FAIR HAVEN – Brian Rice can still recall the cold winter days of his youth spent skating on McCarter Pond.
Rice and his friends would spend hours out on the ice, their exposed noses colored red from the frigid conditions, before heading home to warm up with a hot drink.
It’s a tradition the borough planning board member shares today with his own children, and a vision he has for another local body of fresh water, Schwenker’s Pond.
Rice told The Two River Times in a Feb. 25 interview that the borough is in the “extremely early stages” of investigating how to transform the pond and surrounding grounds into a new pocket park.
“We’re still in the gathering data and information stage. We want to take water samples and see what kind of materials are in (the pond). We think it’s just organic material, because there is no industry in Fair Haven,” Rice said.
The pond is part of what was once identified as the Schwenker-Doremus Estate and in 2014 the body of water and land stretching 80 feet in from Chestnut Street was dedicated to the borough.
According to Rice, in its current state, Schwenker’s Pond is little more than a breeding ground for insects.
But the borough is preparing to partner with Rutgers University for the water study, as well as to investigate the possibility of transforming the site into a something more enjoyable for the community.
Rice envisions banks built up to support a walking path that would encircle the pond, as well as park benches, limited green space and a parking area, similar to the setup found approximately one mile east on Fair Haven Road at the McCarter Pond site.
“My thought is, let (Schwenker’s) drain down so we can build up the banks with river stone and quarry stone. That way we can make it a free-flowing stream and preserve it as wetlands while moving away from the pond aspect of it,” Rice said. “It’s a much better option than letting it sit as is until it turns into a mud pit of organic material.”
Fair Haven Mayor Ben Lucarelli said if this conceptual plan moves forward, the borough could implement a maintenance program at Schwenker’s that is similar to the one for McCarter.
“McCarter Pond is a site we’re very proud of and a naturally beautiful site we’re lucky to have. We have a maintenance program that helps keep milkweed growth down and keeps the aphids away when its warmer, and it’s something simple we can do to help keep (Schwenker’s Pond) looking good if we decide to move forward with this plan,” Lucarelli said. “But we’re a long ways away from making that decision.”
Before Fair Haven can allow residents to enjoy the site, they have to ensure it’s safe.
In 2016, a study conducted by Clean Ocean Action used three furry investigators from Maine-based Environmental Canine Services to identify sanitary sewer leaks in defective septic systems along the Navesink River.
The report was commissioned after the State of New Jersey prohibited anglers from fishing 566 acres of Navesink River shellfishing beds in November 2016.
Dogs by the name of Sable, Remi and Logan determined five bodies of water, including Schwenker’s Pond and the larger source is flows into, Shippees Pond, were contaminated.
“It’s a concerted effort right now in the borough to limit fecal coliform in our local water sources and the river itself,” Rice said. “The carrier is water. So if we can cut it down in our local bodies of water, that will go a long way toward preserving the health of the river.”
Discussion around this potential pocket park development comes on the heels of the borough council’s action to award a contract for preliminary engineering work for the construction of two new pocket parks and a boat ramp near Fair Haven’s business district.
In its final meeting of 2018 the governing body awarded Maser Consulting a contract for various design and permitting services for the eventual construction of pocket parks at the ends of Grange Avenue and Hance Road, and the refurbishment of a boat launch on Battin Road.
The scope of the work is capped at $124,700 and borough administrator Theresa Casagrande said the cost will be covered by a $250,000 Monmouth County Open Space match grant awarded to Fair Haven in 2017.
Casagrande added these three projects are the result of a survey the borough issued several years ago in which residents requested more public access to the Navesink River.
As for the potential Schwenker’s Pond development, Rice stressed just how early on in the process the borough is and said no timeline for the study has been established.
