Activities

The LLCOA Board meets several time a year. The meetings are held remotely. All Members are welcome to attend and are sent invitations prior to each meeting.

The Annual LLCOA Members Meeting — The annual meeting is held in June. The location is announced a few weeks before the meeting date.

In June and July a variety of social events are scheduled including Bingo, Docktail Hour, Trivia Night and a Yard/Flea/Art Sale.

The Annual Movie — We made short movies last year. Production began in late August and early September.

Forestry — The LLCOA operates a tree farm on about 600 of our 660 acres. This allows us to keep this acreage in a more-or-less wild state while lowering our property tax liability dramatically, compared to what we would be paying if it were assessed as residential or commercial property. To maintain this status, we must manage the woods according to our Forest Stewardship Plan.

The Habitat Improvement Plan is designed to improve the natural habitat on our property for various birds and other wildlife, including the golden winged warbler, other songbirds, and game birds, such as the American woodcock and the wild turkey.  The Plan identifies two “target areas” on our property, designated as Target Area 1 and Target Area 2.

Dam Stewardship — Longwood Lake exists because a dam was built blocking the Rockaway River, around 1900. Compared to many dams in New Jersey, it’s very solid, since it’s locked between two outcroppings of bedrock. We don’t own the dam – it’s not on LLCOA property. Rather, Jersey City owns it, as a result of condemnations years ago aimed at ensuring their water supply. They have done almost no maintenance in the past thirty years, but have funded several engineering reports on what should be done to maintain the dam. The LLCOA has a deep interest in ensuring that the dam is repaired and that the lake level stays where it is. One way to accomplish this would be to take ownership of the dam, but that could be hazardous, since the NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection has issued orders to make repairs several times and we could find ourselves responsible for them. Another option is to work more closely with Jersey City than we have been able to in the past. The Dam Committee is studying these and other possibilities and will keep Association members informed.