“Black and Blue” Wesley Lake in May, 2014. Photograph by Bob Bowné. © Special to Blogfinger.
By Jack Bredin, Researcher @Blogfinger and Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
In August, 2012, Committeeman Michael Brantley, the local expert on Wesley Lake, said, “We are trying to get this lake restored to its original beauty.”
In December, 2016, we were visiting the Land Use Department of the Neptune Township Mother Ship. We were at the counter occupied by the Assistant Land Use Administrator–George Waterman. On the counter were some educational fliers.
One of them seemed interesting: “Solutions to Stormwater Pollution.” The brochure said, “Stormwater pollution is one of New Jersey’s greatest threats to clean and plentiful water, and that’s why we’re all doing something about it.”
Below is a link to a recent article on Blogfinger about our effort to discuss that brochure with Waterman.
2016 article on Blogfinger about dirty Wesley Lake
Here is an introduction to our plan:
1. The expectation of area residents to use Wesley Lake for recreation is reasonable.
2. The Neptune Township Committee and the Wesley Lake Commission’s plan to use Wesley Lake as a municipal facility to treat polluted street water is unreasonable.
3. When “Penny” commented on a Blogfinger article “Muck, Slime and Garbage in Beautiful Wesley Lake,” she said, “Why doesn’t the Wesley Lake Commission get in touch with the DEP? I understand they have cleaned up other lakes in our area.”
4. Jack Bredin replied to that comment saying, “We must first develop a plan to eliminate the source of the pollution that is going into the Lake, then the DEP will assist.”
5. On March 27, 2017, Jack Bredin attended the latest meeting of the Neptune Township Committee. He wanted to acquaint them with our plan to help remediate the filth in Wesley Lake. As Jack was speaking, Neptune Township Business Administrator Vito Gadaleta rolled his eyes and laughed at the proposal.
The only reply from the Committee was from Mayor Michael Brantley who is also a member of the Neptune Planning Board and the Chairman of the Wesley Lake Commission, and he said, “Your five minutes are up.” The rest of the Committee members at the meeting reserved their right to remain silent.
So here we are, at our very own megaphone, to fill the vacuum with free speech. Below are the Blogfinger suggestions to restore Wesley Lake:
a. The Wesley Lake Commission, Neptune Township, and Asbury Park, working together, should prepare an engineering plan to divert all street water run-off pipes that drain into Wesley Lake into one pipe that drains into a new detention basin for treatment before being released into the Ocean. This would stop polluted water from entering the Lake and the Ocean.
b. Drain the Lake and remove all the polluted mud.
c. As most of the water that flows into Wesley Lake is from the streets, and that will be cut off, it will be necessary to establish a new supply of water, and we have one located several hundred feet to the east.
d. Build a small pump-station next to the Lake’s outflow pipe that would pump water from the Atlantic Ocean into the lake when necessary. The Lake would then be as clean as the Ocean.
e. This process was used to supply the Palisades Amusement Park’s swimming pool with water. (“That’s where the girls are.”)
If any of our readers have a plan, let’s hear from you.
FREDDY CANNON:
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.
Editor’s note: This is a copy of a comment that Wisher made in response to a member of the Wesley Lake Commission who had responded to Jack Bredin’s recent Letter to the Editor re: Wesley Lake.
Old Timer, another good idea for the western end of Wesley Lake, and not requiring an additional 7 feet of excavation, comes from Doug McQueen, a member of the Wesley Lake Commission.
Doug recommends “reconstructing one section of the deteriorating bulkhead with a ‘living shoreline’, a reinforced embankment with plants and natural materials.”
I can picture that “living shoreline” for the entire western half of Wesley Lake.
The western end could start with a sand beach that would then slope into the Lake.
The west end of this “lake” is very shallow. If it is drained and cleaned it may become a bit deeper, but really should be made at least 7 feet deep. Then it will at least appear cleaner.
Sounds like an effective plan. Wesley lake would truly be a lake once again. Some of the funds could be provided by recycling all of the shopping carts and bicycles that currently repose in the depths of the retention/detention pond!