Armacost Park Pilot Project to Proceed

AVALON – The Feb. 11 Borough Council meeting was almost entirely about the proposed resolution authorizing a pilot project that is part of the larger Avalon Healthy Forest Initiative. The public comment period prior to the vote on the resolution ran for over an hour with individuals speaking both for and against the project with some even using visual aids of cut vines and large posters.
In the end, the council approved the resolution unanimously, expressing the same desire for a healthy ecosystem in the park that motivated both sides of the argument.
The discussion began with Business Administrator Scott Wahl’s initial introduction of the issue. He said that the “condition inside the park is bleak” and focused on the species of vines that “dominate the ecosystem.” In Wahl’s summary of the issue, he stressed that this was a pilot project aimed at a “limited area of the park” which will be monitored and evaluated.
Specifically, the borough will remove a segment of the invasive vines beginning as early as next week.
The goal is to have the cutting away and removal of the vines in the test area completed by the end of February. Wahl emphasized that no mechanized equipment would be used, no trees would be removed, and the urgency for approval was so that the work could go on in February when potential disruption for migratory birds is at its lowest. Planting of native vegetation in the area of vine removal will follow in early April.
Frank McLaughlin, who spoke at length on the issue twice during the public comment period, said the objective for the park should be “to protect and don’t intrude.” While Wahl called the condition in the park “bleak,” McLaughlin proclaimed it a “great refuge with more birds in seven acres here, than Stone Harbor Sanctuary’s 21 acres.” He stated he wants to avoid what he called the “manicure” of a habitat. “Nature should be messy and unruly,” McLaughlin said.
Elaine Scattergood, who has spoken out at council meetings about “lax enforcement” of the landscaping ordinance that is meant to protect indigenous trees from wholesale destruction during demolition and construction projects, brought cut vines to the meeting. She twice spoke of letting nature take care of itself in the park and added, “Please, don’t do this.”
Martha Wright, an environmental activist in the borough was not at the meeting, but sent comments by email. Wright stated, “I can see no reason to impose an artificial environmental ‘remediation’ upon a thriving wildlife habitat.” Wright responded to Wahl’s statement that “no mechanized equipment will be used” when she stated, “To imply that weed whackers and chainsaws are not mechanized equipment is disingenuous at best.”
A number of residents spoke out in favor of the resolution, including a representative who identified himself as a spokesperson for the Home Owners Association. However, the case for intervention in the park was most forcefully made by the borough’s environmental consultant, Joe Lomax, of the Lomax Consulting Group.
On two occasions, Council President Charles Covington called Lomax to the podium for response to the comments being made. To those who argued that nature needed no help in the park, Lomax responded, “We are dealing with an unnatural condition [in the park] right now.” Urging that delay will only exacerbate a situation that will not repair itself, he supported the plan before council as the “least destructive mechanism” available.
For those opposed to the resolution, council was seeking “the destructive” solution to a non-problem. For them the question was not how to intervene in ways that minimizes negative impact on the ecosystem, it was a plea to stay out of nature’s way and avoid human engineering of a solution where a problem does not exist. For those for the resolution, the ecosystem in the park is already suffering and will only see a worsening of its state if something is not done. The defenders of the plan repeatedly call attention to the limited scope of the pilot project and the commitment to monitoring the results before any consideration is given to further action. What Wahl calls careful efforts that follow on the heels of already existing research and study of the issue, opponents like Wright see as “another example of the Borough of Avalon imposing some sort of artificial order upon the natural environment.”
With the approval of the resolution and the goal to complete the vine removal before the end of February, the pilot project is going forward. Covington, emphasizing the borough’s intent to carefully monitor the results, promised to “keep the public informed.”
When asked what the borough’s next steps might be if they like the results from this pilot test, Wahl said, “We aren’t there yet.” Wahl stressed that the borough will not take any steps that are not carefully thought out, vetted by experts and made available for public input.
Other Business
Almost lost in the attention focused on the debate over the park, council passed the bond ordinance that appropriates $12 million for the beach fill project and authorizes the issuance of $11.4 million in bonds or notes from the borough to finance it.
In response to a resident’s question, Wahl explained that discussions were still going on with state officials with the hope that additional state funds would be added to the project. What is not settled, and will not be until the outcomes of all financing avenues are known, is the extent of the beach fill. Wahl said that the $12 million would cover more than the 300,000 cubic yards that had been identified as a high priority at earlier meetings.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.