BRADLEY BEACH — The Bradley Beach borough council passed a resolution at its Aug. 28 meeting pledging their support for the team leading the initiative for the restoration of Sylvan Lake and a future collaboration between Avon-By-The-Sea and Bradley Beach.
On the south end of Bradley Beach and the north end of Avon-by-the-Sea lies Sylvan Lake, a 17-acre watershed that flows from Route 71 up to Ocean Avenue and drains directly into the Atlantic Ocean. For the last four years, efforts to restore the lake have been led by an independent team. According to the resolution, the lake is “very shallow” and has experienced “significant adverse impacts to water quality” due to siltation.
According to the resolution, “An ecologic restoration team is exploring an innovative approach to facilitate the restoration of Sylvan Lake. If successful, this ‘green infrastructure/nature-based’ approach could serve as a cost-effective model for restoring other coastal inland lakes in New Jersey.”
The team is made up of environmental professionals local to the community including Al Modjeski of the American Littoral Society; former Bradley Beach resident Marty McHugh of Groundwater and Environmental Services Inc.; and Bradley Beach resident Jim Shissias of NJ Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership. The team also is collaborating with the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute with funding from the Department of Defense Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program.
The approach to restore the lake, according to the resolution, is based upon a design that was developed for Bear Bond Lake in Sussex County and is currently under review by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).
According to the resolution, the design has been preliminary discussed with members of the Sylvan Lake Commission and representatives from both boroughs’ governing bodies. The conceptual approach will be shared with representatives from the NJDEP, and if deemed feasible for Sylvan Lake, the restoration team can then develop a specific restoration plan in coordination with the NJDEP.
Following a Sylvan Lake Commission meeting held on Aug. 21, both governing bodies in Avon-by-the-Sea and Bradley Beach passed resolutions pledging what Councilman Al Gubitosi and liaison to Sylvan Lake called “a more integrated vision” when dealing with the future of the borough’s adjoined lake.
Councilman Gubitosi told The Coast Star, “To the extent that we can work together; every project we have going forward, every project they have going forward, we do them all working collaboratively to make sure we’re building towards an ultimate restoration solution, that’s the goal.”
The Sylvan Lake Commission is an advisory board made up of residents and representatives from the governing bodies in both boroughs that share the lake. Members of the commission, including Chair Anne Politi, attended the council meeting, and have repeatedly called for the dredging of the lake they voluntarily look over. However, according to the resolution the “cost of dredging the lake and addressing the wide spread sedimentation of the lake to revitalize it would be prohibitive to both Avon and Bradley Beach.”
The resolution passed at the Aug. 28 borough council meeting assures that the restoration team’s “innovative approach” to restore the lake would be “cost-effective” and work complementary with Avon’s living shoreline project. Additionally, the resolution pledges that the restoration team will work hand in hand with borough engineers, Sylvan Lake Commission members and members of each governing body as it “develops the concept and any design and engineering plan for Sylvan Lake that is a product of the team’s conceptual approach and the implementation of the plan.”
At the Aug. 21 commission meeting, which was attended by Borough Engineer Ben Matlack and several members of the restoration team, it was revealed that a portion of the over $100,000 of REPI federal grant funding secured by the restoration team will be pledged towards conducting water quality and soil testing, as well as engineering surveys and designs regarding the dredging of Sylvan Lake, Councilman Gubitosi said at the council meeting.
Earlier this year, Mayor Larry Fox announced the Borough of Bradley Beach secured a Department of Transportation (DOT) grant totaling $2.4 million for improvements to Sylvan Lake, which is slated to fund the restoration of the collapsing bulkhead on the Bradley Beach side of the lake.
At the Aug. 28 borough council meeting Councilman Gubitosi stated, “What’s important though, is that the bulkhead needs to get fixed in a way that is consistent with the broader design for restoring the lake.”
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