Lakewood Chamber Reaches Out to Joint Base

The Lakewood Chamber is joining the effort to keep Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst off the list for Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC).

Chamber Executive Director David Nicola paid close attention at last week's meeting of the Ocean County Military Support Committee.  He says he has plenty of ideas on how to strengthen the ties between the base and his township's businesses - with one in particular.

"The ability of our Industrial Park, which is the second-largest in the state of New Jersey," said Nicola.  "Which could take on numerous entities that could still come in because there's plenty of space still available."

Close ties to the local business community have been instrumental to keeping the base intact in the past.  And Nicola says now is the perfect time to cement that bond even further.

"With the Parkway expansion that should be done in the next six months and finished, there will be more ways in and out of Lakewood than ever before," Nicola said.  "I think it's going to be very attractive for more companies to come to that Industrial Park."

Find out more about the plans Lakewood leaders have for the township's future on "Townsquare Tonight", coming up on December 3, 2014.