To some, Seeley's Pond Dam is a historic jewel that dates back to the early 1900s, when an innovative entrepreneur named Edmund A. Seeley used the waters of the Green Brook to run his paper mill.
It has withstood decades of raging storms and foaming floodwaters and has become a familiar old friend to the hundreds of motorists who drive past it on the Scotch Plains side of Diamond Hill Road each day.
But the venerable structure has become an unpleasant sight because of a what seems to be an endless renovation project.
"It's kind of an eyesore," said Dave Hall, a local historian and Berkeley Heights resident who lives up the road from the dam.
A rickety chain link fence marks the small work site on which a lone bulldozer and 
cement mixer sits. Iron rods poke out of the dam, which in recent
weeks has been partially covered by a blue and red plastic sheet (right.)
'There was work going on there last year, but everything just seemed to come to a halt," said Hall who has made a 24-minute videotape about the history of the area surrounding the pond.
In addition to its historical significance, the pond was also a favorite spot for fishermen. Usually the pond is stocked with trout, but there has been no fishing since the water level was lowered for the construction work.
Union County Manager Michael Lapolla said work was stopped on the project during a dispute with the contractor, Delta Contracting Company of Monmouth Junction in South Brunswick.
"However, we have worked out our dispute and work will resume with completion set for the end of the month," Lapolla said.
The county awarded a $304,500 contract to Delta on Jan 28, 2000, and work began Feb. 1, 2000, said Timothy Mettlen, assistant county engineer.
Officials said they expected the job would take four months to complete.
But on April 20, 2000, "a problem was discovered when we excavated the bottom of the darn and found we didn't have the rocky layer we thought would be there," he said.
Modifications were drawn up to better anchor the dam. The changes were given to the contractor 10 days later, Mettlen said. The additional work added another $82,500 to the price tag.
"Work was started, but continued on an intermittent basis because of various conflicts with the contractor, mostly over means and methods," Mettlen said.
Part of the problem, authorities said, was that the contractor was having trouble getting its drilling service to return to the dam.
Work stopped last fall and the project remained dormant until January, when the county and the contractor settled their differences, officials said.
"We told them to start again in the spring," Mettlen said, adding that the project is now expected to be completed by June.
Company officials could not be reached for comment.
The renovation, which includes rebuilding the existing structure, began after county officials realized the structure had deteriorated to the point where it had become "a candidate for failure," Mettlen said. The dam is located in the county's Watchung Reservation, close to the Berkeley Heights border.
Seeley's Pond is fed by the waters of the Blue Brook, which originates in Summit near Overlook Hospital and joins with the Green Brook about 100 feet from the base of the dam.
Several mills have stood in the same area along the Green Brook over the years, said Stacey Spies, principal historic preservation specialist.
"The Green Brook floods from time to time, so when you travel up Diamond Hill Road, you can still see the remains of the different foundations of the mills that got wiped out in history," Spies said.
Robert E. Misseck is a reporter in the Union County bureau. He can be reached at rmisseck@starledger.com or (908) 322-0828.
Courtesy of: The Star-Ledger - May 15, 2001 issue
