The Colony, located on the northern end of River Road, is co-operatively owned by its homeowners. At dispute is the land along the river, which is known as riparian water rights. The Borough took possession of that land in 1939 after the property owner owed approximately $29,000 in taxes. Edgewater Colony was started about 10 years later on the rest of the property.

Boat docks either existed or were built over the years along the riparian lands. A building application last year started a dispute over who owned the land. The Borough determined that it owned the riparian rights and at the last few mayor and council meetings, the issue of what should be done with the riparian lands, in terms of taxing or leasing it to the dock owners, had been discussed.

Council President Neda Rose said it’s a complicated situation.

"We own the riparian land and the Colony owns the upland," she said.

Councilman Denis Gallagher presented a motion at the public meeting that informs the Colony that the Borough owned the property. Borough Attorney Phil Boggia said he has sent a letter to the Colony’s attorney saying that the Colony was trespassing on Borough property.

Mayor Nancy Merse said the resolution should include wording that the Council is discussing what to do with the land. Council President Neda Rose said she agreed with Merse but Gallagher said he had two more resolutions prepared and wanted the first to formally lay claim to the property.

The Council passed the resolution unanimously, with Councilman David Jordan abstaining from the vote. He is a member of the Colony’s Board and has always left the room when the issue has been discussed in Mayor and Council closed sessions.

Jordan said after the meeting that the resolution wasn’t necessary since the Colony received the letter from Boggia.

Gallagher presented another resolution that called for the borough planner to prepare an amendment to the Borough’s zoning ordinance to rezone the riparian lands to allow boating docks as a permitted use, since the current ordinance doesn’t allow it.

Gallagher said he understands the dock owners want to dock their boats so a change in the ordinance would allow that. Boggia said the ordinance change doesn’t make the boats legal since the Borough still owns the land and has to allow the docks to be there.

Councilman David Weschler said the ordinance would at least make the area a permitted use for what is already there. Merse said she thought the boat docks were "grandfathered in."

Jordan said the Colony has cumulative zoning and anything that was there from the 1950s is grandfathered in. Rose said the change might bring on a wave of applications for more docks.

The resolution was passed 3-2 with Rose and Councilman James Delaney voting against it.

Gallagher’s third resolution was in response to an offer from the Colony for a 99-year lease of the land for $1 per year. The offer has been discussed by the Council but no formal response was sent back.

Gallagher proposed a motion to reject the Colony’s offer and it passed unanimously.

Jordan called the three motions redundant and said the Council rejected the Colony’s offer but hasn’t presented any alternatives.

"What’s the solution," he asked.

Art Carlson, the borough tax assessor, said at a work session earlier this month that riparian rights issues aren’t common but Bergen County has a procedure to follow that includes having an expert assess the land’s value. Jordan said the property was recently assessed at about $123,000 and isn’t worth millions of dollars as some people have made it seem.

"It may come down to paying taxes on the $123,000," Jordan said. "We have to have some kind of permanent solution."

Jordan said he hopes something will happen soon.

Boggia said there have been infrequent discussions with the Colony attorney and Rose said the issue is taking some time because it’s a strange situation.

"We have to ask, can we tax them, do we rent it, do we ask them to tear it down, which I don’t think anyone wants to do," Rose said.

She said it will probably be a long negotiation and said that not sending the Colony a response yet didn’t mean the Council was in favor of the Colony’s offer.

"When you start saying too much in public too soon then everyone thinks things are set in concrete," Rose said.