Pocasset mobile home park residents try again to buy land. Judge gives opinion.

Zane Razzaq, Cape Cod Times
·4 min read

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated on March 20, 2023, to add a response from Crown Communities LLC.

A Superior Court judge has rejected a move to reverse his decision that determined a Wyoming investment firm was the rightful buyer of the Pocasset Mobile Home Park.

Judge Michael Callan's original Jan. 11 decision seemed to end a years-long legal battle between Crown Communities, LLC, and the Pocasset Park Association, with both sides seeking ownership of the Bourne park, also known as The Park at Pocasset.

The mobile home park has about 170 residents at its prime location off Barlow's Landing Road. The current owner is Philip Austin, trustee of the Charles W. Austin Trust.

The association would have been able to purchase the park, Callan wrote in his March 10 response filed in Barnstable Superior Court, if it represented at least 51% of resident owners who were entitled to notice under state law; and if the association submitted evidence showing this to Austin Trust; and if they had offered the trust a purchase and sale agreement that was substantially similar to Crown's.

An aerial view looks west across the Pocasset Mobile Home Park in Pocasset, a village in Bourne. A judge has decided not to reverse his January decision that denied the park residents' plan to purchase the property, according to court documents.
An aerial view looks west across the Pocasset Mobile Home Park in Pocasset, a village in Bourne. A judge has decided not to reverse his January decision that denied the park residents' plan to purchase the property, according to court documents.

Callan said the association fell short in its efforts.

"The evidence at trial was insufficient to show that the Association satisfied all of these requirements," he wrote.

In a statement provided to the Times by attorney Walter Sullivan Jr., Crown called itself grateful and said it believes "the time for litigation has ended."

"Crown sincerely hopes that an opportunity for it to meet with the Pocasset Park Association members will become available so it can discuss its intentions with respect to the improvements needed at the park, which will make the park a better and more vibrant residential manufactured home community," reads the statement. "We believe that only a cooperative partnership with the park community will achieve this goal."

With an offer pending from a mobile home park operator, the residents in the Pocasset park sought help

Crown, which owns and operates mobile home parks nationwide, entered a purchase and sale agreement with Austin on Nov. 15, 2019 for $3.8 million in an all-cash sale. Notice was sent to residents five days later. Due to the state's right-of-first-refusal statute, park residents could submit a matching bid.

Some residents worked with New England Resident Owned Communities that's partnering with the Cooperative Development Institute.

The organizations help residents to both secure ownership of their mobile home parks and get loans to match private bidders and cover any capital projects needed on the site.

The residents formed an association and began to gather signatures from at least 51% of residents, as required.

The Pocasset association submitted a matching offer in December of 2019.

The association submitted its own matching offer in December 2019. Their offer contained a mortgage contingency clause in contrast to the all-cash purchase in the Crown offer, noted Callan.

Austin executed the purchase and sale agreement with the Pocasset Park Association on Jan. 7, 2020, with Crown then filing a complaint in February 2020 against both the association and Austin, bringing the matter to court. The jury-waived trial played out in Barnstable Superior Court in August.

While residents at mobile home communities own their homes, they do not own the land beneath them. Often, the homes are no longer mobile. Before the decision was issued, Justine Shorey, the Pocasset Park Association president, told the Times that resident ownership would mean assurance the park would not be sold out from under them.

Residents made legal pitch for judge to reverse his ruling.

According to court documents, on Feb. 16, the residents association through its attorney requested for the decision to be vacated and for a new final judgment to be entered in their favor.

"The Final Judgment is based on the court's imposition of a heightened burden of proof that is inconsistent with, and would frustrate the purpose of, the statutory right of first refusal afforded to manufactured housing community residents" under state law, reads attorney Thomas W. Aylesworth's motion.

The calculation of community owner-residents who approved of the association purchasing the community by signing a petition was also incorrect, Aylesworth said.

'Trial did not cure these defects'

But Callan said the association had failed to show at least 51% of resident owners supported ownership, writing that the association did not provide documentation to the Austin Trust and that "the pages of the signed petition were not submitted with any verification...to support the bare assertion that at least 51% of the residents supported the Association's purchase of the park."

"The trial did not cure these defects," wrote Callan.

Lawyers representing the individuals in the dispute and Shorey were not immediately available Thursday for comment.

Zane Razzaq writes about housing and real estate. Reach her at zrazzaq@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @zanerazz.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Mobile home park investor can purchase Pocasset park, judge affirms