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EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - Drive down Amelia Earhart Boulevard by the airport traffic circle and take a closer look at the large stand of trees on the side of the road. There is a sign behind the fence featuring an aerial drawing of seven buildings and the catchy tag line "The sky is the limit on great ideas."

This 55-acre plot of land is the future home of a proposed aviation research and technology park that is currently going through the approvals process and gaining financial momentum.

The Next Generation Aviation Research Park, which was first announced in 2005, is a collaboration between the South Jersey Economic Development District, the Federal Aviation Administration's William J. Hughes Technical Center and The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, among other groups.

The idea behind the project is to create a facility where government officials who control airspace can collaborate with aviation manufacturers on developing the next generation of air traffic control systems, according to tech center Director Wilson Felder. The research park will focus on new technology, such as interactive computers, he said.

"We can no longer build our air traffic control system in a vacuum because those other pieces of the airplane are so important to us," Felder said. "We need to have a closer collaboration, frankly, with other parts of the aviation industry. We haven't had that relationship before, so this park is a place where those companies can do their industrial research and develop new airplanes and new systems on the airplanes that will connect back to the government infrastructure and installations on the ground."

The park would have as many as seven two- to three-story buildings totaling more than 400,000 square feet of laboratory and research space, said Gordon Dahl, director of the South Jersey Economic Development District, the agency in charge of developing the complex. Building roads, water and sewer systems will cost about $8 million, and the buildings would cost about $300 million to $400 million, funded by private investments, Dahl said. The park is expected to create about 2,000 new jobs.

The project has been making significant progress.

The FAA signed a lease in October to hand over the land for the complex. The Atlantic County Board of Chosen Freeholders adopted a $2.5 million bond in February to build a new entranceway to the research park, which would be between Amelia Earhart Boulevard and Delilah Road. The state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority gave the project preliminary approval for funding last month, and the authority will later decide how much casino reinvestment money will be given to the complex.

Dahl said the project's other funding sources include $2.5 million from the federal Economic Development Administration, $1 million from the New Jersey Department of Transportation Division of Aviation, a $4.7 million loan guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's community facilities program, and various grants and federal funds secured by U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd.

Felder said the national economic downturn has not affected the research park because the project is still in its infancy.

Building plans for the research park have been sent to the state Pinelands Commission for review. The commission is waiting for the results of environmental impact studies as they pertain to the Cooper's hawk and pine snakes, two threatened species in the area, according to commission spokesman Paul Leakan.

Dahl said he hopes the project will be approved by the Pinelands Commission in August and would like to break ground soon. Dahl began a marketing campaign in May to find prospective tenants for the complex. He declined to say which companies have been approached and to confirm whether anyone has already agreed to be a tenant.

E-mail Michelle Lee:

MLee@pressofac.com

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