19th century map. Note Wesley Lake–spring fed and opening to the sea. Later a dam was created to make the lake somewhat larger, but it continued to drain to the ocean, and continues to do so to this day. Click on map to make it bigger.
Storm sewer on the Asbury Park side of the Lake. Blogfinger photo. 2016 ©
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net
September 19, 2017: Jake Bredin of Ocean Grove sat quietly for 90 minutes while the first WLC meeting in 3 months plodded on at the Asbury Park Municipal Building. When the public portion arrived, he stood for his presentation. He had prepared a script so that he could cover a few topics in 5 minutes.
The presentation on June 27, by an engineering consultant, was still bothering Jack because that individual declared publicly that Wesley Lake was “man-made.” At that time, the Commission did not ask the engineer any questions nor did they allow questions from the floor.
So Jack now began to explain why Wesley Lake (originally called Long Pond) was a natural body of water which was present when the Founders arrived in 1869. Old maps show one large stream feeding the lake and the maps also show that the lake was an estuary, exchanging water with the ocean.
As Jack got into his discussion, a loud and unruly Neptune (DPW) Commission member interrupted Jack and shouted out, “Did God make that wall?” That sparked a disintegration of order, uncontrollable by the Chairwoman. Things got so out of hand, that the Chairwoman Gail Rosewater later said she would consider banning all public statements in the future and/or limiting such statements to 3 minutes.
Such a ban would be a violation of the Commission’s charter and the “Open Public Meetings Act.”
I got up to speak to ask a few questions and expand on the Lake’s history as a natural body of water, but I also got shouted down by Commissioners and even by the Neptune Township engineer who was there as a guest. The disorder was outrageous, and if they had just allowed Jack to read his script and complete his 5 minutes, this situation would not have exploded as it did.
Earlier during the course of the meeting, during some self reflective moments, the consensus seemed to be that the function of the Commission, as with other single lake commissions at the shore, was largely ineffective .
The City Manager from Asbury Park, Michael Capabianco, was present and leaked the news that the State DEP was going to make a proposal next spring to merge several local lake commissions in order to create regional jurisdictions for Jersey Shore lakes such as Wesley. He said that “the town by town approach is stupid.” He also said that there is “Sandy money—millions” that will be available from the DEP for such a purpose. But he cautioned that “the DEP doesn’t know where it is going” with this idea.
Judging from the discussions within the Commission, they seemed a bit lost in their quest to do anything effective that would reduce the deluge of filthy ground water currently happening, mostly from Asbury Park, into Wesley Lake.
They mentioned the Blogfinger articles on this topic, and the Chairwoman said that they agree regarding that concern, but they “need guidance.” One suggestion that was made was to keep an eye on the North End Redevelopment project in OG and other projects on both sides of the divide, to make sure that the plans deal with ground water effectively according to DEP standards and that no environmental waivers be granted.
I asked them if they had a “mission statement,” and was told that it was in their charter, but a review of that charter revealed no mission statement; however it did say that “the Wesley Lake Commission shall have full authority over the maintenance and control and improvement of the lake and its watershed.”
But the Commission does not know where their watershed jurisdiction is because they do not have a watershed map, even though the Commission’s “Agreement of Charter” calls for such documentation.
The Commission’s agreement says, “The jurisdiction of the Wesley Lake Commission shall be designated on a map attached to this charter….”
But, according to the Neptune Engineer, Leanne Hoffmann, “We don’t have watershed maps.”
The same Neptune member who had invoked God earlier had previously alleged that allowing ground water into the Lake was acceptable because the streets are part of the Lake’s watershed.
In addition, it was previously said that Wesley Lake is not part of the Green Acres program, but subsequently Mayor Brantley rejected that opinion.
Such confusion and lack of detail is unacceptable and must be corrected, or else the Commission will be in violation of its own charter.
The new secretary of the WLC is Ocean Grover Susan Tyler. She also is new to the Commission; the other OG member is Keith Fiori who is ideal for the job because he lives on Lake Avenue.
Editor’s Note: Today we interviewed OG historian and author Ted Bell who verified that Wesley Lake (aka Long Pond) is indeed a natural body of water and that it did have tidal flows prior to the dam. He said that there was a sand bar at the east end where the water went in and out according to the tides. This opinion can be verified on maps going back to the 18th century. He has offered to attend a meeting of the WLC to discuss the lake’s history and its prognosis.
ROY ORBISON (live)
Thank you for all who are taking Wesley Lake serious. I hope with time we will continue to keep this issue going until the Lake gets clean.
Jack: Deal Lake is the largest natural lake in the region. Here is a link to the Blogfinger article about Deal Lake last December. That lake is receiving clean-up help that Wesley Lake is not receiving. Why?? And, Deal Lake is protected by an activist citizen group in addition to their Lake Commission.
Deal Lake
Also, the Wesley Lake Commission will be having a Lake cleanup in October. Presumably they will announce the details..
It is clear that Neptune and Asbury Park have an agenda that they wish to advance and that they refuse to recognize the facts: namely that Wesley Lake is a natural tidal body of water documented in maps dating back to the mid 18th* century, and that it empties to the ocean.
Various committees continue to violate the rights of citizens to address public meetings for the allotted 5 minutes. Instead of being guardians of the environment, these public officials seem to prefer to destroy it to advance their agenda of development. Their behavior is shameful.
*per Historian Ted Bell
Dave, you are correct. Any funding that would have gone to Wesley Lake now goes to Deal Lake. At Tuesday’s meeting it was suggested by a member of the Commission that a table be set up with a jar to solicit donations from the public whenever the Friends of Wesley Lake do their volunteer cleanup work.
Doubting Thomas: you are also correct. The Commission has to start carrying out what their Charter calls for and stop carrying water for developers.
The Wesley Lake Commission should officially denounce any opinion that says that draining untreated street water runoff into the Lake is acceptable.
The Commission must defend the Lake’s ecology, promote solutions to the current problem, and make sure that no developer makes the problem worse.
I was very involved in going to these meetings a couple years back and received treatment similar to Jack. At that time I did not believe they had the authority to even form the Commission. That effectively removed the Lake from an actual funding source, Neptune Twp. Brantley was mayor at that time as well.
I believe all along they wanted to become the Wesley Detention Basin Commission. How’s that fund raising campaign going Mr. Mayor?
I remember Paul and I being lonely observers at a photo-op held to announce the planned improvements the Mayor had. Apparently what was really planned was not a Lake but a detention basin.
The Consulting Engineer who testified that the Lake was ‘man-made’, also testified that the Lake was now a “Detention Basin”, echoing the 5 member Township Committee’s position as recorded on their tax map, and ‘re- echoed by their DPW representative on the Commission.
The name of this body of water is important because as a Lake it has environmental protection and the Lake must be restored for recreational use.
As a “Detention Basin” the Lake is a Municipal Facility and would be under the supervision of the DPW.
And the six feet of polluted mud could be capped over and the Lake filled in for development.
Does anybody care?