Wesley Lake, an iconic symbol of both Asbury Park and Ocean Grove, is a gateway to both towns, even though each community is different in its style and personality.
The lake appeared in many early postcards as a lovely featured attraction for vacationers. It lived up to its promise because it was clean, filled with life, and safe for children to play in its calm waters.
Now it is languishing as a contaminated body of water resting on a blanket of polluted mud.
It stands as a monument to political incompetence. Does anyone care that we the people have been, and continue to be, denied the right to fully enjoy the lake for a variety of recreational uses?
After the Wesley Lake Commission was established to restore the lake, its condition has not improved. In fact, the lake died many years ago and it’s still getting worse because stormwater pollution keeps flowing into the lake. The pollution settles to the bottom and is absorbed into the mud, and no one is doing anything to stop it.
There is not even a conceptual plan by the commission to bring the lake back to life. Why does the commission allow the governing bodies of Neptune Twp. and A. Park to continue using the lake as a municipal facility to treat stormwater pollution?
And why in 2004 did the Township Committee change the name of Wesley Lake on the Tax Map to “Wesley detention/retention basin” without adopting a resolution with the reasons for the name change and without notifying the Planning Board.
I asked the Township Committee about this name change, and they said that they had no idea who changed the name or why. Do you believe this? I do not.
The Engineer for the Neptune Township Planning Board said Wesley Lake is not a detention/retention basin. He is correct.
On December 20, 2016, I attended a meeting of the Wesley Lake Commission. There were two people in the audience. They were discussing a photo contest for the best picture of Wesley Lake to place on their website.
“When it was the public’s turn to speak, I suggested that allowing polluted stormwater to drain into the lake was not a permitted use of the lake because:
“According to the DEP Division of Land Use Regulations, the lake is a “Special Area” subject to “Public Trust Right,” and the lake and its shores are also subject to the Public Trust Doctrine, where the permitted use is reserved for recreation and conservation only.
“The lake is also included in the State DEP Green Acre Program that requires that the lake be “held for recreation and conservation purposes.”
“In addition, the lake is also on riparian lands and is under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers which restricts the ues of the lake and its shores to recreation and conservation as well.
“Restoring the lake should be a part of both towns’ master plans which should be used as guides to restoring the lake over the next 6 years, and the Wesley Lake Commission should follow that plan as well.”
The response from the commission members was that they were unaware of the Public Trust Doctrine or the Green Acres regulations.
They also told me that they have the right to use the lake as part of a stormwater drainage system and that they are permitted to treat the contaminated lake water with a program of spreading chemicals into the lake because the original Lenape Indian name for the lake was “Long Pond” and since they believe that it is not a lake, they claim a pond can be used to treat stormwater pollution.
This is nonsense, but unlike the Neptune Township Committee, at least they are honest about why they are breaking every environmental law on the books
JACK BREDIN
Ocean Grove, N.J. , December 26, 2016
The writer is a researcher and reporter @Blogfinger with a special interest in land use law and environmental issues in the Grove.
REGINA SPEKTOR: “Genius Next Door” from her album Far.
(This selection was suggested by a Blogfinger reader who says, “This song comes to my mind when thinking of our sad Wesley Lake. ” )
Can’t be good for the swan boat business. Boaters beware!
Doug and Wisher: Wesley Lake has been put on “life support,” and we would all like to see “dramatic action” to restore life back to this valuable and historic recreational resource.
I would suggest that the first step is for the Wesley Lake Commission to chose a new chairman.
Under the leadership of present chairman Dr. Michael Brantley, not only has the condition of the Lake not improved, it has in fact been downgraded by Neptune Township to a municipal facility (“Wesley Detention-Retention Basin”) used to collect dirty street water runoff from AP, OG, and Neptune, creating a polluted lake.
And to add insult to injury, the Commission permits this untreated waste water to flow directly from the Lake into the Atlantic where it washes up on the beaches.
If this is not a crime, it should be.
LoL, I agree completely, Wisher – talk is cheap, although I appreciate the dialogue that goes on here.
Also agree completely that the Wesley Lake Commission is worthless without action. So, for “dramatic action”, what specific action steps could you recommend and participate in that can start TOMORROW to help the lake? Really, if you could literally wake up tomorrow and start taking steps to improve the lake, what would come first? What would the priority be?
I’m available most of the day this Friday and will work with you on your list. Let’s get started!
Thanks!
Thank you, Doug. But as hard and cold as it is to hear, talk can be cheap. Attending meetings and review of charters are noble, indeed integral, to change. But they do not have to be the beginning, as you suggest.
Dramatic ACTION can be a beginning as well. When floating garbage appears, styrofoam wrappers, filth, disgust, someone should snap to it, and slap some brat who giggles at a hearing, like that guy. Brattishness is an obstacle.
The Wesley Lake Commission is worthless until it engages in action.
Hi Paul and Jack,
I wasn’t aware of the “detention/retention basin” label until a couple moths ago and, like you, would like to find out when and why that change was made, as well as what the resulting ramifications of such a change would be, if any.
Jack, the Wesley Lake Commission manages the lake on behalf of the respective municipalities, not on behalf of the DEP, not on behalf of developers. Feel free to share any information to the contrary. Please be in touch and we can meet up to discuss your concerns any time. I’m available all week.
Doug McQueen
973-207-0332
Doug: What about the”detention/retention basin?” Don’t you want to get to the bottom of that? It portends a worsened prognosis for the lake when they start building the North End project.
Doug McQueen, Thank you for your letter. I will be in touch.
And, you are correct. Technically, I should have said: The Wesley Lake Commission SHOULD be managing the Lake for DEP on behalf of the residents, instead of managing the Lake for DEVELOPERS.
Jack,
I appreciate and share your enthusiasm for wanting Wesley Lake to be returned to a healthy, habitable and accessible condition. That’s why I volunteered to be a member of the Wesley Lake Commission in January 2016. To that end, the Commission has been working to improve conditions in and around the lake, despite your assertions to the contrary.
Your blog post here makes some great points about the direction the lake should be going and the sad state of the lake, at present. However, you also make some factual assertions that are not cited or unclear, including some that are out-and-out incorrect. For example, your assertion, “let’s set the record straight, the Wesley Lake Commission manages the Lake for the DEP” is completely incorrect. NJDEP has jurisdiction over specific activities that may go on in the lake, including bulkhead/shoreline repair and de-silting, but the lake is the property of the two respective municipalities.
I wasn’t able to attend the December 20th, 2016 Wesley Lake Commission that you attended, but I’m familiar enough with the Public Trust Doctrine that I’d be happy to talk to you about its application to Wesley Lake.
Why don’t we set up a time this week where we can go for a walk around the lake or sit down for a cup of coffee and discuss how we can all be pulling on the same end of the rope? That seems like a good start, right?
I’ll be glad to send you a copy of the Charter of the Wesley Lake Commission, an agreement to manage the lake made by both municipalities (and not involving NJDEP in any way.) I’ll also give you a copy of the comments that the Wesley Lake Commission recently submitted to Asbury Park as part of Asbury Park’ Master Plan Reexamination process. (We announced at several Wesley Lake Commission meetings that that AP Master Plan process had public hearings, and we encouraged any member of the public to attend and speak up on behalf of Wesley Lake.) We are working on setting up a Wesley Lake Commission website so that more documents can be available for anyone to review.
Finally, “Wisher,” Wesley Lake Commissioners are all unpaid volunteers (except for each municipality’s respective appointed public works employees). If you find any “sums” that I’ve been paid, I’ll gladly donate them to the Friends of Wesley Lake. Your comment about “bloated” government is way off the mark in this case and does nothing to solve the problems of Wesley Lake. Perhaps you’d like to engage in some conversations about what you can do to make Wesley Lake a more sustainable resource for the future?
Thanks,
Doug McQueen
Wesley Lake Commissioner (alternate)
Editor’s Note: We at Blogfinger appreciate Doug McQueen’s informative, thorough and erudite comment. It is so rare that any official in the Grove communicates with our readers. I know that Jack Bredin also appreciates this outreach.
If we are wrong about anything that appears on Blogfinger,we have no problem making corrections, additions or merely continuing a debate on subjects that affect all of us who live in Ocean Grove. So, Doug, thank you so much.
Jack said that he would contact you for some private discussions, and I think that is amazing. He has your contact info.
Any followup for blog posting would be welcome.—-Paul @Blogfinger
Wisher,
In addition to the Wesley Lake Commission, the OGHOA has no questions, and the Township Committee have no answers about our polluted Wesley Lake.
Also, the OGCMA manages the Beach and the Boardwalk for the State.
But, let’s set the record straight, the Wesley Lake Commission manages the Lake for the DEP.
The Wesley Lake Commission, is the perfect example of bloated government that gets paid sums, but does absolutely, and totally, NOTHING. This beautiful commission, did zero to commission available Hurricane Sandy funds to dredge and clean the lake as a watershed project for future storms. And the Camp Meeting Association, so concerned with pleasing the rich with it’s rabid concern for the boardwalk restoration, ignored the lake, completely.
So there is complete failure. The rich have their boardwalk, and we have a cesspool.
Thanks Jack
A song comes to my mind when thinking of our sad Wesley Lake. A song by Regina spektor, “Genius Next Door”.