Solutions Sought at Rambaut Lake Meeting

Residents are invited to continue a public dialogue Tuesday night on potential solutions to the deteriorating Rambaut Lake dam.

The governing body will hold an open hearing at 7 p.m. at Town Hall to continue a discussion begun in May and possibly move toward solutions on what assistance, if any, the township can offer affected homeowners who are under state DEP orders to produce an engineering assessment of the dam, which is in need of costly repairs.

"You'll likely hear more direction from the Township Committee," said Committeeman Chris DePhillips. The governing body has privately discussed its options after hearing from many community residents at the initial public meeting and is "getting close to formulating a consensus" on possible steps to take.

As the May public hearing largely established a public interest in preserving the lake and dam, Tuesday's hearing is hoped to be "more directional and solution-oriented," DePhillips said.

"We hope folks can come forward with potential solutions," he said.

Mayor Rudy Boonstra said, "We hope to narrow it down and zero in on some viable ideas."

Tom Buda, a Lakeview Drive resident who has spoken on behalf of Beekmere Inc., a defunct corporation that has historically claimed ownership of the 7.5-acre body of water, is "of the same mind" as the Township Committee in "looking for solutions" at Tuesday's hearing.

"Hopefully, they've had enough time to give us feedback on options," Buda said.

At issue is the dam serving the lake, which is home to various wildlife and used for recreational purposes. A dated engineering assessment has stated that the dam could be breached in the event of a 500-year flood, effectively destroying the lake, where more than 20 homes sit. The state has threatened to breach the dam itself if action isn't taken, although funding doesn't currently exist to take such an action. However, the DEP can move to start fining the homeowners if an assessment isn't made.

The nearby homeowners, who have been voluntarily contributing money over the years to maintain the lake, don't have the capacity to fund the repairs or replacement, which would cost at least several hundred thousand dollars.

The Beekmere homeowners had sued the township and greater lake community in recent years, trying to compel a perpetual association to maintain the lake. That suit was dismissed without prejudice, creating an opportunity for the township to step forward to work toward a resolution without further litigation.

While the homeowners are pleased that the township is willing to help in some way, Buda said they're looking for a solution "where the township would be sharing in the cost of repairing or replacing the dam... as the township is the heaviest user of the property vis-a-vis various storm drains." He said there is no particular preference for how that would be accomplished, and had previously proposed a variety of ideas: a shared loan, outside contributions, grant help, deeding the property to the township and a special dam assessment on homeowners, among other options.

The mayor said that some of the ideas expressed at the prior meeting "were viable, some not, some pie-in-the-sky, some pragmatic;" while there is  a "general feeling that we as a community should look at all the possibilities... to save that township asset," he cautioned that the governing body is "not in a position to assume any costs on the taxpayer."

Committeeman Brian Scanlan said the governing body has to balance its "responsibility to the people who live on the lake" with its responsibility to "the rest of the taxpayers" in searching for a solution.

Scanlan is hopeful Tuesday's meeting can lead to "practical solutions that can be proposed as to who pays for the repair of the dam and how it can be funded."

However discussions unfold on Tuesday, Boonstra said everyone involved has the same general goal: "to get the problem solved."