Neglected lake's owners nowhere to be found Brick may do title search to find out who owns lake BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer Godfrey Lake was peaceful one recent sunny morning. Lily pads rocked gently on the water. A lone swan paddled in the back portion of the lake. PHOTOS BY SEAN BRADY Godfrey Lake off Herbertsville Road was once a favorite swimming spot for many. But the lake has fallen into disrepair and is overgrown with weeds in some spots. Township officials may do a title search to determine who actually owns the lake. But just who owns Godfrey Lake? "That's what we don't know," Brick Township Attorney Jean Cipriani said. From time to time, residents who live in the bungalows and houses off Godfrey Lake Drive in the Herbertsville section of the township have complained to township officials about the lack of lake maintenance. A rusted fence surrounds a portion of the eastern section of the lake. The back section is overgrown with weeds and lily pads. The stumps of what once was a floating dock still stud the middle of the lake. But Brick Township cannot legally undertake any kind of lake cleanup, Cipriani said. "We cannot use taxpayer funds to maintain property we do not own," she said. The Township Council and Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis recently authorized Cipriani to research how much it would cost to do a title search on the lake. What is known is this: Godfrey Lake was once a summer resort community known as the Godfrey Manor Country Club. The land was owned and developed by the Silverton Land Co. in 1926. The company's principals were Charles F. and E.L. Godfrey. The two men hired a Newark firm as sales agents to sell lots around the lake, Township Historian Eugene Donatiello said. The land company formed the Godfrey Manor Country Club to manage the community, eventually local residents took over the club, Donatiello says in his book "Greetings From Brick Township," which chronicles the 20th-century summer camps and resorts in the township. Cipriani said the entity that owned the lake probably no longer exists. The township could possibly foreclose on the property for unpaid back taxes, if ownership could be determined, she said. A negotiated sale is another possibility if clear ownership is established, she said. If the township did eventually end up owning the lake, its use would no longer be limited to Godfrey Lake residents, Cipriani said. "It has to be open to all the residents of Brick Township," she said. If any state funds were to be used to purchase the lake, then the lake would be open to all New Jersey residents, the township attorney said. "So those are some of the issues that have to be addressed," she said. The township does maintain certain areas in town like Lake Riviera, Brick Lake Park and portions of the Greenbriar development, because the lakes have been dedicated to the township, Acropolis said. Godfrey Lake is different. "We cannot do work on private bodies of water, even though the people who live on it pay taxes," the mayor said. If the owner or owners are located, they might consider dedicating the lake to the township, the mayor said. "Then we can work with them to try and do the work that needs to be done," Acropolis said. One thing's for sure. The township will not buy the lake, Acropolis said. "That's not going to happen," he said. "I can't see us buying it, unless it was like for a dollar. It's not going to cost the taxpayers money." Acropolis estimated it would cost between $1,000 and $2,000 for a title search. But Cipriani will determine the actual cost first, he said. "It will cost us about $160 to do the research to find out how much it would cost to do the title search," Acropolis said. The deed restrictions on the original Godfrey Manor lots mandated that one home could be constructed on one unit of land consisting of two 20-by-100-foot lots. "The lake and the driveway around the Godfrey Lake are for the use of lot owners owning lots in GodfreyManor," the deed states. "No part of the said property hereby conveyed shall be sold to or leased to persons of African descent commonly known as colored people." Deed restrictions that forbid certain ethnic groups from owning property were common back in the early years of the 20th century, Donatiello said. In addition to African Americans, the deeds also forbid Catholics and Jews from owning certain properties, he said. "They excluded just about everybody they didn't want," Donatiello said. "That would not hold up in court today." The only improvement the township has made to the lake in the past was the application of a herbicide to eliminate some of the growth, Acropolis said. "We didn't want to do something that was poisonous or harmful to wildlife," he said. "We found some natural stuff. It really has cleaned it up quite a bit."