Why Waste Taxpayer Dollars On Beach Sand At The MRA?

“Sure as hell the “brain trust” from the “hill” should have gone to the Conservation Commission before they messed with the sand and the lake.

Otherwise a pile of sand will be the everlasting symbol of the

Gormley administration.”

It is called beach sand for a reason.  It’s suppose to be on the beach.

Apparently Mr. DeAngelis wants Middlebury children to be playing in dirt at the MRA, at least that is how Keary Barnett of Middlebury described the old sand to Mellissa Jones in last week’s Bee Intelligence. The new sand according to Greg Perrin is “Awesome.  It is soft, warm and feels great.”  Krista and Tom Carroll, Middlebury Taxpayers, say the sand was “definitely a good investment for the Town.”

What would the Conservation Commission have told Tom Gormley about the sand? When the lake was formed, all that was in it was sand and rock? It is what goes into the lake from living or once living plants and animals that threatens the ecology of a body of water. Its called Eutrophication. 

Several years ago residents may remember that the lake turned green, not from sand, but the build up of nitrogen in the water that caused severe algae blooms.  At that time there were a great many Canada Geese on the lake.  That along with chemical fertilizer and septic system runoff from cottages, created a eutrophic condition.  That is what threatens a lake.  Not the sand.

In fact sand becomes the base of a biological filter within the system. It promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria that will convert toxic ammonia to nitrites and then to nitrates.  Denitrifying bacteria will then convert the Nitrates to atmospheric nitrogen which will be released into the atmosphere.

Beach sand instead of road sand may seem like a waste of money for Mr. DeAngelis, but this is a prime example of residents actually getting something back in return for their tax dollars.  The thousands of dollars spent on litigating your Straw Pond fight, or to pay for your $20,000 in FOI costs means little to a child, who just wants to play in the summer sun in soft, fluffy beach sand.

Oh, by the way... That beach sand was less expensive than the road sand.