SPRINGFIELD — Legal proceedings are notorious for being long and sometimes arduous undertakings. For the residents of the West Street Village Mobile Home Community, that process may be coming to an end. Just not yet.
The issue goes back to the spring of 2023, when the park’s owner, Tom Lennon, began the process of raising the rent. In Ludlow, the maximum rent of mobile homes is determined by the Mobile Home Rent Control Board. A hearing was conducted in July 2023 concerning Lennon’s request to raise the rent from $207 per month to a maximum of just over $500 per month.
Residents attended the hearing en masse to argue that such an increase was excessive and not feasible for the tenants, many of whom are on fixed incomes. Lennon argued that the rent, which had not been raised for 18 years, was not enough to ensure Lennon a “fair net operating income.” The board sided with Lennon and the rent was raised to $503 per month, as of Feb. 1.
Three residents hired an attorney, Joel Feldman of the Springfield-based law firm Heisler, Feldman & Ordorica, to appeal the decision. There are two prongs to the appeal filed by Feldman. One is procedural and the other states that the Mobile Home Rent Control Board’s public hearing was out of order and therefore the rent increase is invalid. Western Housing Court Judge Jonathan Kane decided to wait to hear the meat of the case until the procedural matters have been resolved.
At a Sept. 11 appearance before Kane, Feldman stated that the town had not provided a complete record of the Mobile Home Rent Control Board’s handling of the matter, and despite certification that it was complete, there were missing documents, including the appraisal of the property. After the deadline to file, Feldman said, the town turned over more than 200 pages of documentation that had originally not been included. He asked for the added pages to be stricken.
Brian Winner, town counsel for Ludlow, said he would address the procedural issues but said the town was neutral on the rent increase. “We don’t have skin in that game,” he said.
Winner said the original record included minutes, which were taken “verbatim” from the hearing and that the incomplete record was an oversight by clerical staff. Further, he provided a printed record of emails between himself and Feldman in which Feldman rejected the record as incomplete and Winner offered to provide a supplemental record and extended time for review. Winner said Feldman had “every opportunity” to extend the timeline. Lennon’s attorney, Robert Kraus of the Plymouth-based firm Kraus & Hummel, said the appraisal was discussed “extensively” at the hearing, and that discussion was a part of the original record.
On the main issue of an improper meeting by the Mobile Home Rent Control Board, Feldman said one of the board members, Joseph Young, was a resident of West Street Village and therefore had a conflict of interest. Despite this, Young opened the meeting so there would be a quorum, but then sat in the audience and acted as a resident, therefore reducing the number of board members to less than a quorum.
Kane noted that the minutes list four members, but the decision was only signed by three, and asked Kraus to clarify. Kraus said he was unsure and could not remember.
Feldman said a second member of the board declared a conflict of interest but participated in the proceedings. Winner said there is a conflict between the Adjudicatory Rules of Practice or Procedure and the Open Meeting Law. Following Open Meeting Law, he said that there may be an “appearance of conflict,” so the board member declared it, but there was no financial stake in the matter and therefore there was no need to recuse. He called it “a softer disclosure.”
However, the town’s bylaws state that the Mobile Home Rent Control Board is required to adhere to the standard adjudicatory rules as laid out in state regulations.
Kraus said that because all tenants in a mobile home park pay the same amount in rent, no one receives preferential treatment and therefore, there is no conflict or “impropriety.”
Feldman said he wanted to interview the administrative assistant to the board, Sharon LaDuke, and board members Michael Szlosek and Judith Krynicki. Kraus suggested a 30-day window for Feldman to interview the individuals, and a short response period for the town and his client.
“This has been going on for months,” Feldman told Kane. “Every month that goes by, they’re paying what we believe to be an illegal rent.” He said if Lennon would agree to a stay of the rent increase for that time, rolling is back to $207 for one month, his clients would accept that. The rent for one month for all 44 tenants is $1,200, he said.
Kane considered the stay, but Kraus said it would be a logistical “nightmare” for Lennon to reduce the rent for one month. Kane did not implement a stay of the increase.
Feldman agreed to file a supplemental brief after the interviews but could not guarantee it would be by the end of the month as Kane had indicated.
Outside the courtroom, Feldman explained the next steps to the 11 tenants who had been in the court. The residents were supported by members of Springfield No One Leaves, a group that organizes residents impacted by economic inequality, and helps them mount a defense against displacement and win housing ownership. Before court, state Sen. Jake Oliveira (D-Ludlow), joined the group for a rally on the court’s steps. A similar rally had happened before a previous court date, with both Oliveira and state Rep. Aaron Saunders (D-Belchertown) in attendance. Both lawmakers have been ardent supporters of the tenants.
Mobile homes are “the last bastion of private, affordable housing,” Feldman said.
He told Reminder Publishing that Lennon was attempting to purchase Bluebird Acres, a mobile home community in Chicopee, and was using the value of West Street Village and his other mobile home park in Ludlow, Hillside Valley, as collateral. He explained that if the rent is reduced in this case, it would lower the value of his collateral. Lennon also owns a mobile home community in Stockbridge. The rent control board in that town recently voted down a $500 rent increase requested by Lennon, instead, granting $1.44 more per month.
Resident Debee Boulanger summed the proceedings up with the word “confused,” adding, “It was like was ping pong in there.”
Tenant Ethan Fields spoke at length about the conditions in the park, including a faulty underground electrical system, plumbing issues, problems with septic systems, a lack of adequate street lighting and unfinished roads without curbs or a topcoat.
“Ultimately, I don’t think anyone would have fought him on a reasonable rent increase,” he said, but added that he would expect improved conditions to come with the increase.
Kane has not yet set a date for the next hearing.
