The proposed jetport layout. (Photo provided)
When Gov. Richard Hughes proposed construction of a jetport on Bearfort Mountain in West Milford and Vernon or at Bowling Green Mountain in Jefferson and Sparta, there was an immediate outcry by residents who promised to prevent it from being built at either location.
Hughes offered the new locations at a press conference after the Port of New York Authority rejected earlier proposed sites in Burlington County and Pine Island in Orange County N.Y.
Both new sites would put the $220 million jetport on one of the local mountains.
After Hughes met privately with mayors of the involved municipalities, Sparta Mayor Emil Sorenson Jr. pointed out that the Sparta Township Committee was on record in May 1962 as being against a proposal to construct a jetport atop Bowling Green Mountain.
Sparta Town Manager Bruce Spragg said the official attitude at the time was to wait and see what developed.
West Milford Committeeman Robert Little, a Republican who had just completed a term as mayor, said that although he was never in favor of the Bearfort Mountain jetport proposal, he later had mixed emotions.
“As long as it is being built in the vicinity, it might as well be built in West Milford Township as we will get ratables instead of just being on the edge where we will just get noise,” he said. “A jetport in West Milford would bring many changes, such as new industry and a new influx of people; this change would be both good and bad.”
At that time, West Milford voters did not choose the mayor directly. Under the form of government in place in 1964, an annual township reorganization meeting traditionally was held on New Year’s Day.
The five Township Committee members elected by the voters chose chairman of the committee. Any one of them nominated a person to serve as chairman. After a voice vote, the person with the most votes automatically took the title of mayor.
On Jan. 1, 1964, Warren Brogan, a Democrat,s unanimously was elected committee chairman, or mayor.
With support from the rest of the committee, Brogan quickly appointed a Jetport Study Committee. This group was instructed to assess the proposal and all factors affecting West Milford and surrounding communities, create a report of their findings, and present it to the committee.
The mayor said he was reaffirming the Democratic Party platform for 1963 which opposed the jetport. An estimated 100 people filled the town hall meeting room, with many standing and others jammed in the doorways and entrance.
Ernest Manson chaired the Jetport Study Committee with his wife, Shirley, serving as secretary and Elaine Delano as treasurer. The members were J.K. Delano, George McIndoe, Chester Chmiel, Herbert Wolters, John Reed, Arno Jacobsen, Edward Brace, Harry Klinger, Philip Sheridan, Frederick Herbert, William Herniman, Lee Demarest, Frank McNamara, Douglas Cherkas, Harold Jacobsen, Eva Marie Townsend and Sandy Larsen.
The Jetport Study Committee’s report concluded that location of a jetport where it was proposed would have detrimental effects, such as air and water pollution, noise, safety and economics.
The Township Committee reacted to the report by passing a resolution calling for action. The document said, “The Township Committee of West Milford concurs in the findings of the Jetport Study Committee and (will) exert every effort to prevent the location of a jetport in West Milford or the surrounding area.”
The resolution authorized Township Clerk George Eckhardt to arrange a meeting of Township Committee and representatives of the Jetport Study Committee with state Sen. Anthony Grossi and the Passaic County Freeholders and state Assembly mmbers. “The purpose of this meeting is to inform the county officials of our position and the reasons for our opposition to a Jetport site in or around West Milford,” the resolution said.
In January 1964, the New Jersey Republican Organization, in its new legislative program, pledged “active support to a bipartisan effort to locate a new major jetport in New Jersey.” It included a condition: “The construction and operation of a jetport in a location where there will be the least danger and depreciation of property values, consistent with prior legislation.”
Meanwhile, in late June 1964, Brogan was organizing anti-jetport forces throughout North Jersey. “This jetport can be stopped. Don’t lose faith,” he told an estimated crowd of 200 people who gathered for an information meeting in the West Milford High School auditorium. “We have enough facts at our command now to chart a course of action.”
He cited the success of Morris County’s united action in defeating state plans to put the proposed jetport in the Great Swamp and said the same thing could happen again. He urged people to send a “constant barrage of letters” to representatives in state government.
Brogan reported that he had assurance from Newark Deputy Mayor Paul Riley that “the city of Newark is on our side in this fight with purity of the city water supply from the reservoirs a great concern.”
A highlight of the meeting in the high school was a demonstration of noise emitted by jets on takeoffs and landings. Tape recordings were amplified and measured for sound intensity with a decibel meter. The demonstration was handled by acoustical engineer Ray Donley of Louis S, Goodfriend & Associates of Cedar Knolls.
Hearing the roaring noise, residents’ anxiety levels rose and they reacted angrily to the jetport construction proposal. Reports presented by Jetport Study Committee members James Delano, Chester Chmiel, Edward Brace and George McIndoe concluded that a jetport would not relieve West Milford taxes because a tremendous amount of new ratables would be needed for increased municipal services, educational costs and overcrowded schools.
In a summary of “Education Impact,” the report said that regardless of the final runway alignment, some schools would be exposed to intolerable noise from low-flying aircraft and “Interruption of classroom teaching would result in reduced learning efficiency.”
It was said that noise and pollution would cause constant worry, and residents would live in fear of jet crashes and water pollution.
Disinterest (in fighting the jetport) could be a death blow to the community, the committee members warned.
The jetport proposal clashed with Fred Ferber’s plan to develop his many acres of land as a Sussex Wildlife Preserve, and he was vocal in his opposition. It was noted that a quarter of a million dollars for development of the Wawayanda property was allocated to create a state preserve, and people at the meeting said they could not understand how the state could carry out plans to locate a jetport there.
On Sept. 30, 1964, Brogan called for the first organizational meeting of the North Jersey Anti-Jetport Association. It was held in the Newfoundland First Aid Building.
In explaining the reasons for forming the group, Brogan said, “It is extremely essential that we be prepared to act immediately before a site is selected at either Bowling Green Mountain or Bearfort Mountain. The main function of this committee should be political action, raising money and enlisting influential aid.”
Representatives of Morris, Essex, Passaic and Sussex counties were at the meeting. Steering Committee representatives were appointed: Smoke Rise-Cornelius Huebner; Sparta-Paul Castellanos; West Milford-Ernest Manson and Fred Ferber; Wayne-Arthur Baxter; Lindy’s Lake-A. Kochendorfer; Hardyston-Mrs. Frank Curtis; Green Pond-Russell Clark; Newark-Thomas P. Byrnes; Jefferson-Arthur Keller; Upper Greenwood Lake-George Jaso and Hamburg-Dale Talmadge. Manson, the temporary chairman, expressed his satisfaction at the large turnout and said future meetings were planned.
The committee immediately attacked Department of Conservation and Economic Development Commissioner Robert Roe, who oversaw the project for the state.
His response at a state Transportation Committee meeting at Donohue’s Restaurant on Route 23: “The jetport is vital to the nation, and this is not a problem to be settled by West Milford or others. If people are inconvenienced, the government will decide.”
Others speaking at that meeting included Sen. Wayne Dumont, who outlined his committee’s proposal for railroad tax relief.
He predicted that the United States would not be able to handle air traffic by 1970 unless there was immediate action to build a new jetport, which made the jetport a matter of state and national importance.
Dumont referred to comments by opponents of the project as “just palavering and an emotional approach.”