Residents object to Wantage subcommittee
WANTAGE — Several township residents took objecting to a Wantage Township Committeeman's suggestion to make a sub-committee from Friends of Lake Neepaulin members on the township's Recreation Commission.
The committee on Nov. 13 discussed using the proposed rules of the Wantage Recreation Commission for Lake Neepaulin Park. The township took control of Lake Neepaulin and the dam from the Friends of Lake Neepaulin on July 17.
The commission studied and recommended everything from speed bumps, registration fees for boats, catch-and-release fishing policy, no swimming, snowmobiles and ATVs, to long-term goals such as multi-age playground equipment.
The committee discussed the possibility of swimming, but committeeman Ronald Bassani proposed the possibility of a sub-committee, including Friends of Lake Neepaulin in an advisory role.
Township residents Ann Smulewicz and Kathy Gorman were opposed to the the Friends of Lake Neepaulin being part of the sub-committee.
"(The Friends of Lake Neepaulin) dragged the town around enough already," Smulewicz said. Gorman said she disagreed with having a subcommittee with the Friends of Lake Neepaulin because that was the reason why all the problems happened in the first place. She did not want the township to pay for FOLN's entire dam in order to preserve the lake for their personal use. The Township had spent eight years and “$1.2 million on a mini-Hoover Dam,” when all the group “needs is a spillway.”
Bassani said he did not suggest FOLN take an active role.
"The residents within Friends of Lake Neepaulin have valuable information, with a slightly different interest," he said. "Their voice should be heard.”
Smulewicz said she liked the Recreation Department's suggestions
“(They have the) best interest of Wantage at heart," she said. "They won my admiration. No baggage, no backroom deals. Friends of Lake Neepaulin should come to the Recreation Department meetings and just make recommendations as everyone else does.”
Two members of the commission, Christy Tuper, vice president of the Recreation Dept., and Jeanne McBride, secretary and non-voting member.
"She can't move forward the minute the committee goes to Friends of Lake Neepaulin," Gorman said, adding that would do what the group wanted in the first place. Gorman said the group would take over while everyone else pays for the lake.
"(The committee) just needs time to digest," Committeeman Bill Gaechter said. "It looks very good to me, but there is the question about swimming. I want to do my due diligence.”
Mayor Bill DeBoer said he used to hitchhike when he was 10 from Prospect Park to Butler.
“We used to have a ball, and we swam all day,” he said, adding he was just thinking about the kids.
Tuper explained that the Recreation Committee has a low budget. Liability insurance: including death, near death, drowning, and life guard expenses did not fit into their budget. No swimming was financially what made sense.
High Point is a viable option for people because it is: inexpensive and not far away. Parking around Lake Neepaulin is very limited, she continued.
The Committee also discussed the possibility of a one-way street.
Tuper later explained the Recreation Committee is quite diversified in: age, background, walks of life, and made up of all volunteers.