By Joseph Edgerton
Staff Writer

From left, Cecil Patrick, Roger Buxton, Roy Weldon, Marilyn Buxton and Judy Patrick are among those opposed to the cooperative ownership of Medford Farms and the Village at Glen Falls. "Hometown America told us the rent increase for everyone in all of their parks has been between 3 and 6 percent a year for the last nine years," said Buxton. "Saddling us with an $11 million loan is taxation without representation. (Bruce Preston Photo)

Although some residents of Medford Farms and the Village at Glen Falls in Goffstown say the latest purchase and sales agreement is a positive development, another group disagrees.

Roger Buxton, a resident of the manufactured home park, is one of them. Buxton and his wife, Marilyn, have lived in Glen Falls since 1995, and said the Medvil Cooperative Association is incapable of running the parks.

"The residents of each park will never own the land under their homes," he said. "The numbers don't jibe. They've just taken numbers they need to make their plan work and just fit them in."

On Dec. 28, the Medvil Cooperative Association signed a purchase and sales agreement with Beverly Kilmartin-Marino, the owner of the park.

The agreement paves the way for the cooperative to obtain financing through the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund and other private lenders to purchase the park for $10.7 million. The two parks could become the largest cooperatively owned park in the state.

Some residents are opposed to the agreement, and said it unfairly burdens them with a mortgage.

Roy Weldon, who has lived in the park since 1986, said the Medvil Cooperative fails to address the needs of 120 of the park's residents.

"We have 120 people on a signed petition that do not wish to purchase the parks," he said. "We don't get a vote, because we aren't members of the Medvil Association. It's unconstitutional and it's not democratic."

Weldon said he chose not to join the cooperative because he doesn't believe it is capable of running the park.

"The cooperative is going to have to borrow $11 million, and I don't feel it's necessary to saddle people with an $11 million mortgage at this point in our lives," he said. "At some point in time, that $11 million is going to have to be paid, and after the fifth year, rents are going to jump."

One stipulation of the purchase and sales agreement put forward by Kilmartin-Marino said rents will be capped for four years if the residents vote to approve purchasing the park.

For the first two years, the rent would increase by no more than $15 per month per unit, while in years three and four, the rent increase would be capped at 6 percent.

But for Cecil and Judy Patrick, whose rent was $130 a month when they moved to the parks in 1984 and is now $254 a month, the cap is inadequate.

"Most people believe that when they buy their property, the rent will go down," said Cecil."

"If the sale goes through, Goffstown will come in to reassess the area," said Judy. "The tax base is currently $4 million. If the park sells for $10.7 million, someone will have to pay the difference."

Buxton said Hometown America, the Chicago-based corporation, which earlier this year expressed interest in purchasing the parks, would provide better maintenance to the parks. "One of the things Hometown does is to have a $1 million slush fund, which uses 1 percent of the income of each of their parks," he said. "If something fails, the cost doesn't come out of our rents. Medvil has no money. How can they make repairs if they're borrowing every penny of $11 million?"

Although none of the 70-plus parks financed by the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund have never defaulted, Buxton said they don't have the character of Medford Farms and the Village at Glen Falls.

"I agree 100 percent that the other parks have never defaulted, but there are nowhere near 300 homes in any of them, and they're all dumps," he said. "The majority of the other parks have income coming in, because they are family parks, not 55-or-older parks," said Judy Patrick.

While the Medvil Cooperative has signed the agreement, they must come up with financing and have another vote by residents before the sale can take place, said Buxton.

"If you're going to heal the rift between the residents and the cooperative association, everyone should be able to vote," said Marilyn Buxton. "Everyone who lives here should be able to vote."