OCEANPORT – One third of Oceanport lies in the former Fort Monmouth. As the area is redeveloped with new housing and retail, some borough council members believe the borough must hire more police officers to cover the area.
During a recent meeting of the governing body, council president Steven Solan presented a list of service calls made during the first half of 2019 to the Gosselin Avenue residences at Liberty Walk.
According to Oceanport Chief of Police Michael P. Kelly, who compiled the list at the request of the borough council, the inventory includes 24 service calls since Jan. 1, some which were recorded at the same address during various times of the same day.
For example, three service calls were made April 25 between 8:36 and 8:50 a.m. to the same dwelling. Those calls were categorized as a noise complaint, mental/suicide subject and crisis transport, respectively, for the same individual, Kelly explained.
“On the list we put out, addresses were redacted, but most of the calls came from a group of four addresses in the development. We’ve come to find that some of those addresses are being used as group homes. Those were a majority of the calls,” Kelly said.
Liberty Walk is a 48-unit development. Exactly half of those residences are affordable housing units, and all 24 are three-bedroom dwellings. Though it was not disclosed which dwellings are being used as group homes, councilman Robert Proto said the organization leasing the four dwellings is Allies Inc., a group serving adults with physical, intellectual, neurological and developmental disabilities including those with autism and Down syndrome.
Kelly said the call volume to Fort Monmouth has increased as new dwellings are inhabited, but the service provided is “not a drain” on the department.
He added that planning is underway to ensure that resources will never be stretched too thin.
“The department size has remained the same over the last 20 years, but the fort is growing. Myself and the governing body have to look at adding officers,” Kelly said.
Councilman Joseph Irace said the potential addition of multiple officers would come at a significant cost.
Irace said the base salary of a first-year officer is $40,000, plus an estimated $30,000 in additional health and family benefits. That total increases by $10,000 a year each year thereafter, not including contractually negotiated pay raises.
“At the rate the fort is expanding, you’re probably looking at two officers. That’s $140,000 on the tax payers in the first year alone,” Irace said. “We don’t disagree with (Kelly). We know this is coming.”
The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA), the agency overseeing the redevelopment of fort properties, is calling for 720 additional dwellings in Oceanport’s portion of the fort. Before development began the borough had about 2,100 homes, meaning the added units will grow the town by a third.
In February FMERA published a newsletter that estimated $300 million in investments over the next decade and a possible $12 million in net tax revenue for the borough, which would more than cover the cost of two officers.
Irace said he worked with borough personnel, including the chief financial officer, to verify that claim and came up with different figures. According to a statement he made at a February borough council meeting, expansion at the fort could raise Oceanport’s general appropriations by about $2.8 million annually, and additional officers, DPW employees, capital requirements, maintenance and other factors could come at a cost of nearly $28 million to tax payers over that 10-year period.
Kelly said adding homes or developments to an area will absolutely increase service calls. According to his report, in addition to the calls listed above, other service calls included disorderly persons, warrant arrest, child welfare check, runaway check, missing subject, fire and first aid, 911 hang ups and misdials and more.
Mayor Jay Coffey said he agrees that an increase in units will result in a need for more police personnel, but he believes the report is a snapshot of a scenario that does not provide a fair representation of development at the fort and in Oceanport at large.
“Development (at the fort) will undoubtedly have a profound effect on Oceanport, but (the borough council) is concentrating solely on the affordable housing and the use of one small snapshot doesn’t tell the whole story about our community,” Coffey said.
Coffey noted that state law mandates Oceanport still needs to accommodate 120 more affordable units at the fort before development is finished and said, “It’s no different than other affordable housing developments we already have. This is a small snapshot being used to highlight the perceived dangers of an increase in affordable housing. The affordable units in the center of town haven’t caused a problem. This is just how development under current state laws works.”
Proto said two additional officers could be just the beginning if high-density development similar to Liberty Walk is allowed to continue. He cited an 180-unit development approved last month by FMERA that is slated for the fort’s Lodging Area overlooking Parker Creek.
The development will have 144 market rate units and 36 affordable units on 15 acres. The 36 affordable units will be located in two buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places that will be rehabilitated.
“It’s the kind of high-density development the council has been trying to raise alarms about and you see the challenges it can present on just one street in one development. We’re a small shore town and this is going to call for city-like policing. It’s more services, more policing and higher taxes,” Proto said.
