Land Purchase Will Help Get Dam Project Underway

The township's purchase of an easement for $135,000 will pave the way – literally – for the reconstruction of a dam in town.

Township council members unanimously approved the purchase of a spit of land near the southerly side of the Lake Riviera dam near Pizza Hut on Brick Boulevard.

The easement was owned privately, but in order to complete the replacement of the dam – which controls the water level of Lake Riviera as it flows to Kettle Creek – concrete spillways had to be reinforced on the privately owned property.

The township could have pursued the property through eminent domain, but officials reached an agreement with the property owner and avoided litigation.

"In doing what's fair to the property owner, we're acquiring this property because we have such an intensive use on it," said Councilman Dan Toth.

The property is currently assessed at $210,000, according to Business Administrator Scott Pezarras.

"The property owner was very gracious not to put up a fight," Toth added.

The replacement of the Lake Riviera Dam as well as the Rainbow Lake Dam was ordered by the state because they are "earthened" dams. After a round of floods in North Jersey about seven years ago, Pezarras said, the state ordered all such dams replaced.

A $1.5 million contract was to fund construction, but the township will be reimbursed $700,000 by the state, Pezarras said.

Had the township not taken the lead on the project, the state Department of Environmental Protection would have performed the work itself and billed the township, taking away the grant funding in the process, Pezarras said.

"The DEP has now finally agreed with our plan," Pezarras added.

The dams control the flow of water in the tidal lake, which eventually runs to Kettle Creek which, in turn, runs to Barnegat Bay. One of the dams controls the water level in a spillway behind an apartment complex on Brick Boulevard which backs up the lake, and another control the water which flows under Brick Boulevard.