If the Army Corps of Engineers had had its way, a 2700-acre reservoir would have covered much of Millington north of the Passaic River and south of South Main Ave., where a dam would have been constructed. Part of the so-called Passaic River Basin Water Resources Development Program, a $415 million project, the reservoir would have been just one segment of a massive flood control project to remake nearly 40 miles of waterway, from Newark Bay to Millington. Although only a few acres in Warren would have been flooded, the entire landscape of the area would have been changed dramatically. The result of 30 years of engineering studies, the plan was suddenly revealed just days before a l965 referendum presented to the voters by the Watchung Hills Regional High School Board of Education to build a second high school on a site along Valley Rd. south to the Passaic River. When the plan showed that much of the area would be flooded by the reservoir, the referendum went down to defeat. When the Corps' plan surfaced again in l968, this time with the backing of the State of N.J, reaction from local officials and homeowners was generally hostile. The plan died a quiet death in l973 when the Corps announced that river improvements would extend only to the Union County-Somerset County border. The 2700-acre reservoir would have been the third largest body of water in the state, preceded only by Lake Hopatcong and the Two Bridges Reservoir. It would have been formed by a mile-long dam near Passaic Ave. in Stirling and continue westerly for seven miles through Millington and Bernards Township. About 8 miles of levies and 15 bridges were proposed. [Echoes-Sentinel, 10/17/68, 12/26/68, 2/15/73] |