More than five years after the Associates at Chapman Lake purchased the Scott Twp. lake, a Lackawanna County Court decision says the organization can charge fees and make rules governing who can use the site.
Judge Carmen D. Minora's ruling, presented Thursday, established the organization's rights as the property owner and effectively ended a debate stretching back to 2008 about whether homeowners along the lake needed permission or should have to pay a $100 fee to use it, said attorney Joseph O'Brien, who represented Associates at Chapman Lake.
Mr. O'Brien said the organization will provide the defendants, Mitchell and Pauline Gerchman, 2018 Lakeside Drive, with the opportunity to use the lake. But first they must pay the $500 they owe the organization since the fee was introduced in 2008.
Efforts to reach attorney Christopher Farrell, who Mr. O'Brien said represented the defendants, were unsuccessful. It is unclear whether the defendants will fight the decision.
Mr. O'Brien said fewer than half the homeowners at Chapman Lake have paid the $100 fee, but he said he believes this decision will change that.
"The purpose of this test case was to establish the rights of the parties," he said. "I think people will respond to the court's decision."
The organization obtained the rights to Chapman Lake in 2007. The following year, the members introduced a $100 annual fee for homeowners who used the lake for recreational purposes.
Since then, the Gerchmans, as well as other homeowners at the lake, have built docks and gone boating on the lake without paying the fee, prompting the organization to take action in 2010, the court decision said.
Mr. Gerchman argued he is entitled to use the lake, citing the deed he obtained in 2005, which allows him to use various roads leading from his property to the lake.
Neither the deed nor ownership of property near the lake provides Mr. Gerchman with a right to use the lake for recreational purposes, the court determined. Therefore, the defendants' construction of docks and use of the lake without permission constitutes trespassing, the court decision said.
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