Eatontown Residents Frustrated by Tower at Fort Monmouth DPW Yard

By Christopher Sheldon

The 9/11 communications tower installed by the county at Fort Monmouth has become a topic of discussion in Eatontown.

"Just recently, with the tower, the light has been a talk around town, so I don't know if there's anything that can be done about it," Eatontown Councilman Dennis Connelly said during the Jan. 22 council meeting. "It's very bright and people are talking about it."

The tower was installed as part of the county's plan to lease space at the fort a department of public works yard in 2013.

"There was a light on there that was much dimmer, and then they switched it," Connelly said. 

Connelly described it as looking like the flash of a camera.

"The light on the tower is an aircraft warning," Eatontown Mayor Gerald Tarantolo said. "I don't know if we can do anything about that, but obviously it's got to be looked at. It is bright."

Connelly said he would mention the tower to Monmouth County Freeholder Thomas Arnone when he speaks to him about other issues residents in the area have voiced about the DPW yard.

"I did get contacted by a resident of Rose Court and one of her concerns was about the DPW yard," Connelly said. "There were a couple of items they said they were going to do including a berm and vacating a roadway and their trucks were supposed to drive in and out and so they don't make the back up sound."

The county agreed to add a deed restriction on the vacant lot on Rose Court to prevent any future development and leave it as open space. The lot is currently owned by federal government. 

They also agreed to enhance the current buffer between residential area and the proposed public works facility with significant vegetation to block the view of the facility and remove Tiros Avenue completely from the facility and make it green space.

"It's part of the lease agreement so I think they should be bound during the term of the lease agreement and not waiting for this to go into a plan amendment," Eatontown Councilman Anthony Talerico said.

The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA), which approved the lease of the site to the county in 2012, would have to adopt a plan amendment if the county ultimately wished to purchase the property.