Page 10 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • August 15, 2012 Wyckoff Shannon asked to make Rambaut neighbors an offer by John Koster The Wyckoff Township Committee reached an informal consensus last week to authorize Township Administrator Robert Shannon to take the first step toward motivating some possible action to get the Rambaut dam repaired at the neighbors’ expense. After some discussion at the work session, Mayor Christopher De Phillips quantified the response from Shannon’s meeting with some of the neighbors who reside around Rambaut Lake, a local property whose somewhat leaky dam has been a matter of some concern. The meeting between the neighbors and the township administrator followed a public meeting that included the neighbors, the township committee, the municipal staff, and a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection engineer some weeks ago. At the meeting that included the DEP engineer, residents learned that the Rambaut Lake dam was less of a threat than the state had once thought, and that repairs would be much less expensive originally anticipated. The bad news was that the state would not provide funding to repair or replace the dam, and somebody -- the township, the immediate neighbors, or both -- had the option of bidding on a lowcost loan to get the dam repaired. As an alternative, if the dam fails at some time in the future, the state will not rebuild it, but will demolish it, turning Rambaut Lake into a bog. The neighbors have argued, sometimes at public meetings, that Rambuat Lake is an aesthetic and drainage asset to all of Wyckoff. Those citizens have said that asking the neighborhood around the lake to bear the entire cost of the dam repair or replacement is not equitable. The township committee has asserted that, since the immediate neighbors would benefit more than residents in other parts of Wyckoff, use of the taxpayers’ money is not equitable either. The highly tentative 50/50 suggestion -- contingent upon a formal agreement with an organized neighborhood, and a reasonable price -- could be a concession to progress. Shannon said that, based on his conversations, the neighbors he spoke with did not seem eager to reorganize a neighborhood association that could put up the money to fix the dam at the DEP’s cost. “I don’t think that, based on the comments, you’re going to see Beekmere reconstituted,” Shannon told the committee members. The administrator was referring to the Beekmere association that once managed Rambaut Lake on a membership basis, only to disappear gradually so that people who bought their properties in recent decades never knew the group had ever existed. Some of the resident who have spoken at previous meetings seemed leery of joining a formal organization for credit and legal reasons. Mayor De Phillips then suggested that Shannon instigate an engineering study to see just how much it would cost to repair the dam. The mayor tentatively suggested that a 50/50 repair payment solution might be possible, but did not want to commit until he knew how much the repair would cost and how many residents were seriously interested. Shannon, who had actually spoken with the residents, appeared to question whether a formal study would be worth the money. The township committee thought they had a deal with most of the 23 neighbors to put up shares for a repair of the dam -- but this support ebbed despite the offer of township space for at least one organizational meeting, and no plans were developed. “Ask Boswell and see how much it’s going to cost,” Township Committeeman Kevin Rooney suggested. Rooney was referring to the township’s engineer. “That works,” Township Committeeman Doug Christie said. Shannon indicated that he would proceed with the township committee’s suggestions.