Hudson Valley Girl Scouts Fight To Keep Control Of Their Cabin

EASTCHESTER, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - The Girl Scouts of Eastchester and Tuckahoe are fighting to keep the cabin they've called home for more than 50 years. But the Town of Eastchester wants to open up the cabin to all residents.

The troops in the Hudson Valley saved up cookie money and built the cabin to use for events and activities.

"We did Brownie Day and we did like cooking and stuff like that. It's like our home," Brownie troop member Sofia Read told CBS 2's Mary Calvi.

The Town of Eastchester owns the land the cabin sits on and had leased it to the Girl Scouts for virtually nothing.

"We've had a lease with the town since April 2, 1955. Basically it's usually been every five years that we renew, and we pay $1 a year for the use of the property," Girl Scouts of Eastchester and Tuckahoe volunteer Judy Fix told Calvi.

The lease expired last November and the Girl Scouts are not happy with the new terms of the deal, which would give control of the land to the town.

Eastchester Town Supervisor Tony Colavita said the new contract would just open up access to the cabin to everyone in the town.

"They're crying foul where no foul exists," Colavita told Calvi.

"We're not talking about mixing an event with the Girl Scout activities....If a civic association would like to have a Halloween party on a Friday evening, we'd like to be able to tell them that they can do that, because they're taxpayers too," he said.

Read said she does not want to see the cabin taken away from the troops.

"If we don't have it, where would we go?" Read said.

The town and the Girl Scout leadership said they would like to come to some common ground and resolve their issues during the next town board meeting later this month.

Do you think the Girl Scouts should continue to have sole access to the cabin, or should all town residents be able to use it?  Sound off in the comment section below.