GALWAY — A land dispute between the Galway Lake Campers Association and the owners of the former Lakeview Inn in Galway is headed to state Supreme Court in Saratoga County later this week.

Attorney Lawrence Naviasky represents Joseph and Barbara Trosan who are fighting to remove a fence put up by the lake association.

According to court documents, the Trosans purchased their restaurant property on Hermit Point Road overlooking the lake in 1985. As part of the deed, they were told they had access to the lake across “Lot 22.”

For more than 20 years, the couple and their family used the lot for picnics, campfires and ball games, according to the documents. They also installed a lamp on a post and paid the electric bill as well as constructing a large dock from the land to gain access to the lake.

Naviasky said the lake association put up a chain link fence in the spring of 2007 to deny the family access to their dock and the water.

“As far as we can tell, no one actually owns that lot. It has no tax identification number on the county records and it’s not part of the lake lot,” Naviasky said. “It is our position that the Trosans have prescriptive rights to the lot because they have always used it and the lake association has known they’ve always used it.”

Alison Thomas, the association’s lawyer, said she disagrees with Naviasky on many points.

“The lake association is the owner of the entire bed of the lake and some of the land that surrounds it,” Thomas said. “I disagree with [Naviasky] about Lot 22. A portion of that lot is assessed to the lake association and I’m waiting for confirmation of that from the Galway assessor.”

She said the association, although a nonprofit organization, does pay taxes on the land it owns around Galway Lake.

“There are roughly 550 properties around the lake that are eligible for membership in the association and the vast majority of the owners pay their dues each year,” she said. The dues, which this year are $185, are used to pay taxes and to maintain and insure the dam and the quality of the lake water, she said.

She said the association pays to test the water and to control weeds and pollution.

“The Trosans paid dues the first couple of years they owned their property, but then stopped paying their dues,” she said.

Because they are not paying for the privileges provided by the association, she said, access to the lake was revoked.

Last winter, according to court documents, the fence was damaged by a snowplow and the association is asking Judge Stephen Ferradino to order the Trosans to pay to put up a second fence.

In all, the association has requested $3,346 in back dues, $3,000 for the fence and $250,000 in punitive damages from the Trosans.

The Trosans are asking the judge to declare the lot their property and to order the removal of the fence.

Two brothers, one from Hagaman and one from California, have also been named with the association in the Trosans’ lawsuit.

The brothers, Lawrence and Robert Heller, appear to be the grandsons of the last people listed on the deed for Lot 22, according to Naviasky. That deed was dated December 1922.

Robert Heller replied that he does not have any interest or rights to the land, according to the court file in the county clerk’s office.