Not another dam

Apparently Wantage Deputy Mayor Ron Bassani is pushing full-speed ahead on his plan for the townshipo to use our Open Space funds, tax dollars, to purchase the 55.67-acre farm across Sherman ridge Road from Woodbourne Park. Sounds great, doesn't it? The property is sknown as 41, Berry Road, or Block 132, Lot 1.01.

But, some time back, based on a phone call that I received and a sit visit, I had alerted the members of the Township Committee to the fact that there is a dam located on this property very near Berry Road. Of course, you can't drive on this section of Berry Road because the bridge that is located near the dam suffered storm damage.

I would very strongly recommend that the township do nothing more toward purchasing this property until the Township obtains a firm written commitment from the N.J. Dept. of Environmental Protection, hopefully signed by the commissioner himself and not just by some clerk, as to what the township can legally do, or not do, with the dam. Plus, get and publish cost estimates for doing this work. Or, is the Wantage Township Committee going to blindly buy yet another potential $1 million dam fiasco for us taxpayers to pay for?

You would have think that they would have learned something from their Lake Neepaulin Dam $1.2 million fiasco.

William H. Gettler
Wantage Township