BERKELEY – With the shore to the east, and forests to the west, Berkeley offers spectacular views of nature, but residents have brought up several instances where trash is showing up in the natural world.
At a recent Township Council meeting, a few Berkeley Shores residents talked about garbage winding up in the lagoons.
Ross Pirrotta, co-president of the Berkeley Shores Homeowners Association, said that the grates in the road are in need of maintenance or repair. There are ones missing important parts, and others that are clogged and overflowing with garbage from the street. This garbage will eventually get washed into the water during the next significant rainfall.
He thanked the governing body for the work done on the boardwalk and the dredging of Amherst Inlet, which is a high-traffic waterway almost everyone in Berkeley Shores uses to get to the Barnegat Bay. However, the sand is starting to get washed back into it.
The other co-president of Berkeley Shores, Bill Lin, also brought up a trash spot that’s big enough to be seen on Google Earth images.
Meanwhile, halfway through town is the former Beachwood Mall property. This was the big strip mall on Route 9 south at the border with Beachwood. This area is under redevelopment, and the developer has plans for businesses and housing back there.
There’s a small area behind the demolished mall property (Johnson’s Pit) that’s being used by the Pine Barren Modelers RC Group, a club that meets regularly. They use a small airstrip for their remote control planes. There’s also a trailer on site for storage.
Member Rich Bombedier said that the county wants a fence built to keep people out of a huge portion of property that Ocean County bought some years ago to preserve as open space. The difficulty is how do you keep out people who shouldn’t be there, while allowing people access if they’re using the airstrip.
“I see trucks go back there with trash and come back empty,” Bombedier noted.
Mayor John Bacchione said “I am aware of the county’s interest and will look into it.”
