A dredging project at Lake Takanassee will remove sediment buildup and help stem flooding of nearby streets from overflow during storms. KENNY WALTER LONG BRANCH — Sediment testing at Lake Takanassee in Elberon show minimal contamination, and city officials expect the results will green-light a dredging project to mitigate flooding and overflow of the lake.
Long Branch City Engineer Jerry Freda said March 28 that the sediment testing has concluded, and the city and county are preparing to dredge the western portion of the lake.
“All samples came back and were analyzed by everybody, and we are going to move forward,” he said. “The county and the city are going to work together to do the actual dredging.”
“In the sampling, they test for all kinds of parameters, and of all the testing there were two or three minor hits from byproducts that would wash down off the roads,” Freda added. “It was nothing that was … contaminated that would stop the project.”
Long Branch Business Administrator Howard Woolley Jr. said during the March 26 City Council workshop meeting that the city would benefit from the cost savings with the county taking the lead on the project.
“With the county bearing the major share of the [cost], they are going to truck the dredge spoils out and use it as cover in the landfill,” he said. “The major problem with any of these dredging issues is what you do with the dredge spoils.
“By their stepping up, and not only doing the work but taking the dredge spoils, it makes the whole project doable,” he added. “We have to provide some manpower, and we’ve done some preliminary tests of the sediment.”
The dredging project is expected to improve environmental conditions, while also decreasing flooding from lake overflow.
According to Woolley, the city is working with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and its Green Acres program on some of the remaining issues with the dredging project.
“Everybody seems on board with the project. We are working out the permitting issues, [and] we are working out some of the details with the county engineer,” he said. “It looks like we can get a tremendous project in there.”
Freda predicted the permitting process with the DEP would take a few months.
Lake Takanassee extends from the Atlantic Ocean to Norwood Avenue in Elberon. If approved, the first phase of the dredging project would span from Norwood to Woodgate avenues.
City officials hope that after Phase I, the remainder of the lake will be included in the project.
“They would come back hopefully and do Woodgate to the railroad tracks and maybe even go into the big lake,” Woolley said. “It would be done in phases, and it could easily start in a couple of months.”
In December, the council allotted $17,000 to Freda, of engineering firm Leon S. Avakian Inc., Neptune, to test the lake sediment for pollutants, which would make the project ineligible for the county, since the dredged material could not be used at the county landfill.
The dredging cost has yet to be determined, Freda said, because the work will be done jointly by the city Department of Public Works (DPW) and the county Department of Public Works and Engineering.
“There is really not a fee because there is not a contractor involved,” he said. “All the labor is going to be done by either the county DPW or the Long Branch DPW.”
Woolley also updated the council on the damaged spillway that controls the flow of water on the eastern edge of the lake. The spillway was destroyed during superstorm Sandy, sending floodwaters onto the streets surrounding the main part of the lake.
Freda previously explained the function of the spillway. “There is a pipe that drains the lake; the spillway is the structure in front of it which allows the water to spill in a controlled manner into a lower structure and then into the [outflow] pipe,” he said.
The breach occurred during Sandy, when surging floodwaters infiltrated the lake and destroyed the remaining historic Takanassee
Beach Club building across the street from the lake. Woolley said the city is also discussing the project with developer Isaac
Chera, owner of the beach club site.
“We are also working with the developer because the breach that occurred down there is on his property,” Woolley said. “His approval with CAFRA [Coastal Area Facility
Review Act] calls for him to build a wall or a bulkhead on the east border of the lake.
We’d like to talk to him about possibly partnering and doing the spillway while he does that wall, because the wall will tie into our spillway.”
Woolley said the spillway project is important, but it would not begin until outside funding is secured.
“A lot of this is all going to be dependent upon our getting approval of these funds from Washington,” he said. “We have taken the approach that we’re not going out and proceeding with these projects until we realize we are going to get the money back.
“We are not quite as optimistic as some of our neighbors that FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] is going to pay for everything.”
Charles Shirley, assistant to the director of the Long Branch Office of Emergency Management, said the city has applied to the DEP for a grant that would fund the spillway improvements.
The city also has plans for a third lake project, for which there is a pending grant application to the Monmouth County Open Space grant program. This would fund a bank stabilization project at the eastern portion of the lake.
Another issue that has yet to be decided is whether the state will stock Lake Takanassee for 2013 fishing season. While Shirley said the DEP told him it would be stocked, city Director of Emergency Management Stan Dziuba said he was told that, due to the breach, the fish would not be added. Woolley said officials are working on getting an answer.
“You will get two stories from the same agency because sometimes Macy’s doesn’t talk to Gimbels,” he said. Contact Kenny Walter at [email protected]