Middletown OKs $3.8M for Shadow Lake dredging BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN - About 40 people filled the tiny conference room at the Middletown Township Municipal building to witness the Township Committee's final vote on the Shadow Lake bond ordinance. The ordinance, which will appropriate $3.8 million for the dredging of Shadow Lake, passed with a 4-1 vote with Committeeman Patrick Short as the lone no vote. With the room filled and the vote about to begin Dec. 3, Short had asked for a motion to move to a larger room to accommodate all of the people in attendance. "I think this room will clear out in about three minutes," Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger said. "Right after we vote on this." As the ordinance passed, the room cleared out but not before Short gave his reasons for his vote. "I'm not against the dredging of the lake and I want to make that clear," Short said. "I'm just against us going out and asking for $3.8 million and not having a clear conceptual plan." Short is a certified project manager for Hewlett-Packard and said that he will not start a project unless he fully understands what is going into the plan. He said that this plan is going forward without the committee knowing the full cost. "I would not do it this way in my professional opinion," Short said. "I feel like there is too much risk involved." After Short finished his comments, Scharfenberger pointed out that the township is going forward with a plan. "After what was said it was making it appear as if we are going about this on the seat of our pants," Scharfenberger said. "In fact there is a plan in place." Township Engineer Robert Bucco then explained the process Middletown followed to this point. He said that the township has been looking into dredging the lake since 1996 and is now going forward to fund the plan. Silt and algae have been accumulating on the bottom of the lake over the years, which have made parts of the lake shallow and unusable for recreation. According to Middletown's Chief Financial Officer Richard Wright, the appropriation is in the form of a loan from the state's Environmental Infrastructure Trust. Fifty percent of the funds will be repaid with no interest charge and the remaining 50 percent at an interest rate 4 percent. Wright said the loan will be paid back to the state each year as the funds are needed. "EIT has a pooled $100 million that they can give out each year and bond themselves," Wright said. "That is why the interest rate is so low. If we went and raised money and paid an independent contractor, the interest rate would be much higher." Short said that he was worried there is a chance that the township would not receive the money from the state, but Bucco assured those in attendance that Middletown would not have gone forward with this plan if that was the case. "If this wasn't a viable project, we would have been told that by the state," Bucco said. "If we do not get the loan, then we cannot move forward." According to Bucco, the township has a March 5 deadline to have all plans and applications complete, so that there can be a comment period and amendments to the plan could be made. After that, the township would get the go-ahead to start on the dredging. "We plan on starting this project in the winter months of next year," Bucco said. "As you know the dredging of the silt will not be the sweetest-smelling project. It's better we start in the cold rather than the heat so the stench doesn't resonate." Shadow Lake Village resident Bill Myers gave his approval. "I'm very happy that this is going forward," Myers said. "I'm anxious to see what will happen now, and I want to thank the board for finally doing what is right."