Lack of lake work irks resident ‘Logistical problems’ causing delay at Aldrich Lake

Lack of lake work irks resident
‘Logistical problems’
causing delay
at Aldrich Lake

Phyllis Perez

Logistical problems, ac-cording to one Howell municipal official, are delaying a planned cleanup of Aldrich Lake.

It is a delay that is upsetting to at least one township resident.

When all of the details are worked out, however, money should not be an object.

Howell received a $100,000 check in October 2000 for the dredging cleanup of Aldrich Lake, West Aldrich Road near Addison Road. An additional $175,000 was received subsequent to that, according to Jeffrey Filiatreault, Howell’s chief financial officer.

At the time the initial grant was received, Mayor Timothy Konopka called it a "fulfillment of his administration’s commitment to Howell’s environment." The mayor projected a completion date for the cleanup of March 2001.

As that date has come and gone and no work has begun at Aldrich Lake, Bock Boulevard resident Phyllis Perez told Greater Media Newspapers she is angry and skeptical of where the grant money will end up being spent.

Perez said she moved to her lakeside property four years ago and was told then by area residents that a cleanup of Aldrich Lake was going to be done. She said at first she was excited by the news that grants had been obtained for the project. She said she became increasingly upset when no work at the lake was evident.

Perez said the 6-acre Aldrich Lake has become even more choked by vegetation growth over the past four years and besides being unsightly is now a source of concern in the summer when, she said, the lake seems more like a South Jersey marshland and presents a danger as a possible mosquito breeding area.

Perez said she contacted Greater Media Newspapers after "too many telephone calls to the mayor’s office regarding the lake went unanswered."

Filiatreault said the grants totaling $275,000 are sitting in the bank. He said the reason no work has begun at Aldrich Lake is due to "logistical problems."

Filiatreault said that as he understands the situation, since all of the land surrounding Aldrich Lake is privately owned, the ability to gain necessary access to the lake is holding up the project.

He said that as of a month ago, Township Engineer William Nunziato had turned his attention to solving the logistical problems of getting dredging equipment and other project materials into and out of the site.

When contacted by Greater Media Newspapers, Nunziato said it has been decided that access will be made through the township’s archery range on Bass Place.

In addition to the access point, Nunziato said the project required a staging area — an area where vegetation dredged from the lake can be placed so that it can dry out and so the archery range could be used for both.

Nunziato said he is putting together a package of permit applications and expects the work to start in the fall or winter of 2002.