GUILFORD – The Town of Guilford has a court date set for January in its prolonged effort to renew the lease for the Guilford Lake swimming area. The swimming area is but a small portion of a larger 76-acre plot of land, deeded to absentee owners Samuel Streiff, and his sister Helen Dobbins. The siblings represent the sixth generation of their family to own the property and the same beach front portion of the land has been leased to the town for $10 a year since 1979. In 2011, Streiff and Dobbins informed town officials they did not intend to renew the lease for 2012. Nonetheless, the town and the beach front owners were able to come to a temporary accord, and the lease was renewed for this year – but the owners once again made known their intention to not renew the lease for next year.
For years, the $10 lease has been part of a mutually beneficial relationship between the town and the swimming area owners. In the past, when town-wide property assesments were conducted, the 76-acre property had been overlooked, leaving it with an assessed value far below its market worth, according to town officials.
“Maybe there was the issue that it hasn’t been fair to others,” said Guilford Town Supervisor George Seneck, who was elected as town supervisor in 2009. Whether due to fairness or not, Streiff and Dobbins’ property was not overlooked in the most recent town-wide assessment and the denominated value of their land skyrocketed by almost eight times what it was previously assessed at. Since the 2011 assessment, Streiff and Dobbins have managed to get their assessment reduced in court, but still have voiced complaints they will have problems affording the increased taxes.
The town has, in the past, offered to buy the beach from the Streiff family, but was turned down. “I don’t want to see it developed,” said Seneck. In the past, Streiff has expressed a similar desire to see the land go undeveloped. While the town has leased the beach, they have also paid for its insurance and have been liable for its usage.
Even though summer is a long way off, this could still adversely affect the town’s swimming program, which accommodated around 70 kids last year, Seneck said. In an effort to settle the issue, town officials are being forced to turn to legal action with a court date set for early January. “We are going to court even though Sam is a nice person,” said Seneck. He added the town’s goal is simply to get the lease renewed because they feel the summer youth swimming program is important to the community. “I can remember swimming with the cows,” Seneck said nostalgically.