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Asbury Park Press
OCEANPORT - Netflix has an ask of the borough. They want bigger stage identification numbers on the outside of the buildings than permitted. And the borough wants to know exactly what they're in store for from Netflix, looking to minimize the impact on their residents' quality of life while inviting a bit of Hollywood to town.
Netflix's future movie, film and television campus planned for the former Fort Monmouth has created a lot of buzz at the Shore. The streaming giant is expected to be a multibillion dollar economic engine for the state, but the reality of what daily life may actually look like in the two host towns came into a little more focus at the first of what will likely be many planning board hearings as Netflix builds out its campus in phases.
A few things look certain. The campuses will be busy, with sets being built on site and multiple productions taking place at once. But the campuses should not generate the amount of traffic that the was there when it was an active military base, Netflix officials say.
Netflix intends to build 12 sound stages on the 292 acres of the Mega Parcel at Fort Monmouth that it's under contract to buy. However, it will start with four at what's called the McAfee Parcel, or Zone 7, in its first phase of the campus build out. The Mega Parcel is divided into 12 zones, but just 10 are being purchased by Netflix.
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Netflix needs approvals from the local planning boards as it proceeds. On Tuesday, it went before Oceanport's Planning Board seeking site plan approval for just the McAfee Zone, a 29-acre parcel in the heart of the Mega Parcel. Here, Netflix is eligible for a pool of $125 million in tax breaks under the Garden State Film and Digital Media Jobs Act, if it gets the required approvals and then occupies the studios for at least 10 years.
Kenneth Falcon, Netflix's senior project manager, said the company wants to start construction on the McAfee Studio Campus in the fourth quarter of 2025.
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McAfee Studio Campus
In the McAfee zone, which sits almost entirely in Oceanport save for roughly two acres that are in the other host town of Eatontown, Netflix wants approval to construct four sound stages. Two will stand alone and will be roughly 22,000 square feet each and 70 feet tall. The other two will be twin sound stages, adjoined by a wall and will occupy 83,555 square feet and also stand 70 feet high.
All four sound stages will have what Falcon called "elephant doors" because they're big enough for an elephant to walk through.
Netflix wants to add two ancillary buildings — a 61,800-square-foot, 35-foot high mill building, where the studio sets will be designed and built, and a roughly 12,000-square-foot warehouse. It will also renovate the McAfee Center, once home to the Army's Intelligence and Information Warfare Directorate of the Communications Electronics Research Development and Engineering Center, and an administrative building occupied now by the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority, or FMERA.
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The McAfee and FMERA building is where actors and actresses will come in for makeup and hair and to read scripts, Flacon said. Completing the campus here will be what Netflix calls base camps, where vehicles will park, including RVs where actors can hang out between shoots.
The whole campus will be surrounded by an 8- to 10-foot pre-cast concrete wall, and accessed by four gate entrances, one of which will be manned by a security guard. The campus will not be open to the public, save for business.
Falcon said production will not be restricted by hours and the campus will operate "24/7." However, Netflix stated in its application that work hours will typically be from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays, with occasional operations late into the evening and on weekends. Most of the employees and cast will arrive between 5 and 10 a.m. and depart after 3 p.m.
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Production may run late into the evening and sometimes keep employees past midnight. Industry-wide labor standards, however, require crews to have 12 hours off between shifts. On any given day, up to two productions could be on location.
As far as traffic goes, the McAfee studio campus will generate approximately 107 vehicular trips during the weekday morning peak hour and 64 vehicular trips during the weekday evening peak hour. Karl Pehnke, of Langan Engineering, who compiled the traffic report, said 90% of the traffic will be coming on and off from Route 35. He said there will be deliveries, but that most of the trucks entering the campus will be box trucks and utility vehicles pulling trailers. He said very few 18-wheeled tractor-trailers will access the site.
Pehnke compared Netflix's anticipated traffic to a typical fort day in 2007, when 12,500 personnel entered the base in 11,418 vehicles. However, only 6,000 of those vehicles went to the main campus east of Route 35. The rest went to the Charles Woods Area of the fort.
Falcon said most of the crew will commute, which is one of the main reasons Netflix chose the old fort grounds, to be close to "top-notch talent," he said. Another reason is access to hotel accommodations where they expect crews to stay over. The more permanent Netflix employees he anticipates might relocate to the area.
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Sign debate
One area that generated a lot of debate was Netflix's request for a variance to put up 12-foot identification numbers on the studios where only 10-foot signs are permitted. Several board members expressed concern that they did not want residents to have to stare at large, lighted Netflix studio numbers.
"We need to do whatever we can to ease the burden on residents," said board member Leslie Widdis.
One of the reasons Netflix is asking for the larger signs is for identification purposes in case of an emergency, since studios don't have individual addresses.
No decision was made on that as the meeting adjourned before all Netflix's professionals were heard. The meeting will resume Nov. 26.
When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; [email protected].