Pine Valley Mobile Home Park in Cheshire To Be Sold

The selectmen said they would not evict any tenants at Pine Valley unless the landlord made its case.

CHESHIRE, Mass. — The owner of Pine Valley Mobile Home Park intends to sell the park for $1.7 million.

Ron Lancia of the Pine Valley Homeowners Association gave the Selectmen a letter of notice on Tuesday that Morgan Management has accepted an offer of $1,710,000 from a third party.

Lancia said it is unknown who the buyer is and the tenants have 45 days after receiving this notice to make an offer on the park themselves. If the tenants do not, the deal will close after 45 days.

"That is going to be interesting to see who bought it," Chairwoman Carol Francesconi said. "They have 45 days so the tenants can respond so I don't think we will figure it out until another 45 days."

Morgan Management has sold two local holdings. After The Spruces in Williamstown were damaged in Hurricane Irene, the real estate and park management company, based in Pittsford, N.Y., agreed to sell the park to the town of Williamstown through an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It sold Wheel Estates Mobile Home Park in North Adams to its tenants in 2013.

Pine Valley tenants have had issues with landlord Morgan Management over the past few years such as incomplete paving and construction projects, unresponsiveness, and rent increases the Selectmen found questionable.

"It is interesting to think that they would have to be better," Selectman Robert Ciskowski said. "It seems like it can't get any worse."

Park resident Cindy Richmond asked for advice. She said Morgan Management's attorney has been avoiding her and has yet to discuss her receipts that proved she paid rent. She added the money she was told she owed fluctuated by thousands of dollars within a few months but she cannot get a hold of the attorney because she is told he is busy.

"This is what happens. They avoid me and then they come back and try to evict me again ... I just don't know what to do, and I have done everything that everyone has asked of me," she said.

Francesconi encouraged her to seek legal aid and promised that the Selectmen, which act as the Rent Control Board, will not evict her unless the Morgan Management attorney can prove his case.

Francesconi said she hoped these issues come to an end with the new owners.

Town Administrator Mark Webber asked if the Selectmen wanted to file any additional comments that could be added to those from other municipalities that have joined the Berkshire Regional Planning Committee's Pipeline Work Group.

The comments will be filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that must approve Kinder Morgan's natural gas pipeline proposed to pass through Cheshire.

"It's a 90-page document, and I don't know how many more comments need to be made," Webber said. "I don't know what more you could add."

Ciskowksi agreed and felt that even though the proposed pipeline will go under Cheshire Reservoir, they have no scientific proof they could hang their worries on that it would damage the lake.

"I don't know what we would say about it," he said. "We aren't conducting a study saying the lake is going to drain like a toilet flushing."

The Selectmen signed off on the pilot agreement between the town and the owners of the Bushika gravel pit solar facility.

The agreement was approved at town meeting and will provide the town with $12,400 annually for 20 years.

"Cha-ching," Francesconi said. "Free cash building up."

Advisory Board Chairman William Craig said the town will receive $8,057.17 from McCann Technical School from excess transportation assessments. 

Cheshire Tag Sale and Bazaar