LAKEHURST – Members of the public are invited to an open house highlighting parts of a Regional Compatible Use Study (RCUS) addressing encroachment and compatibility issues between military operations at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and the surrounding communities.

The open house is scheduled from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 26 at the Lakehurst Elementary School, 301 Union Avenue, here.

"This study will build upon implementation actions from the 2009 Joint Land Use Study," said the Director of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners John P. Kelly, who serves as liaison to the Joint Base. "It is important that our residents participate in providing information at the open house not only for the Joint Base but for our municipalities as well."

The RCUS will focus on a host of topics such as current and future development patterns and land use compatibility around the base, current air and ground noise, recommendations on continuing and improving intergovernmental communication and recommendations on local ordinance changes from following an analysis of military and community needs.

In addition, the study will also focus on natural and man-made hazard mitigation around the Joint Base, recommendations on energy compatibility and resilience including renewable energy planning and an analysis of resiliency opportunities to minimize the potential for energy interruptions and mitigate their impact.

"This open house will help us assess how the activities on the base have worked with the towns and their land use plans, as well as other needs of our communities and those of the military," said Kelly. "The more information that can be provided, the more beneficial the study will be for the municipalities and the Joint Base.

The professional planning firm that was selected to perform the study was Paulus, Solokowski and Sartor, LLC (PS&S). They also completed the 2009 Joint Land Use Study for Ocean County.

Ocean County was awarded up to $450,000 by the Department of Defense, Office of Local Community Development Cooperation (OLDCC) to complete the study. Ocean County is sponsoring the study in partnership with Burlington County.