Cannery Village residents file complaint

A group of Cannery Village residents has filed complaints with the Attorney General’s Office claiming they are being wrongfully charged for maintenance in the community.

Concerned Citizens of Cannery Village, more than 150 residents, about 57 percent of all residents, have donated to the cause or signed documents in favor of the complaint.

Jason Miller, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, confirmed complaints have been received, but he could not comment further because an investigation is ongoing.

The Consumer Protections Unit in the Attorney General’s Fraud and Consumer Protection Division will review the complaint to determine if there is anything to take action on, he said.

In the complaint, the residents claim the developer, Chestnut Properties LLC, is charging them for unnecessary costs, while not contributing its portion. They also claim that because the community lies inside Milton town limits, they are being charged twice for snow removal and the cost of street lighting through taxes and additional charges from the developer.

“Having had no success with previous direct contact to the four parties involved, we took the time over the last few months to draw up the complaints in question and gather the documentation supplied to the Consumer Affairs Division,” the group said in an email.

Residents Jack Horan, Bob Weston, Lou Sgro and Lou Baranello signed the email.

Mayor Cliff Newlands said the complaints against the town are unwarranted because all responsibilities lie on the developer.

“They’re complaining that we’re not enforcing our laws and rules,” he said. “Our rules state we make the developer responsible for any kind of street repairs.”

Rather than pay for the items, the developer, Chestnut Properties, is “passing the buck” to the community’s residents. According to the complaint, an estimated $85,000 was “unfairly and/or unjustly bilked from our homeowners.” The charges include more than $30,000 for snow removal and about $17,600 for street lighting.

The residents believe the developer should share part of the cost burden, citing a section of the community’s charter that says the builders have the same privileges and responsibility of owners during the time that they own units for construction or resale. The document states that Chestnut Properties owns 54 properties in the community and should have paid more than $20,000.

Cannery Village has been in construction for nearly 10 years. The first two phases are nearly complete with Phase 3 already approved by the town’s planning and zoning committee.

Some residents believe the problem begins with how the community’s governmental structure is set up. The Cannery Village Community Association has two homeowners on its five-person board of directors. The remaining three are the Chestnut Properties principals Preston Dyer, Joe Reed and Blake Thompson.

Because of this minority representation, the residents believe the developers are able to do whatever they want.

Residents also allege the town is not following its code in requiring the developer to get a performance bond, which guarantees completion of a project by a contractor. Newlands said that part of town code was implemented in 2004 more than two years after the Cannery Village project was approved.

Not all Cannery Village residents are on board with the complaints. Richard Miller stood in front of council July 11, urging town officials to look at both sides of the current issues.

“The last several months there’s been individual residents who have petitioned council at various levels for various grievances and obviously they have their right and privilege to do that,” he said. “One or two voices of that neighborhood does not reflect the opinion or the organizational management of Cannery Village. I would not want council to be swayed by one or two vocal, vociferous and determined individuals.”