no levy for the first five years on the buildings. But in year six, 20 percent would be due; in year seven, 40 percent; in year eight, 60 percent; in year nine, 80 percent and the full levy would be charged in the tenth year.
An example of the proposal was given for a bed and breakfast facility of 6,000 square feet with a value of $200 a square foot for a total of value of $1,200,000 that would be discounted by 55 percent to $660,000.
With the Middletown Township tax rate of $2.18 per $100 of value, the annual levy would be $14,388.
But the proposed formula would mean no levy for five years and then a gradual increase from 20 percent to 100 percent over the next five years.
The lessees would also pay a fee to the park service, the Common Area Maintenance Charges for road maintenance, basic ground and mowing and other services but these fees would be dropped for the first five leases.
Mercantante said that another proposal discussed was a higher tax rate on the residential properties because they might have children who would utilize the township’s schools, but this had not been decided, and was still under consideration.
He described the development at the fort as “a little bit of a different animal” and said it was “the first time in the country” that such a community was established in a national park.
According to a NPS website, the lessees of the buildings must pay to renovate the structures to historic preservation standards, and proposed rent would be offset by that cost.
John Warren, external affairs officer for the NPS, said the terms of the lease would be based on fair market value.
The minimum lease is 20 years and the maximum, 60 years. A lease can be transferred to a family member during its term but when it expires, it is not renewed without competing with other applicants.
The park service lacks the funds to renovate the deteriorating buildings it designated for leasing. It made a previous attempt to lease buildings at the fort which failed when the developer chosen by the NPS was unable to finance his plan to rehabilitate them.
