One could imagine the perks of living beside a lake with a trail running across it: a great place to grab some fresh air, see if the fish are biting, take the dog for a walk, and maybe once or twice a year, set up a goal and play some ice hockey.
But what if this was a lake that no one quite knew what to do with? Who owns it if neither the town, county, nor state holds the title? Who is responsible for its upkeep? If something breaks, who fixes it? Those are the questions that neighbors around Brick Township’s Godfrey Lake have been asking for years, to no avail, even as township officials have quietly been advocating for some type of plan to be created that would lead to the lake being sufficiently managed and taken care of.
Godfrey Lake, in the Herbertsville section of Brick Township, March 2024. (Photo: Shorebeat)
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Godfrey Lake, in the Herbertsville section of Brick Township, March 2024. (Photo: Shorebeat)
“We had our annual meeting with the county last week and brought up Godfrey Lake, because when people call us and say, ‘we saw trucks there and people working,’ we know it’s not us,” said township Business Administrator Joanne Bergin.
The issue of the lake, which is a branch of the Manasquan River that runs alongside Herbertsville Road, stretches southward and is divided by a dirt-and-gravel trail with a culvert to allow water to pass through, comes up periodically in town. For residents of Godfrey Lake Road, however, there always seems to be more questions than answers about what will ever become of the body of water that is the centerpiece of their neighborhood.
When Shorebeat visited the lake this week after a lengthy discussion in an online community forum spawned some renewed curiosity, a neighbor quickly pointed out a rupture in the pipe that makes up the culvert. He said he’s been trying his best to take care of the site for a while, having built benches and even a small timber pathway that repaired the trail after a construction vehicle damaged it.
Godfrey Lake, in the Herbertsville section of Brick Township, March 2024. (Photo: Shorebeat)
Bergin said the mystery agency working in and around the mystery lake is, in reality, the county.
“They do work there to protect their drainage,” she said, since Herbertsville Road is under county jurisdiction, and tidal flows from the Manasquan River must be managed in order to keep other streams and lagoons in balance – and the roadway dry.
Why the Mystery?
The mystery is in the history, so to speak.
The township made a significant effort to find the owner of the lake about 15 years ago, when the now-retired Scott Pezarras, who held Bergin’s job at the time, said the town’s legal team performed an exhaustive title search. Records were found dating back to the 1920s, when a homeowners’ association was formed to serve the residents of what was then a seasonal bungalow community. The lake itself was owned by the president of the association – the developer of the community – who died nearly a century ago. No heirs were ever found.
The community was called the “Godfrey Manor Country Club” and built by Charles F. Godfrey and E.L. Godfrey, according to the book “Greetings From Brick Township,” penned by Township Historian Gene Donatiello. A few signs of the idyllic lakefront hideout remain, including the remnants of timber pilings that once held a swim platform. The trail was also part of the recreational aspect of the complex, where residents could access beaches on either side and catch some rays or take a swim.
Godfrey Lake, in the Herbertsville section of Brick Township, March 2024. (Photo: Shorebeat)
Godfrey Lake, in the Herbertsville section of Brick Township, March 2024. (Photo: Shorebeat)
Godfrey Lake, in the Herbertsville section of Brick Township, March 2024. (Photo: Shorebeat)
The lake’s history also contains at least one less-than-idyllic remnant, however, which was a racial segregation rule built into the association covenant that required members to be white. It’s not clear exactly when the association folded, however the old-time rules withered away, and the streets around it eventually came to largely resemble the rest of Brick Township.
The reality is that no one seemed to notice that Godfrey Lake was abandoned until it was essentially too late. The Godfrey family’s heirs could never be found, and even if they were, would likely fight what would amount to eight decades of back property taxes on a lake they never knew they owned. Anyone picturing a scene out of the hit TV series Schitt’s Creek would not likely be alone.
What’s the Future?
“The only option we have would be to take over the lake,” Bergin said this week.
By “take over,” Bergin was referring to a special carve-out of the state’s eminent domain laws that would allow the township to condemn the lake after certifying that no living heirs of its owner can be located. That obligation has been largely fulfilled, but for officials, the saying “you don’t know what you don’t know” could prove costly.
“The last time it came up a while back I told the mayor, ‘maybe we should just take it over,'” Bergin said. “There’s no more association, there is no one there managing it, but we would have to really look into what we’re taking.”
During last month’s meeting, Brick officials asked the county if they would be interested in taking ownership of the lake since it runs along their roadway and they already must perform occasional maintenance work there.
“They didn’t have an interest in doing that,” she said.
Godfrey Lake, in the Herbertsville section of Brick Township, March 2024. (Photo: Shorebeat)
Godfrey Lake, in the Herbertsville section of Brick Township, March 2024. (Photo: Shorebeat)
The reason is because no one knows exactly what could be unearthed if teams of engineers, environmental consultants, surveyors and other land use professionals began looking closely at the lake. If environmental issues were found, it is likely the state would require the new owner – in this case, the township or the county – to remediate it at taxpayer cost. Indeed, the federal government likewise ordered Brick to cap the former French’s Landfill site on nearby Sally Ike Road at a cost of millions of dollars since the township acquired the land from its private owner decades ago. If the township did not perform the capping, the federal government would have done it themselves – and sent the bill to town hall.
“We don’t want to risk having to spend a fortune on a lake we never owned,” said Bergin.
Since former mayor John Ducey was elected a decade ago, the township has stuck to a relatively-strict $8 million limit to annual capital expenditures. Adding responsibility to either remediate or develop the lake could potentially take precious funding away from other planned projects such as infrastructure improvements to other parks in town – with no choice to put it off.
For now, the county is expected to continue its occasional maintenance on the drainage pipe, and the township will continue to utilize a special permit it holds from the state to rid the lake of invasive plants that, at one point, filled much of the lake with overgrowth and lillypads.
Godfrey Lake, in the Herbertsville section of Brick Township, March 2024. (Photo: Shorebeat)
That is not to say, however, that taking over Godfrey Lake is completely off the table. Bergin conceded that, eventually, there will need to be a conclusion to the story.
“Maybe, at some point, we will do an assessment and we’ll take a deeper look into its condition, but at the same time, there’s an expectation that we take ownership of neglected, problem areas,” she said. “We’re thinking about it, and we’re going to continue to look into it. But as far as what’s on the table, taking it over is our only option.”
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