Voll Ponders Fence for Old Golf Course Site

VILLAS — Don’t call it Ponderlodge or Villas Wildlife Management Area any longer, it’s officially Cox Hall Creek Wildlife Management Area.
The property’s owner, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP),demolished buildings, removed a road and some paved trails earlier this year.
Lower Township Manager Michael Voll told the Herald he would like to see the state Division of Fish and Wildlife keep their promise to fix a sagging fence on the property along Bayshore Road. He said a dedication ceremony had been promised for the first week of October, which was to include the commissioner of DEP but nothing has been scheduled by the state.
“Early in the year I was told by May we were going to have a new fence up along Bayshore Road,” said Voll.
He said last spring, the Division of Fish and Wildlife told him the fence would be removed but nothing happened. Voll said he made more phone calls to Fish and Wildlife and was told a contract for the fence repair would be issued in July.
He said he emailed the state again this week.
An opening ceremony may be scheduled in November, said Voll.
He speculated the opening ceremony has been postponed because the project has not been completed. Voll complimented Fish and Wildlife’s reconfiguration of the trails on the property and a small fishing pier into the pond adjacent to where the former lodge building was located.
DEP spokesman Al Ivany told the Herald the fence will be removed and an opening ceremony would be scheduled at a future date.
Fire chiefs inspected the property to make sure an ambulance or fire truck can obtain access, he said. Since the buildings were demolished, Voll said he hasn’t received any complaints of criminal juvenile activity that was prevalent when the lodge was standing.
Two township residents have been hired by the Division of Fish and Wildlife to oversee the facility.
Lower Township Mayor Michael Beck, who walks the property most mornings, said he is pleased with the results of the demolition and reconfiguration of trails. He agreed that the fence needs repaired along Bayshore Road.
Beck said Fish and Wildlife did a good job demolishing buildings on the property.
“It’s hard to imagine that the buildings were there,” he said.
A back entrance for cars has been created at Delview Avenue with a new parking area close to the pond and the site of the former buildings.
Portions of the winding main road that connected the front entrance of the property to parking area for the lodge building have been removed. In its place are sand paths, blocked in a number of areas by fallen trees.
Asphalt was torn up from some of the former golf cart paths which are now sand trails. Overall, most of the familiar trails remain and those who hiked the property before demolition should have no trouble locating their favorite spots.