$ 1 00 Volume 28 • Issue 3 Wednesday , January 17 , 2024 hammontongazette . com

Mohammed Fuad / THG .

Colin and Audrey Wilson enjoy breakfast with Hammonton Fire Department mascot Sparky at ‘ Flap Jacks for the Fire Department ’ held at Applebee ’ s on Jaunary 15 . For more photos , see page 10 .

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by Mohammed Fuad GAZETTE STAFF WRITER

HAMMONTON — A discussion regarding Hammonton Lake Park and the spraying of the lake was held during a special town council meeting on Jan . 9 at town hall . The council discussed an update regarding the lake and for the public to have a discussion with council to address concerns .

Former Hammonton Public Works Manager and Business Administrator Jerry Barberio said that the town sprayed the lake with Reward aquatic herbicide in 2016-17 with a sprayer built by current Public Works Manager Scott Rivera and Alex DeSilvio . With the size of the

Mayor Stephen DiDonato

lake being between 60 to 70 acres , the town was permitted to spray 30 acres per year . The permit allowed half the lake to be sprayed per year , with the reason being to stay 1,000 feet away from the outfall of the lake . This is to prevent the product from going out into Hammonton Creek .

The spraying takes about three to five days per year , according to Barberio . The town identified areas of where the bladderwort was extensive , according to a 2013-15 report .

“ We had to give the DEP [ New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection ] a reason why we needed to do this [ the spraying ],” Barberio said .

“ So , we had high concentrations of areas . There were some areas where we couldn ' t go in just because it was just too shallow ,” he said .

When the town applied for the permit on June 17 , 2016 , the New Jersey Pinelands Commission reviewed the application and sent it back to the DEP with no additional conditions . The permit expired at the end of 2017 and on Dec . 27 , 2017 , a small concern was raised about endangered species being identified during the process .

Mayor Stephen DiDonato listed those concerns . The concerns were staying 1,000 feet from the outfall of the lake , the letter being written to make the public believe that the town is doing surface spraying and the chemical , which works when the lake ’ s depth is of two feet . There were some areas of the lake that were deeper than two feet , so the DEP

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council liaisons .

“ We ’ re working with Stockton University to do studies on the lake and also to develop some remediation techniques to at least reduce the E . coli that periodically flares up in the lake especially after a rain event like this ,” Bachalis said .

Bachalis said he asked Emma Witt , the Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Stockton University to do a presentation at the next LWQA meeting in February to get an update on what she is working on with her students .

“ Lake spraying and vegetation management has been a big issue for us ,” Bachalis said .

In 2022 , Bachalis said chemical spraying of the lake was paused to give Stockton Univerby Kristin Guglietti GAZETTE STAFF WRITER

HAMMONTON — The Hammonton Lake Water Quality Advisory ( LWQA ) Committee elected Dan Bachalis as chairperson during the monthly meeting on Jan . 9 at 6:30 p . m . at the town hall third floor conference room .

Dwight Baldwin was elected as vice chairperson , and John Keenan was elected as secretary at the meeting .

The LWQA welcomed Council Liaisons Anthony Marino and Renee Rodio who were in attendance to learn what is going on at the Hammonton Lake before going to a special town council meeting at 7 p . m .

Bachalis gave background information about what is going on at the Hammonton Lake to the

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