Perth Amboy evening news., 1915-09-30
LAKE IN MATAWha
APPEARS CERTAIN
Residents of Borough at Public
Meeting Last Night to Hear
About the Project.
Decfal TO the EVENING NEWS.

and wanting a lake, it seems as If
| Matawan has at last taken strides in
advance and that in a short time, pos
sibly a year or more, the boomers of
the lake in Matawan may see their
| pet hobby, the borough of Matawan
become Matawan, the city of lakes" "
Over a hundred property owners
and men interested in the lake pro-
| ject attended the public meeting in
Geran's hall last night at s o'clock.
| The meeting lasted until 1890
| o'clock, and many heart to heart
talks between the property owners
and taxpayers of the borough drew
them closer together on the question
that means either the advancement of
Matawan or staying in the rut that
they have for so long time followed.
Make Geran Chairman.
AS the new town clock doomed out
the hour of eight, the men assembled
in the hall and Mayor Francis c. Be-
die, after calling the meeting to or
der telling the men they had been
called together in the interest of the
lake project to find out how they felt
about the matter and the best way
Tor the project to be accomplished,
appointed the Hon. Elmer H. Geran :
chairman Of the meeting and Council
man Frank Howard Lloyd secretary.
Mr.. Geran took the chair and
made short address about what
the lake would mean, such as the
changes that would have to be made
and improvements that were neces-
sary before the lake could even be
begun. In part he said that one of
the first things that would have to
be considered was sewer system,
as 1t would be impossible to drain
in the lake as is now being done in
the creek. Second, that before the
lake could be built permission from
the war department and perhaps an
act of congress would be necessary
before the borough could close up
Matawan creek with a dam Third, |
that there were roads that would
have to be closed and new bridges
built and in order to do this the
county would have to be taken in
consideration. Fourth, that the New
York & Long Branch railroad would
not let the Jersey Central Traction !
Company put trolley rails down |
across their tracks at the Matawan |
station, and the building OF the dam
would close up the road along the |
border of the meadows where the
Jersey Central Traction Company !
now run their cars into the borough.
Mr.. Geran said that he did not tell
the men this to discourage them but
to let them know what they had to
face in an undertaking of this kind.
Engineer Answers Questions.
Mr.. Geran gave the floor to Will
lard Case, of New York City, the en-
gineer who drew up the present
maps of the dam Mr.. Case said |
that he had consented to come to the
meeting to answer any question that
one might want to ask him and not |
to make an address. In answering
Mr.. Geran's statements, Mr. Case
said that a sewer system certainly |
would have to be installed before a
lake could be built, and he was very
much surprised to learn that the
borough did not have one at this
time. He said that to install one
might cost somewhere about $4,000
and that even if the lake did not
come the sewer system would have
to be installed as the State would
not let them sewer in the creek
er system and lake would cost
somewhere about 100000.
Question of Money.
Mr.. Case said that he thought the
best way to obtain the money for the
dam and lakes would be to bond the
mir Of |
of those present, but led to a heated
discussion, as the township represen-
tatiYes did not think a bond issue
would be fair as many of the prop
erty owners of the township would
not be directly benefited by the lake
as it did not run on or near their
property. Several schemes for rails
ing the money to build the lake were
set forth but did not seem to gain
much favor.
Professor Ira Shepherd, of FIRE.
neau, a property owner in the town
ship said that he thought the best
way to go about the matter was for a
committee of twenty-five to be ap-
pointed by the mayor and that twen-
ty-fve to appoint five of their num-
Der as an executive committee, and
that committee to see the property
owners and decide whether it was to
the best interests of the borough and
township to issue bonds or build the
lake by some other means, and which
ever way they chose to be submitted
to the voters at the polls for them
to decide. This idea met with popu-
lar approval and was made a motion.
Mr.. OsterWise, one of the heaviest |
property owners on the borders of |
the lake, said that he wanted tn
make an amendment to this motion.
that only property owners be ap-
pointed to this committee by the
mayor. There was such objection to
this amendment that it was with
drawn and one by James Dave, an
other heavy property owner, accept
ed in its place, that the committee
of twenty-five members be appointed
by the mayor and that committee to
its own b-committees. The
motion was carried and Mayor BedIe
said that he would appoint the com
mittee at once. Charles A. Geran
said he would let them have the use
of his hall as meeting room and
it was decided that the first meeting
of the committee would be held
within two weeks.
The fact most noticeable through
out the meeting was the feeling of
all those present that Matawan
no l,aua 10 lyaa orJ |