SKANEATELES - It may have once been called 28-Acre Swamp, but for many residents, it's time for a name change.

Over the past 20 years, flooding problems on Highland Avenue have gotten worse for homeowners, due to a growing swamp behind their property and beavers who have made a nearby creek their home.

Town of Skaneateles officials held a public informational hearing earlier this month at the town hall to discuss the possibility of forming a Highland Avenue drainage district.

Approximately 30 people attended the hearing to listen to town engineer Doug Wickman explain the situation and to have their questions answered.

The debate right now is whether the beaver dams or the natural expansion of the swamp is more to blame for the problem. Frazier Hunt and his family have lived on the southern end of Highland Avenue since 1969.

Nearly 40 years ago, there was little or no flooding. It wasn't until the late-1980s that problems began, Hunt said.

When Hunt was a boy, people referred to the wetland as 28-Acre Swamp.

“Right now it's probably 100 acres of land that's actually covered by the wetland,” Hunt said.

Ten years ago, a private contractor cleaned out the creek bed to increase flow, and there were no reports of any beaver dams. Neighbors and town officials believe the beavers arrived about four years ago.

“In the last five years, I've had anywhere from six to 10 inches of standing water on the back end of my property,” Hunt said.

His property's soil is made largely of clay, and he runs a sump pump nearly year-round to keep his basement from flooding.

At the public information session, Wickman discussed a water-control system that would keep the levels of the swamp relatively constant.

A series of pipes, and the considerable manpower to set up the system, would cost around $7,000.

The 28 Highland Avenue property owners would share that cost for being in the proposed drainage district, and they'd also have to pay a modest maintenance fee each year.

Another potential solution is to relocate, or trap, the beavers. One property owner owns the entire length of the creek, and although she was unavailable for comment, it is believed she might be reluctant to see the beavers harmed or moved.

Under state regulations, beavers can be trapped and then killed for their pelts.

The 2007-08 trapping season for beavers in central New York runs from Nov. 25 to April 20. There is no “bag” limit on how many beavers a trapper can catch.

One proposal circulating is that a trapper would rid the creek of the beavers for free, selling the pelts. If the beavers were trapped and then relocated, it might cost upwards of $400.

Under state Department of Environmental Conservation regulations, a beaver dam cannot be torn down if beavers are present.

Only when the beavers are moved or trapped can it be dismantled, as it would then be considered “debris.”

Of course, trappers are often hired to catch beavers and then release them somewhere else.

But this can prove problematic - other areas suitable for the industrious creatures are hard to find, and the beavers tend to grow fond of their homes once settled.

“The downside is that where beavers have been transported in the past, they have a tendency to migrate, to come back,” said Town Supervisor Phil Tierney.

Tierney said there used to be a beaver dam near Gully Road Swamp and that beavers have migrated from there because most of the food was used up.

“So a proposal based solely on the transfer of the beavers won't be a long-term solution to this problem,” Tierney said. “The engineer thinks the best long-term solution is the facility he proposes, along with periodic clearing out of the drainage basin.”

Wickman will continue to research other remedies, but Tierney doesn't want to take up too much of his time - and pay his hourly wage - unless there is a clearer consensus among the neighbors on which direction they want to take.

All of the work Wickman has done so far has been paid out of the town's general fund.

In order to move forward with the district, 51 percent of all the property owners - and the same percentage for the total assessed value of the properties in the district - must sign a petition.

Because they must be notarized, the petitions will not be mailed out.

Petitions can be signed at the town hall, where a notary is available to verify the correct address.

There is no deadline for when the petition must be completed.

If the 51-percent benchmark is reached on both total signers and total assessment, a formal public hearing will be held.

“Everyone would be able to come in once again and actually testify,” Tierney said.

Rich Morse and his family have lived on Highland Avenue for the past four years.

Since he is on the northern end of the street, his home has not been affected nearly as much as those on the southern end.

“We haven't had any severe problems,” Morse said, other than a large amount of standing water in his backyard.

Their basement has never been flooded.

“We came into this with the understanding this was the way it was, living up against a swamp.”

The problem is worse in the spring, after a heavy rainfall and snow meltdown, than during severe summer thunderstorms, Morse said.

Wickman said that wetlands have a tendency to get bigger and that remedial measures such as the water-control leveler will halt further increases and might shrink the size of the swamp.

“That's the initial recommendation of the engineer, but it doesn't mean other techniques won't be considered,” Tierney said.

Houses in the Highland Avenue neighborhood are, generally, in the $200,000 to $300,000 assessment range. The area is east of the village.

While Tierney stresses he will take a wait-and-see approach to how the 28 neighbors want to proceed, he added, “I think it's a good proposal. It's think it's going to clear up a long-term problem. I'm not an advocate of any particular solution. I'll let the engineers and the people who live there weigh the merits of that.”