Wantage Press Release
EFFORTS CONTINUE TO FIND SOLUTION TO LAKE NEEPAULIN DAM ISSUE
Township of Wantage, June 11, 2009
At the June 4, 2009 meeting of the Mayor and Committee of the Township of Wantage, Committeeman Bill DeBoer announced that he has asked Wantage Township resident Christine Feoranzo to see if she can organize an impromptu committee of concerned residents who would continue reviewing the issue of the Lake Neepaulin Dam, to see if it is possible to find a creative solution to pay for the costs of rehabilitating the dam.
“I don’t think any one would be against repairing the dam, in and of itself” says Mr. DeBoer. “The problem comes in when the question of ‘who will pay?’ gets going”.
“Sometimes you need government to step aside and let the people themselves see if there’s a solution” says Mayor Parker Space. “It’s kind of tough for Government to think outside the box when it’s the State Government that put us into the box in the first place.”
“This issue has been very frustrating for every one involved” says Deputy Mayor Clara Nuss. “We want to choose the road of common sense, but it seems like in this case, state laws and regulations don’t give us that chance.”
Mayor Space explains “we’ve been handed a problem that we did not make, on property that we do not own, and told we have to choose an option that no one is happy with … and we have to suffer the consequences of any decision made. Special assessments? Town-wide assessments? Lake draining? No one wants to do any of this.”
Mr. DeBoer’s suggestion was met with cautious optimism by members of the Wantage Township public at the meeting on June 4. Residents stressed it was important for word to get out to the public that the issue is still being reviewed and given further consideration, so that people are not under the impression that any decision has been made to drain the lake.
Ms. Feoranzo, a member of the Wantage Township Board of Recreation Commissioners who also chairs the Northwest New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club, explains that “this group will try to include a wide spectrum of residents - those opposing the special assessment, residents in favor of the special assessment as well as residents that do not reside within the R-2 Zone called Lake Neepaulin. The community has been divided for too long on the issue of the dam repair. The goal is to have the group share opposing viewpoints and work together to find a viable way to fix the dam that will, hopefully, include the support of all the residents of Wantage Township.”