VA Seeks New Home For Brick Veterans Clinic

BRICK, NJ — Brick Township has been home to a Veterans Administration health clinic for more than 25 years, with thousands of veterans in Ocean and Monmouth counties receiving treatement at the James J. Howard Outpatient Clinic.

That could be coming to an end, as the VA searches for a larger facility from which to provide services to the more than 50,000 veterans in the area. Bid documents on the Federal Business Opportunities website say 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's a move that cannot happen fast enough for U.S.. Rep. Tom MacArthur, who has issued a pair of letters to the Department of Veterans Affairs, urging the VA to expedite the process.

"Our veterans have sacrificed immensely to ensure the safety and protection of our nation and its citizens. They are deserving of the utmost respect and care," MacArthur wrote. "As the Brick Clinic stands today, it does not provide full services to our veterans and does not provide adequate parking, which has caused many veterans to park far from the clinic."

"This is burdensome and difficult and our veterans deserve better," he wrote.

Parking at the site, located just off Route 70 and Jack Martin Boulevard, has been a problem for years. In 2015, the VA opened an annex to the Brick clinic on Route 88, about a mile away, to try to relieve some of the pressure on te 34,000-square-foot facility, which was built in 1991, according to an Asbury Park Press report on the annex.

At the time the Howard clinic was built, they 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. According to VA records, there are 53,191 veterans in the 3rd Congressional District, which includes Brick, Toms River, and Berkeley townships among other towns in Ocean County, plus a large swath of Burlington County. The 4th Congressional District, where Chris Smith serves and which covers northern Ocean and the bulk of Monmouth County, has 34,563.

Brick, one of 10 community clinics in the state, is the nearest facility for the bulk of those veterans. There is a VA outpatient clinic in Tinton Falls but it does not provide the specialty clinics, instead referring veterans who need those services to either the East Orange or Lyons VA hospitals.

MacArthur's second letter expressed frustration after the bid process was restarted because an initial round of bids far exceeded the VA's cost estimates for the new clinic.

Robert Wilkie, who has been serving as acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs since President Donald Trump fired VA Secretary David Shulkin in late March, said the proposal to relocate the clinic in a larger facility is part 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.

Among the actions to address the failings was approval for expansion of 27 community clinics in 18 states, including the Brick clinic. After the initial round of bids came in excessively high, Wilkie said, the VA revamped its bid specifications and simplified them in hopes of encouraging more competition and better opportunities to lease space in existing buildings.

"The new contractual documents coincide with a move to the use of local codes and private-sector, health-care facility best practices, in lieu of relying on standards unique to VA," Wilkie said.

The ultimate goal is to find a facility that meets veterans' needs while providing the best value to the government and the taxpayers, Wilkie said.

The bid documents say the VA is seeking a lease of up to 20 years on a facility in Brick or nearby areas bounded roughly by Route 138 on the north, Whitesville Road and Route 70 to the west and Route 37 to the south. A map of the area under consideration is at the bottom of this article.

Among other requirements:

• A single story or two contiguous floors maximim, with at least two elevators.
• Cannot be in the FEMA 100-year flood plain.
• Must be zoned for VA’s intended use (hospital/medical) by the time initial offers are due.
• Must be located in close proximity to amenities including but not limited to restaurants, hotels, pharmacy, and shopping.
• Near a stand-alone emergency room center and a fire department
• In close proximity to public transportation.

Offered space will not be considered if:

• located in close proximity to property with incompatible uses, including but not limited to the following uses: liquor establishments, treatment centers, correctional facilities, where firearms are sold/discharged, railroad tracks, or within flight paths, if flight paths are a noise or vibration disturbance," the bid documents said.
• located in close proximity to residential or industrial areas.
• where apartment space or other living quarters are located within the same building.

The new bids are due by 4 p.m. on Friday, May 18, according to the bid documents. (Click here for information.)

The current site is owned by Hackensack Meridian Health and is in Brick's hospital zone and appears to be a fairly sizeable piece of property. But questions to the VA on whether expansion of the building and parking lot were explored with Hackensack Meridian were not answered, and Hackensack Meridian officials had not responded to a request for comment on the matter as of Thursday afternoon.

Brick Township Mayor John G. Ducey said the township would like to see the clinic remain in Brick.

"We have a tremendous amount of veterans here and the convenience of the facility being close to home but also close to Ocean Medical Center is tantamount," Ducey said.

"There is a perfect spot located at Route 88, Jack Martin and Burrsville. The property is a hospital support zone and has enough room for the required parking as well as a large facility to serve the men and women that served our country," Ducey said, suggesting the triangle plot that has had other proposals, including a hotel, apartments and retail, a project that was later withdrawn. Another proposal for the site is expected to go before the Planning Board in the coming weeks.

"I am calling on our national representatives to help our veterans here and in all of Ocean and Monmouth counties by providing a state-of-the-art facility right here in Brick," Ducey said.

“It’s important to note that veterans in and around Brick will not experience any lapse in care or services due to the restart of this procurement,” Wilkie said. The timetable for relocation was not available.

A Google Maps photo shows cars lined up parked outside the James J. Howard Outpatient Clinic in Brick.