By Deborah Goonan, Independent American Communities
Another lake bites the dust.
This time, it’s a 10-acre manmade lake in Little Egg Harbor, with a damaged spillway that will cost more than $100,000 to repair. In the meantime, the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection has ordered the basin to remain empty, leaving behind an unappealing mud pit.
The cost to rebuild the spillway would have to be split between owners of 53 condos. But most of the owners don’t have $2,000 to spare.
So Holly Lake Park condo association is looking for donations to fix their lake.
But since the area already boasts the larger Pohatcong Lake, and no one else is obligated to pay to restore a 10-acre lagoon, it may be difficult to find willing donors.
At the time this blog was posted, a GoFundMe account for Save Holly Lake had collected only $650.
Holly Lake Condo Community Raising Money to Repair Dam Spillway
Posted by Sandpaper.net on Feb. 15, 2017
A condominium association in Little Egg Harbor is reaching out to save Holly Lake, a 10-acre freshwater lake whose spillway was possibly damaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012 with subsequent damage by winter Storm Jonas in 2016.
The spillway runs under Great Bay Boulevard in the portion that is owned by Little Egg Harbor Township and empties into the lagoon community of Holly Lake.
When the ground around the spillway eroded in the spring of 2016, the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection mandated the homeowners association to drain the lake and hire a company to remove the fish.
Holly Lake is co-owned by the Holly Lake Park condominium and Holly Lake single-family homes, but the spillway is situated on property belonging to the condominium association. The DEP has ordered that the spillway be repaired as soon as possible and has assigned that responsibility to Holly Lake Park, a small community of 53 condos, said acting HOA President Bari Page. The condominium owners have spent over $50,000 on engineering fees, including $9,000 to hire a company to remove the small and large mouth bass, pickerel and sunfish and relocate them in Lake Pohatcong in Tuckerton, said Page. The spillway repair is projected to cost $108,000.
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