VA Clinic Decision May Not Happen Until 2020, Kim Says

Veterans and municipal officials waiting eagerly for a new Veterans Administration clinic may have to wait until 2020 to find out where that clinic will be located.

U.S. Rep. Andy Kim said VA officials have told him they are expecting to announce a new location
"sometime next year." Kim made the statement during a town hall he held on Saturday in Berkeley Township, as he met with 3rd District constituents in Ocean County.

Kim said he has toured the existing VA clinic in Brick, which handles 400 scheduled appointments a day plus walk-ins for veterans seeking treatment. The James J. Howard Outpatient Clinic, which was built in 1991 on property off Jack Martin Boulevard and Route 70 in Brick, expected to serve roughly 5,000 veterans. But in the interceding years, the veteran population of the area has skyrocketed along with the general population.

Parking at the clinic is beyond inadequate now; veterans seeking treatment often have to circle the parking lot hoping for a spot to open. Cars are often seen parked along the driveway of the clinic, and those who are able to make the walk end up parking a quarter-mile down the road at Ocean Medical Center.

The VA began seeking bids for a new site more than a year ago as a result of changes approved under the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014. That legislation resulted from extensive reports on serious failings of the VA in treating veterans, from extreme delays in access to care to sorely inadequate facilities.

However, it has been slow going. A first round of bidding was scrapped after the initial estimates far exceeded the VA's cost estimates for the new clinic. The second round of bidding concluded in May 2018. Officials in Brick and Toms River have said there are sites under consideration in both towns, and they are actively courting the VA, trying to convince administrators to put what is anticipated to be a state-of-the-art clinic in their towns.

Brick Township Mayor John G. Ducey and Toms River Township Councilman Maurice Hill both have mentioned in recent weeks that a third round of specifications has been sought.

Bid documents posted last spring on the Federal Business Opportunities website said the VA is looking to lease a building of at least 81,000 square feet with a minimum of 480 parking spaces for the clinic, which offers services from primary care and mental health to specialty clinics for dentistry, women's health, physical therapy, spinal cord injuries and more.

It was not immediately clear what details are being sought by the VA at this point. Attempts by Patch to contact VA officials for updates have met with little response. In September, John Griffith, associate director of the VA's Lyons Campus, said in an email, "We have no update to report because the project is still in the procurement process and we in VA New Jersey are in a binding nondisclosure contractual agreement." The statement directed questions to the contracting officer and project manager; attempts to contact them have received no reply.

Ducey has said there are two Brick sites under consideration; one is the triangular property bounded by Jack Martin Boulevard, Route 88 and Burrsville Road, and the other is off Cedar Bridge Avenue, behind the Lowe's that fronts on Route 70.

In Toms River, the piece of property under consideration is at Hooper Avenue and Caudina Avenue near the Ocean County Office of Senior Services building, which houses the county's veterans services office. The Township Council introduced an ordinance last week that would formalize a redevelopment plan for 22 acres that include 8 acres for the proposed clinic site. That ordinance encompasses 258 undersized lots and seven paper streets that exist on the tax map but have never been developed.

The Hooper-Caudina redevelopment plan, first proposed last summer and approved by the township Planning Board in December, also would accommodate a new U.S. Post Office on approximately 5 acres. Hill has said the Postal Service is looking to move from its current facility on West Water Street, which flooded significantly during Superstorm Sandy. The ordinance is expected to be finalized at the Feb. 26 council meeting.

Hill has repeatedly touted the location as a positive because of its nearness to the veterans affairs office as well as its nearness to Ocean County Mall and Seacourt Mall, along with easy access from Route 37 and Hooper Avenue.

Ducey, meanwhile, has been touting the Brick site because of its nearness to Ocean Medical Center, as well as its proximity to the Garden State Parkway. The 10-acre property is zoned highway medical, but it has been thorn in the side of the township for some time. There have been as multiple proposals to develop it, some including more retail, others including more housing, stirring concerns about additional traffic on already heavily traveled roads.

After the town hall meeting, Kim confirmed his earlier statement that it VA officials have told him it will be next year before the location is announced, but promised to continue to press them to move more quickly.

Previous coverage:

• VA Seeks New Home For Brick Veterans Clinic
• VA Silent On Future Home Of Brick Veterans' Clinic

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