No Decision Yet On New Veterans Clinic Site, VA Officials Say

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Officials in Brick and Toms River who have been waiting and hoping to hear a decision on where a new veterans clinic will be built will have to wait longer: the Veterans Administration has not made a decision.

A report last week that the VA had awarded the new clinic to Brick Township "is not accurate," the Veterans Administration public affairs office said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

"The VA is still evaluating bids and has not awarded a lease," the emailed statement said.

In August, U.S. Rep. Andy Kim visited the James J. Howard Outpatient Clinic in Brick, which sees more than 400 patients per day between scheduled appointments and walk-ins. At the time, Kim said the site of the new clinic could be announced by Sept. 30.

The VA on Wednesday did not have a timetable for the announcement, which is highly anticipated in Brick and Toms River.

The Veterans Administration has been working to choose a larger space to accommodate the growing veterans population in Ocean, Monmouth and Burlington counties for more than four years. Changes approved under the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 included money was allocated by Congress to address critical VA health care needs across the country.

An initial round of bidding came back with costs much higher than VA officials found acceptable, so the specifications were revamped and a second round of bidding took place.

The new facility will replace the Howard clinic off Route 88 and Jack Martin Boulevard in Brick. That facility, which opened in 1991, was expected to serve about 5,000 veterans. It currently serves far more, with 400 scheduled appointments a day plus walk-ins for veterans seeking treatment.

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 park 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.

Officials in Brick and Toms River have been vying to host the new clinic.

Brick Township officials tout the 10-acre triangle of land bounded by Route 88, Burrsville Road and Jack Martin Boulevard, not far from Ocean Medical Center. The property has been the subject of multiple proposals, including a hotel and apartments that prompted an outcry from residents over traffic concerns.

Kamson Corp., the property developer, received approval last week of a preliminary site plan on a 75,000-square-foot medical building from the Brick Township Planning Board, Jersey Shore Online reported. It was not clear, however, whether Kamson was seeking the approval simply so it could move forward quickly if it gets selected. A phone call to Kamson officials on Wednesday was not immediately returned.

Toms River officials have been lobbying equally as hard to put the new clinic on a piece of land on Hooper Avenue near Caudina Avenue. The site is near the existing Ocean County veterans services offices and not far from Ocean County Mall, several restaurants and the AMC Seacourt Pavilion movie theater.

Toms River officials approved zoning changes for the property to make it viable for the VA clinic, and included that area in redevelopment plans.

The new clinic will be a multimillion-dollar project and VA officials have been under considerable pressure from legislators, including former U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur and Kim, who defeated MacArthur last November and now represents the 3rd District, to get a decision made.

Anthony DeAngelo, Kim's spokesman, said the report's claim that an unnamed source in Kim's office had confirmed the location had been awarded was not true.

"Congressman Kim's office has not communicated any information regarding the awarding of a site for a new veterans health facility," DeAngelo said Wednesday. "The congressman is eagerly awaiting the VA's decision and announcement, and remains committed to having a new facility built that can better serve our veterans as soon as possible."

In the meantime, the VA has been adding staff at the Howard clinic to try to improve wait times and services for veterans to reduce the number who have to travel to the VA hospital in East Orange for treatment.

The VA's specifications for the new clinic include parking for at least 400 vehicles and a building that is a minimum of 60,000 square feet. The Howard clinic is just over 34,000 square feet, by comparison. In 2015, the VA opened an annex to the Brick clinic on Route 88, about a mile away, to accommodate more patients, but the needs far outstrip the available services.

The new clinic is expected to offer a wider array of services, from primary care and mental health to specialty clinics for dentistry, women's health, physical therapy, spinal cord injuries and more.

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