Pinewood Estates Residents To Management: Open Up Amenities, Repair Facilities, Clean Up Mess

Residents of Pinewood Estates, a mobile home adult community on Route 72, say the managing company won’t address their concerns, making their grounds unsafe and unsatisfactory for living.

Now they're getting the township to intervene.

Township officials are promising to assist the residents the best they can, while the Ocean County Health Department already came to inspect the site and make some improvements, declaring that particular complaint “case closed.”

Barnegat Township Administrator David Breeden said Pinewood Estates residents had some troubles with management in the past, which the township helped them deal with, and will do so again.

"A major function of local government is to help people,” Breeden said. “The township has both a legal and moral obligation to assist residents in need and the township will reach out to property management in order to secure suitable corrective action required for Pinewood Estates residents to maintain an acceptable quality of life.”

Residents of the adult community in Barnegat say they have been frustrated for years with lack of services on the property, which include unresponsive and hard-to-reach management; safety violations; homes for sale on the site that are falling apart; and many other complaints which, according to the residents, have not been addressed for years.

After years of seeking help by sending complaints to the manager on site - and sending registered letters to the Michigan-based Newbury Management Company, which manages the park -  a group of representatives from Pinewood Estates approached Barnegat Township Committee once again at its regular meeting last week, asking the local government for help.

“I have a beautiful home, and now I want to get out of there,” resident Marianne Basile, 70, told township officials at the last committee meeting on April 23. “How am I going to be able to sell my home when [just nearby sits a property with] floors rotted out and feces all over the [bathroom floor]?”

The Pinewoods Estates manager, Gloria Schaffer, who is the point contact person for the residents and keeps office hours in the main office on the property, declined to comment for this story.

However, David Hale, the regional manager of Pinewood Estates for Newbury Management Company, said property maintenance issues are being addressed.

“Anything that we find that needs to be upgraded and updated, we take care of it right away, and we spend thousands and thousands of dollars [on the upkeep,]“ Hale said.

Pinewood Estates, a 321-unit mobile home park for adults 55 and older, is a quiet development on Route 72 in Barnegat. Most residents of Pinewood take pride in their homes – which are well cared for, comfortable and surprisingly spacious.

At the same time, however, the park’s upkeep and services have been deteriorating over the last several years, residents say.

"It’s just poor management,” said resident Joseph Gherardi, 71.

New pipes need to be put in, the septic system needs an overhaul, and a tree leaning precariously close to his house needs to be taken care of, Gherardi told Patch. The pool, which the residents are paying for, and which was closed for repair last summer, needs to be re-opened this season, Gherardi said, and road conditions, gas service and electrical service all need to be looked into.

“The electrical system is outdated,” Gherardi added. “Meter boxes are falling apart, the wires are breaking down. I could go on and on and on.”

“Amenities are not being kept up – the club house, the swimming pool,” said Ray Leszczak, 59, president of the Mobile Homeowners Association. “We have problems with the trees (trees dying and trees leaning). We have rotting away pipes that feed us water from the pump house and the wells, those pipes need to be replaced, they’re very old. We have a septic problem. Off hand, these are the important issues.”

“The park is in disrepair, (the playground) where our grandchildren play,” said Frank Troia, 72. “The swimming pool is in disrepair. There are a couple of storm sewers that are caving in. As for the trees, I’ve written letters since 2007 about the trees.” 

Last year more than 100 Pinewood homeowners signed a letter addressed to Newbury Management Company, detailing the above complaints and more, and received no response.

At the committee meeting, township officials promised to investigate the situation.

“Over the next few days we’ll try to contact the management people,” Township Attorney Jerry Dasti said at the meeting last Monday. “Understand that those kinds of issues are normally dealt with between you and the management company.”

With their complaints reaching a critical mass, things seem to be moving forward at last, some residents said. 

After the township meeting, Dasti did contact the residents and promised to look into things, Gherardi said. “He said, ‘Give me a week or two.’”

Gherardi also invited a Board of Health official to take a look at the dirt behind his property, which required proper drainage, he said.

“They did put in the drain,” Gherardi said. 

According to Ocean County Health Department spokeswoman Leslie Terjesen, indeed “there had been a septic complaint.”

“We went out there and observed,” Terjesen said. “We addressed it with the management office. The situation was rectified. There was also a septic repair on the same street, which was inspected.”

Terjesen added that the Health Department had since received another complaint about standing water, which it inspected as well. “There was no health hazard there,” Terjesen said.

Also, Hale got back to Gherardi just last week regarding the tree leaning close to his home.

“He said he wants to get an estimate to get it corrected,” Gherardi said.

Some Pinewood residents said they are planning to return to the next committee meeting on May 7, asking for more assistance, with many urgent issues that have been neglected too long awaiting resolution, still.

And township officials are saying they are willing to listen.

“One of the challenges with property management is that their main office is located in Michigan,” Breeden said. “Regardless, property management must be responsive to the needs of the community and their lack of response is unacceptable to the township.”

As far as dead tree removal, Hale said, the management is taking care of the problem and is now communicating via email with one of the residents, Frank Troia, about some of his concerns.

Regarding amenities, the pool was closed last year, Hale acknowledged, but he said there is still a possibility it would open this year. 

“A lot of it depends on how fast the contractors can move for us,” he said. “Right now we’re in the process of finalizing one of the bids from our vendors. Once I have that information I’ll present that to corporate for a final approval.”

The reason management didn’t put in gas was because the gas company had “decided not to pursue it,” Hale said.

When asked about unsafe electrical wiring, Hale said he didn't know of any such conditions. 

“I’m not sure what the residents here are refereeing to as far as safety issues,” he said. “We definitely need to be aware of any unsafe conditions, so we can re-address them.”

Addressing the complaints of lack of responsiveness on the site, Hale said he schedules regular get-together with residents.

“Just last year we had a round table with the people to talk about some of the concerns,” Hale said. “If we get a resident comment, we try to touch-base with them within 48 hours, just letting them know we’ve got their information.”

“I was not aware of anything that was sent of the magnitude that they spoke of, “ Hale added, “and I asked the manager if she received anything and she said ‘No.’ That kind of threw me off, because that’s why we have the manager at the office, Monday through Friday, if not Saturday, to be available to answer any questions the residents have.”

Finally, when asked about the residents’ concerns regarding dilapidated, or falling-apart homes for sale on the site, Hale said he had also never been made aware of the problem.

“We do sell homes that need some repair,” he said, “I know we have some homes of vintage age that do require some work, but we don’t have any homes that are in really bad or terrible shape that I’m aware of.”