Blogfinger

Old map shows Wesley Lake (Long Pond) being supplied by natural springs and then draining in and out of the ocean  (tidal waters.)

Pipe at the eastern end of the Lake which OGNED intends to use to pump additional North End dirty water into the Lake. This pipe outlet is near the Ocean.    Courtesy of Doug McQueen, Wesley Lake Commission. 11/25/19

November 25, 2019.  Ocean Grove.

Two days ago Blogfinger posted an unedited  commentary by Doug McQueen of the Wesley Lake Commission.   You can scroll down to find it.  Jack Bredin, reporter and commenter on Blogfinger has replied to Mr. McQueen below:

Doug McQueen:  Thank you for your efforts to restore Wesley Lake.

The help we need to fix the Lake has been in place for years. It’s the Green Acres program. I’m disappointed that it’s not mentioned in your letter to Blogfinger posted on Nov. 23, 2019.

Instead you conclude:    “This may become one of those frustrating scenarios where there was only a millisecond in between, ‘It’s too early to tell’  and ‘It’s too late to change it.'”

This is “lawyer-talk-nonsense” in support of the “political-talk-nonsense” coming from the “powers that be.”

The true support we need comes from the New Jersey DEP Green Acres Program, and it’s in place.

Both the mayors and chairmen of the Planning Boards of Neptune and AP have certified that they will follow the Green Acres Rules.

According to the Green Acres Program: Wesley Lake along with all other coastal riparian lakes in NJ are now, and have always, been reserved by the State for “recreation and conservation,” in perpetuity.

Allowing dirty street water to drain into the Lake and then in the Ocean, untreated, does not support recreation and conservation.

And yes, there are exceptions:

For example, if  the northeast region of the United States was dependent on foreign oil, and the only place compatible  with large oil tankers was at the Wesley Lake location, there would be “An Overwhelming Public Need” to use that location for oil storage tanks, and, like it or not, that is where the Federal Government would place them.

But, make no mistake about it, there is NO “Overwhelming Public Need” for local politicians to save their developer friends a bundle of money by not requiring them to pay for off-site improvements that are necessary to their development proposals.  Instead the cost is transposed over to the taxpayers.

The necessary off-site improvements would be to reroute water drainage pipes to a new detention basin serving both towns to treat the polluted street water before being released into the Atlantic Ocean.

A special detention basin hook-up-up fee for each new unit that goes on line would have accomplished this years ago.  Instead, the Wesley Lake Commission sells T shirts, and they want to use Wesley lake as a detention basin by changing the name on the Neptune side of the Lake, but that does no change the permitted use of the Lake.  It just creates a false impression to justify their misuse of the Lake.

The use of riparian lakes for recreation and conservation dates back to 1776 and prior to that English  Common Law in the 13 colonies.

It was adopted by the Green Acres Program because that is the law and this Rule of Law supersedes DEP regulations regarding storm water runoff in lakes in general that do not empty into the Atlantic Ocean and wash up on the beach.

Tourism in NJ depends on clean beaches.

A violation of any Green Acre Rule protecting riparian lakes cannot be “grandfathered in.  And the DEP, , the Green Acres Program itself, and especially local politicians cannot change this law.

I repeat, the land is held in trust by the State of NJ in PERPETUITY!

Over the years the Lake has been seriously damaged from the neglect of the State, County, Wesley Lake Commission, Neptune Township, and the City of Asbury park, and there is still no plan by anyone to fix the problem.

If this is not a crime, it should be.

SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK   “This Little Light of Mine”