Carol Lynn Residents Sue Owners, State and Woodbine Borough

WOODBINE– South Jersey Legal Services, Inc., filed suit on Friday, Nov 6, in Superior Court in Cape May County on behalf of Carol Lynn Resorts residents to establish their legal right to continue living in their homes as their year-round, permanent residences.
South Jersey Legal Services is representing the Carol Lynn Resorts Home Owners Association, Inc., whose members are mostly lower and moderate income senior citizen mobile home owners who have lived at Carol Lynn Resorts for many years—in some cases more than 20 years—with the campground owner’s knowledge and permission and without Woodbine Borough’s objection.
This comes the day after four members of the Borough of Woodbine Council responded to the request of the Carol Lynn Resorts Home Owners Association, Inc. and voted on first reading to approve an Ordinance to allow them to reside in their homes 365 days a year. The Mayor attempted to table the ordinance. The Ordinance will go to a second reading and public hearing on December 3, 2009.
According to South Jersey Legal Services, The residents’ lawsuit seeks to invalidate the campground owner’s unilateral imposition of new unduly restrictive park rules and regulations that jeopardize their continued occupancy of their trailers as their full-time permanent homes.
The suit alleges the campground owner’s notice to assess $100 per day fines against residents for refusing to sign an acknowledgement of the new rules, is unlawful.
The suit further seeks to prevent the owner from using state statutory provisions—intended to apply only to recreational campers—subjecting residents to immediate removal without legal process, arrest as disorderly persons and forced sales of homes.
Brenda Rascher, an attorney from South Jersey Legal Services, Inc., representing the residents, says that “for all intents and purposes the owner at Carol Lynn Resorts has operated the property as a de facto mobile home park for decades, not a campground.” She says that “the residents should be afforded all of the rights and protections afforded mobile home park residents in New Jersey, including the right to live in their homes as permanent residences.”
The rebuttal
Carol Lynn Resort owner Carol Lynn Saduk “welcomes the lawsuit” as her frustrations have mounted over the past several weeks. Saduk says none of the dissatisfied residents that continue to heckle the Borough Council members have come to talk with her one-on-one and have ignored her repeated requests to sit down and work their differences out. Saduk said she feels “relieved” a judge will make a final determination.
Saduk denies the allegations that are trying to remove any of the campers. “I’m insulted to tell you the truth–some of these people that you see yelling at my husband at the council meetings are the same people who have come to us when they had problems paying their maintenance fees–we always accommodated them and said pay what you can.”,she said.
Saduk said notices were sent out restricting access to the resort to comply with Department of Community Affairs regulations that had changed. After the campers were grandfathered in by the DCA she had no more concerns and only asked the residents to designate their year-round or seasonal use of the resort.
According to Saduk the new rules were put into affect in the event campers in the future who were not grandfathered in tried to make the campground there perminate residence.
Saduk provided letters sent to the campers regarding the new rules that say in bold print “no one has to leave”.
Additionally Saduk says the majority of the campers are happy. Only approximately 50 of 250 campers have issue with the new rules and of the orgional 50 only 11 have not signed the new rules.
Saduk also says allegations the campers were sold into a mobile home park are untrue. Saduk provided copies of Carol Lynn Homes Associations President, Darren Kirch’s lease agreement. The lease states in bold print, campsites can not be used as a “permanent habitation”. Kirch signed the lease on July 20, 2005.