Wesley Lake. Undated. Ocean Grove, NJ. Citizen photographer for Blogfinger. ©
Pondweed in Wesley Lake August 2015. This is an invasive species which grows in shallow, polluted, murky waters. Low oxygen is often present. Lake Ave. citizen photo. Special to Blogfinger ©
1873. Partial map of Monmouth County. Note the stream heading southeast into Long Pond estuary and then out to the ocean. That stream contained crystal clear fresh water. Where is it now? Submitted by Paul Goldfinger from the original. © 10/31/16
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger and Jack Bredin, Blogfinger reporter and researcher.
Question: When is a lake not a lake?
Answer: When it is needed by developers.
When Ocean Grove was founded in 1869, Wesley Lake was called “Long Pond.” It was an estuary. This means that a network of fresh water streams flowed from the west and emptied into the Pond; then the Pond emptied directly into the Atlantic Ocean.
Within the estuary, salt water from the Ocean would flow in with the high tide and mix with the fresh water in the Pond. Then the water would flow out with the low tide.
The clear brackish water in the Pond created the perfect conditions for an abundance of life to thrive there; the Pond was a rich source of food for many generations of Lenape Indians and it was a spectacular natural ecosystem when the OGCMA established Ocean Grove.
When the OG Camp Meeting Association purchased all the land parcels needed to establish the town, the Ross Pavilion and Campgrounds, located at the North End, next to Long Pond, were already operating.
The OGCMA’s original plan at the North End was for single-family houses, but the Pavilion and the Campgrounds would become a popular vacation destination on the Jersey Shore, and the Pavilion could serve up to 2,000 meals each day.
As the Town of Ocean Grove had no sewer system, the Pavilion’s owners developed their own private system.
A dam was built at the Pond’s Ocean inlet, separating the Pond from the Ocean. With that event, the estuary no longer existed, and the estuary had become a lake. The OGCMA changed the name to Wesley Lake.
The fresh clean water from the Lake would then flow over the top of the dam and into a water retention basin located about 4 feet below the top of the dam.
A sewer pipe would carry the wastewater from the Pavilion to the same water retention basin. That dirty water from the Pavilion consisted of raw sewage from indoor toilets and water from sinks, cooking, and bathtubs.
That mixture of Lake freshwater and untreated wastewater collecting in the basin would then flow through another pipe, running under the beach, to be discharged hundreds of feet out into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Ross pavilion sewer system was later used for the CMA’s plan to replace the Pavilion with the 1910 North End Complex that included a hotel, a new pavilion, swimming pool, cafeteria, boardwalk amusements and the Strand Theater. The North End Complex closed years ago, but the dam, basin and piping to the ocean remain intact.
Today, Ocean Grove has a sewer system to treat the wastewater from indoor plumbing, however the clear fresh water from natural streams that used to run into Wesley Lake has been cut off by urban sprawl and replaced in large part with the dirty-water run-off from paved streets, mostly in Asbury Park, and it is killing the Lake.
The amount of dirty-water run-off from the streets of OG into Wesley Lake is miniscule by comparison, but that could change with the proposed North End Redevelopment Plan.
That street dirty-water mostly comes off paved streets and it contains silt, toxins, chemicals, garbage, animal feces, and dead animals. Toxins from under the ground (eg from old gas tanks in Asbury) leach into the soil to wind up in the Lake. Canada geese, which used to stop temporarily at the estuary, now stay permanently to foul the ground water. The Lake water became inhospitable for healthy plant and animal life. The vibrant living ecosystem of the area had been destroyed.
The Redevelopment Plans for Asbury Park and Ocean Grove need to address the street-water run-off into the Lake, or maybe they already have, but now, for all intents and purposes, Wesley Lake is dead, even though there is a bi-town “Wesley Lake Commission” charged with the responsibility of protecting the use of the Lake for “Recreation and Conservation” only. Their mission is not to deal with street water run-off.
Under the jurisdiction of the Wesley Lake Commission, in 2014, the name of the Lake was officially changed on the Tax Map to “Wesley Lake Detention/Retention Basin. “ In other words, the entire Lake is now a bi-town municipal facility.
The plan is for the Lake to be used to decontaminate dirty-water run-off from the streets of Asbury Park predominantly, using that same old “sewer system” that empties into the Atlantic Ocean.
By allowing dirty-water drainage due to urban sprawl to enter the Lake and the Ocean, the Wesley Lake Commission has failed in its mission and it has written its own obituary.
Concluding topics for Part 1 of this sad environmental saga:
- Where is the AWOL Ocean Grove Home Groaners’ Association on this issue?
- Where is the State Dept. of Environmental Protection in all of this?
- Wesley Lake is on the Green Acre list and map of “Public Open Space” where it is reserved by the State of New Jersey for “Recreation and Conservation in Perpetuity?” Who is enforcing that mandate of “recreation and conservation” at Wesley Lake?
- There should be a recorded Deed Restriction that reserves the use of Wesley Lake for recreation and conservation. That should be located at the County.
We at Blogfinger suggest that the mission and master plan of the Wesley Lake Commission should be to restore the Lake back to an estuary.
The State or the Army Corps of Engineers should develop a plan to remove the Wesley Lake dam and restore the Ocean Inlet, letting Mother Nature reestablish the estuary and secondarily the health of the lake. Of course something would have to be done to pipe the filthy storm sewer drainage elsewhere.
Watch for more installments of this important topic.
MOZART: “Motet in D Major” with the Latvian Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir
OG Scott,
According to the DEP, Division of Land Resource Protection:
“Tidelands, also known as Riparian Lands are all lands that are currently and formerly flowed by the mean high tide of a natural waterway…”
” The State of New Jersey claims ownership of these tidelands and holds them in Trust for the people of the state”.
Note:
All early maps show Wesley Lake as riparian lands, an estuary, and a lake.
I know this is old, (2016 BF report) but stumbled upon it while looking around the internet to see if there were any plans for the lake tied in with the north end redevelopment plan.
There’s one huge fact here that no one seems to either realize or understand, which is that for all intensive purposes, Wesley Lake is not really a lake anymore. There is little to no natural water flowing into the lake from the west anymore. The streams that flowed into the lake a century ago are no longer flowing into it. They’ve long since been either diverted underground to carry storm and road runoff, or were filled in for development, and/or dried up as a result of development diverting runoff elsewhere. The forests, swampland, and open space that collected rainwater and fed it to those streams have all been lost to development, most of which was done more than 50-60 years ago.
My point here is that this means it is not technically a lake in a scientific or geographic sense, as the only water flowing into the lake these days is from rainfall/snow, and the runoff from AP & OG.
So for all intents and purposes it is already and has, for quite some time, been nothing more than a detention/retention basin. This was obviously not intentional, but simply the result of bad decisions from the very beginning, starting with the damming of the estuary, and then with the massive amounts of development which occurred inland in Neptune in the middle half of the 20th century – which is likely what caused all of the streams that once carried water to the lake to have dried up or diverted to a different point of discharge.
What I’m getting at is basically that this name change is probably not as nefarious as it seems, as it’s frankly an accurate description of the lake as it currently is. Since virtually the only water flowing into the lake comes from runoff and storm drains, it’s not anymore a natural lake. – This means it cannot be returned to a natural estuary. This is something that I would definitely have liked to be possible, but it simply is not possible.
If the dam were taken out now, the beach cleared and the ocean dredged in order to return it to its original state, the result would be environmentally devastating. The lake is fed by runoff and rainfall, very little freshwater is flowing into there anymore. So you would end up with the heavily polluted runoff from the lake running into the ocean, which would then make the ocean too toxic to swim in on the surrounding beaches. This could be all the time, just after heavy rainfall, or a combination.
If you took out the dam. Wesley Lake becomes the Gowanus Canal, a body of water fed only by storm/sewer runoff with no natural water flushing through to push out pollutants.
Without any natural water flowing into the lake, it is simply not possible to restore it to an estuary. I also think that this means the State of NJ may not own the lake.
The only real solution is to create both natural and mechanical ways of filtering the runoff into the lake, perhaps finding a way to flow more freshwater into the lake and then restore the dam and retention pool to allow water to flow out of the lake into the ocean.
Ideally the retaining walls, or large parts of them, could be ripped down along the lake, and a gentle slope with stones, plant life and a sandy shore could be restored and would help filter contaminants naturally as runoff flowed in. A mechanical pumping system could manage any storm sewers that may drain in to the lake.
If you were to add a pipe to bring some ocean water into the lake, you could definitely mimic the tidal nature of the original water body. This would likely help clear up the lake and stop pollutants from building up or accumulating by mixing the lake water (largely runoff and storm sewer fed) with fresh ocean water, and then discharging the excess via the dam and retention pool. This could be done twice a day with the tides. If a mechanical filtration system could either filter some off the storm runoff before discharging it into the lake or filter some of the lake water itself. –
I know systems like this have been used to restore stagnant and polluted waterways that, like Wesley Lake, lack enough incoming freshwater to balance out the polluted runoff, or to allow for any life in the lake.
Long story short, great job with your research and holding those accountable who have signed on to help fix/redesign the lake.
My basic point was that as of now Wesley lake would not exist if there wasn’t runoff and storm drains feeding into it. Well, it would exist, but would be much smaller, stagnant, and would likely run very close to dry during times of drought or low precipitation. –
To properly fix this lake is going to cost some serious money and will require the construction and maintenance of mechanical systems that can manage the flow of water into and out of the lake. It can’t be turned back into an estuary as there is not enough freshwater flowing in, that’s unfortunately not possible. You could potentially mimic the estuary but that would be financially not even worth considering.
The big issue here is WHO OWNS THE LAKE?
Editor’s note: This very long comment by OG Scott had to be edited down. We don’t know the qualifications of the commenter, but his discussion seems to contain considerable wisdom
He really should forward his composition, in its entirety, to the Wesley Lake Commission. —PG
Tee Lesinski, there are many overlapping jurisdictions over Wesley Lake.
However, the authority over the Lake by the bi-town, Wesley Lake Commission, supersedes both towns.
The Commission’s authority is above the Municipality and below the State.
On the local level, the Commission is the boss of Wesley Lake.
If the Commission had no involvement in the name change, then there are no ‘REASONS’ within a ‘Whereas Section’ of a Commission RESOLUTION to change the name.
As such, I believe, the name change should be considered arbitrary, unreasonable, and invalid, and Dr Michael Brantley has some explaining to do.
The Commission had no involvement in the changes to the Neptune Township tax map.
I did reach out to your municipality and inquired to the use of the word “detention/retention” on the tax map. I was curious since Wesley Lake was originally know as Long Pond.
Most ponds detain/retain water. They were very helpful.
I have worked too long (over 20 years), for the full revitalization of Wesley Lake and I can assure you I will continue to do so even when it seems fruitless.
I will continue to check your blog periodically to see what updates you posted in regard to Neptune Township’s future plans.
Please also visit the Friends of Wesley Lake Facebook page occasionally.
Thank you both,
Tee
Tee: There are different, valid forms of public discussion and participation. I think this forum is fine, it is public, and may be an improvement over the in-person meeting.
On this forum, one can take the time to compose and reflect better than at the meeting. AlsoI think public access to information is key. Paul does not permit abusing or flaming.
Tee Lesinski, the resolution attached to the new tax map containing the name change is Resolution # 13-517 and dated 11/25/13.
Tee: It is a fact of life here and elsewhere that apathy prevails among citizens. This is unfortunate because we have a representative democracy, and if the citizens don’t keep an eye on their elected officials, you run the risk of having a non-representative government such as we have, with respect to Ocean Grove, in Neptune Township.
None of the current candidates for Township Committee seem to have much of a grasp of the issues that we have been discussing on Blogfinger,such as the North End Plan and land use violations.
So, which is better in our representatives: ignorance or intentional deception with lack of transparency?
Dr. Goldfinger: Yes I am a member of the Commission and also a member of the FWL/CWL. Concerned citizens can attend our meetings and would provide needed conversation, information, and views which would be refreshing and greatly needed. Attendance of of residents and business owners are few.
Newcomer: This article is a historic review of the Lakes’s ecology. We also have raised a red flag regarding the potential dangers to the Lake if the NERP developers implement their selfish plans, and, along with that is the related concern about the Tax Map’s new name for W. L.
We did not discuss in any detail other issues such as dredging, plant overgrowths, or the periodic cleanups organized by the Friends of Wesley Lake. And we did not cover the health risks of swimming in that murky mess.
Thank you Mr. Bredin for the information on the Township’s resolution, I will follow-up on this.
What’s all the fuss about? We moved to Lake Ave last Spring and I was swimming in Wesley Lake all summer. My wife thinks that the rash I have on most of my body and my incurable cough and wheezing were caused by the swimming, but I don’t buy it. Wesley Lake is clean, a fine place for all types of recreation.
Tee Lesinski, the Township Committee has the exclusive authority over the tax map.
In 2014, the name of Wesley Lake was changed on the Tax Map to ‘Wesley Detention/Retention Basin’.
At the time, the Township Committee did adopt a resolution that made other major changes to the tax map, but the resolution authorizing those changes, made no mention of a name change to Wesley Lake.
It would appear that the Committee decided on the Lake’s name change at a meeting behind closed doors that the Public and Press were not invited to attend.
Wesley Lake is certainly not a retention basin. No other mapping of the lake has ever had this label. I am following up on who prepared this particular map and to its correct labeling.
I encourage all interested parties to come to a Wesley Lake Commission meeting. Public participation is welcomed and needed at all meetings.
Editor’s Note: Ms. Lesinski is a member of the Wesley Lake Commission. You can read the minutes of this group at the Neptune Township web site. I don’t think that you will find any mention of the new name (Retention/Detention basin) in those minutes, nor will you find any recognition or concern that the NERP developers might have their eyes on Wesley Lake as a planned solution to their future drainage problems.
But if the writer and her colleagues do have something to say on these matters, then please contact us at our email (blogfinger@verizon.net) and we will be pleased to post their comments.
Dr. Brantley is the Chairman of this Commission, so you would think that he, as a Committeeman, would have placed these matters on the agenda, since he should know all about the North End Redevelopment Plan.
By the way, judging from the blog-stats, this topic is currently #1 in interest on Blogfinger, and we have been receiving an average of 1000 visits per day lately, so somebody cares.
–Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
One crazy scandal and failure was to let that Hurricane Sandy money go down the drain. If applied for, the Lake could have been dredged and improved.
During Sandy the flooding was severe and damaged the Lake. Now Wesley Lake is still in pre-Sandy drainage condition or worse. That is just outrageous.
And that dam has never been changed in over 100 years.
Thanks Keith. Blogfinger is an information-sharing website. If the FCWL has some news that it wants to share with our readers, just email us, and we would like to help publicize your efforts. You can also send photos.
We did have a couple of posts about the Lake in 2015. Just use the search box above and type in “Wesley Lake”
Thanks, Paul @Blogfinger (Blogfinger@verizon.net)
Scott, there are many chapters in the Wesley Lake story, and yes, as “Plan Guesser” pointed out, part of the Lake is included in the NERP as a boat dock.
But, you and “Plan Guesser” are floating away from the subject of this article.
As to this article, it is a fact that Wesley Lake is “Public Open Space” reserved for “recreation and conservation” for all the residents of N.J.
Our taxes fund the Green Acres Program, not the “Land Grabbers Program.”
The article is asking the question:
Can Wesley Lake be used as a bi-town “retention-basin” municipal-facility, exclusively for Ocean Grove and A. Park, as a “courtesy to developers” who need a retention basin for their high-density developments? We don’t think so!
According to the name change on the tax map, Ocean Grove, Asbury Park, and the Wesley Lake Commission have already decided it can be used as such, but do they have DEP approval?
At Blogfinger, we believe the change in use as recorded on the Neptune Township Tax Map is a clear violation of the rules that apply to the use of Public Open Space listed under the DEP’s Green Acre Program.
We suggest the DEP review the Neptune Township, the Asbury Park, and the Wesley Lake Commission’s resolutions approving the Lake’s name change—-if those documents actually exist.
Hi Paul-
Thanks for bringing up the issue of the condition of Wesley Lake. As an OG homeowner and board member of the Friends and Citizens for Wesley Lake I would like to add a few corrections and acknowledgements to your post.
The FCWL have spent many hours working with the Wesley Lake Commission to get a pond weed herbicide plan in place that has been very effective this summer season. The image of the pond weed in your blog was from the very short time we had any visible pond weed at all this summer.
When the weed did bloom to the surface, the FCWL and WLC were quick to respond and treat the water accordingly. As a result we had little to no visible pond weed. Compared to other lakes in our area this was a huge improvement that we are proud of. The herbicide is now part of the budget and should continue going forward to curb this issue.
The image of the bike is not current. We have removed many bikes and countless bags of debris in and around Wesley Lake. You can see the results of our hard working volunteers on our Facebook page.
As a group, the FCWL does what it can on a grassroots level working on beautification projects for the Lake. The WLC works on the grants and the funding to improve the water condition.
We agree the Lake’s water condition and run-off issue both need serious attention and we encourage others to get involved and share their voice, knowledge and concerns.
The WLC meets every third Tuesday at the Neptune Municipal Building at 5:30 pm and it would be great to have your involvement.
Best-
Keith Fiori
If the check is big enough, CMA will put on their construction hats.
Plan Guesser: You are correct; neglect of the Lake helps developers on both sides of the Lake.
However, the O.G. side of the Lake is owned by Neptune Township, and the North End Redevelopment Plan was prepared by the Neptune Township Committee at taxpayer expense.
And, the OGCMA never accepted the offer to be a Co-Redeveloper.
CMA’s plan is working … The neglect of the Lake will allow the North End Development to expand.
You ask why there are no longer festivals with boats on the lake — surely part of the reason is that the banks of the lake no longer slope down gently to the water surface as they did in the old photos. It’s now very difficult to launch a canoe, rowboat, or kayak. I wonder when and why the retaining walls were installed.
I cringle when I see people (mostly families it seems) pedaling along on the swan boats in that murky mess. Eeeeewww!
The entire western end of the ‘body of water’ is very shallow due to years of buildup from runoff. I’m sure the whole thing needs a serious dredging. I’m also sure that dredge material would be considered toxic waste so disposal might add to the huge overall cost of such a project, but it really needs to be done.
Once again, the Montclair State University Center for Cooperative Media is featuring a Blogfinger post in their “Local Beat” section.
This time. part I of our Wesley Lake pollution article is prominently featured. Hopefully our provocative title “Who Killed Wesley Lake” will attract some interested eyes from outside our neighborhood—–maybe from Trenton.
Great job Paul. Runoff can be addressed a number of ways. Philadelphia now has regulations restricting roads and parking lots that must be built using materials that allow storm water to drain through. Most areas will not allow new development without a retention basin onsite and specifically engineered to that site. One reason we are seeing so much development in our area is because of so little enforcement of these critical environmental restrictions.
In the July 5, 2016 Asbury Park Press, reporter Russ Zimmer reports that there are rising levels of fecal bacteria in the Navesink River. The State DEP will be studying the situation and finding ways to fix it.
Here is a quote from the article which is relevant to the Wesley Lake pollution:
“Some of the blame for the sorry state of the river can be traced to decades of swapping forests and fields for parking lots and buildings, according to the report. Development has created a sort of highway that carries polluted rainwater straight to the Navesink.
“Open space can absorb rain, but asphalt, concrete and rooftops generally do not. That water is funneled into storm-water sewers, which release the water — and whatever pollution it has incorporated along the way — back into the environment.
“Regardless of the type of animal, fecal material is transmitted into waterways through the flow of stormwater over the land,” the report reads. “The more impervious surface, the more volume of stormwater there is to mobilize this fecal material.”
So when was the last coliform count in Wesley Lake, and why wasn’t it made public? And if the two cities are not monitoring that, then perhaps they should remember that human beings live along the banks of that “retention-detention basin.” That new name tells us that a dehumanization process is occurring in Ocean Grove.
We already have a good dose of noise pollution from A. Park, but this Lake situation will pose a health risk for more than the water-life we can see. Years ago there were festivals on that Lake attended by thousands of people, and there were hundreds of boats cruising its waters Why do you suppose all that has ended? And what happened to the streams and trees?
And why do you suppose the State DEP cares about coliforms in the Navisink?
In that article, the DEP Commissioner said, “A healthy river is vital to the quality of life, economy and recreational opportunities for the communities that surround the Navesink.” Well all that could apply to Wesley Lake. He refers to a “healthy river” but how about healthy OG and AP citizens and visitors and their children who ride swan boats, walk along the banks, and breathe in the breezes coming off the filthy “basin.” And what happened to the fishermen and the bird watchers at the Lake?
As our article suggests, when will the developers take a back seat to the needs of the citizens? Local government in Neptune continues to fail all of us, so when you go to vote on Tuesday, keep that in mind.
Someone check the bottom of that lake for all those Trump lawn signs that were along the center cut of Broadway a few days ago but have since disappeared.
A well written and researched piece, indeed. Kudos to you and Jack Bredin for shining a light on the fetid body of liquid called Wesley _____. You can fill in the blank with lake or retention pond. Fletcher lake which remains a lake is certainly in much better shape and at a minimum Wesley should be maintained at the same level. For many years Wesley was a recreational haven and with enough interest and funding, could once again regain its former grandeur. Sources of funding could include public as well a developer monies.
The fact that a bicycle languishes in the water is an indication that the municipality’s have little interest in improving the appearance of Wesley. It would take very little effort to remove such obvious debris.
Hopefully, this article will create some activism and will serve as a catalyst for positive action..
Doug MacMorris, the article is about State Rules for the use of Public Open Space governed by the N.J.State Green Acre Program in Ocean Grove and Asbury Park.
We cannot research 564 other towns. Different towns have different rules.
Great topic! This has been an interest of mine since we moved here 12 years ago! The lake seems to have gotten slightly better thanks to ‘The Friends of Wesley Lake’, but it has a long, long way to go.
What do other towns do with their storm runoff?
We are submitting this post to the NJ News Commons. This summarizes our goals:
Blogfinger embarks on an investigation of how a natural and historic lake, between Asbury Park and Ocean Grove, has become a cesspool, inhospitable to the ecology which used to prevail at Wesley Lake.
We are offering now the first installment. We plan to explore the history of the problem, the twisted politics, the environmental neglect, the nature of the mess, and suggestions about how to avert more damage and restore Wesley Lake to its natural original condition. We offer maps, photographs, and music, as per our usual style.