Residents of these NJ towns now have a say in Netflix’s big local plans

🎬 Fort Monmouth redevelopment continues

🎬 Netflix was top bid a year ago

🎬 Step moves toward movie studio campus

About a year after Netflix was selected as top bidder to redevelop roughly 300 acres in Monmouth County, the project has taken another step toward reality.

The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority has announced that the FMERA Board approved sending the proposed "Plan Amendment #20" to Eatontown, Oceanport and Tinton Falls for a 45-day public comment period.

Municipal-level clearance is needed for the plans that Netflix unveiled last December at Fort Monmouth, which was decommissioned over a decade ago.

It amounts to the next major milestone for redevelopment of the mega parcel, currently under contract with Netflix,” according to FMERA.

What does Netflix have planned in NJ?

Last winter, the Netflix vision involved 12 sound stages at an East Coast production facility offering more than 1,500 permanent jobs

Additional improvements on the roughly 328 acres could include office space, production services buildings, mill space and studio backlots, “among other film industry needs,” the original plans added.

Read More: Netflix unveils NJ plan for $848M studio on Fort Monmouth land 

Proposed changes would allow the building of affordable housing residential units for low- and moderate-income households as required by the state Fair Housing Act.

If the film studio does not get built, those residential units could be part of a larger residential development at the "Mega Parcel" or elsewhere in the former Fort Monmouth areas in both Eatontown and Oceanport under the amended plan.

Latest in a long line of changes at Fort Monmouth

Fort Monmouth’s Reuse and Redevelopment Plan has already been formally amended 19 times since it was first adopted in 2008.

It serves as the master plan for the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth.

An additional Plan Amendment might also be required once developers are identified for affordable housing projects in Eatontown and Oceanport.

Following the 45-day public comment period, FMERA staff must review and respond to all comments before moving the plan amendment forward for final adoption by the board.

Board action also remains subject to the governor’s veto period.

Once that happens, Netflix would move into a 36-month approval period, which would involve extensive reviews by a significant number of local, county, and state agencies and authorities.

FMERA has estimated those next major steps to start sometime in the first quarter of 2024.

The Fort had 5 million square feet of building area, 70% of which is targeted for demolition.

To date, FMERA has sold 34 parcels, with 86% percent of the Fort’s 1,126 acres either sold, under contract, in negotiations or entering the request for proposals process.

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