It’s raining out today.  On Long Beach Island that almost always means at least some flooding.  If the tide happens to be high it can mean quite a bit of it.  It can make getting anywhere tough, and in some areas it can mean flooded backyards.  What it also means is that all kinds of stuff - from fertilizers to debris - will end up in the Bay.  To a certain extent this is to be expected and normal.  Yet typical development practices and terrible building codes go a long way to making this issue worse than it needs to be.  In the end this results in polluted waters high in nitrogen rich content that contributes to the destruction of the Bay and its ecology.

Back in April the Asbury Park Press did an article on this issue.  You can read it in full if you’d like, but here are a few quotes:

“Ecologically the bay continues to decline toward death,” deCamp said. “The problem is that everybody has been asking the ecological questions and leaving out the political ones. Why has our leadership allowed a generation of failure in protecting Barnegat Bay?”

And one of the ways to help fix the issue:

“Preserving more open space. Buying more public land, and reworking building rules so future development covers less acreage with pavement and buildings, help control stormwater runoff.”

I think that more than anything else on Long Beach Island the thing that drives me crazy the most are “backyards” that are completely covered in concrete.   Take a look at this arial image.  

Where is the grass?  Nearly all of the lots are either concrete or stone or both.  It looks terrible and is awful for the Bay.  Trees and grass are critical to a nice looking landscape and to the health of the environment.

Lots need to be water permeable so that when it rains water can do what it is supposed to - soak into the earth.   Instead - because people spending $850,000 (and way up) for a second home apparently can’t be bothered with a weed or landscaping - the water pours into the Bay, pulling all kinds of junk with it.

To be sure there are other issues at play, and the article linked to above does a good job of describing them.  Yet the easiest way to address this issue is to require water permeable lots for new construction. Pavers and other hardscaping materials can be purchased that are wholly water permeable.  Trees and grass and shrubbery help the natural ecological process and look great.   Yet local politicians talk about raising taxes or the Nuclear power plant, etc., to “fix” the Bay.  There are few issues that are so obviously the result of individual homeowners and buillders’ decisions, and the lack of political will to force a change in policy on this. 

I’ve said it before, but all SquallCo homes don’t just offer actual landscaping.  The open spaces are 100% water permeable.  A barrier island shouldn’t look like a concrete jungle from above.