LEXINGTON PARK, Md. – On Monday, August 12th, 2024, residents of the Lord Calvert Mobile Park were invited to a public meeting by the property owners The Cherry Cove Group, which was held at the Great Mills High School at 6:30 p.m. The meeting, which was originally announced to residents in a July 9th, 2024 memo that was both emailed and delivered by hand to the front doors of the homes, was held to discuss ongoing changes to the Mobile Home community, which the BayNet has previously reported received a reprieve from pending plans for redevelopment in an announcement earlier this year.
Jacquelyn Meiser, the attorney for Cherry Cove, started the meeting by announcing that the management company would be sharing updates with residents in the meeting before any Q&A would start, and began by addressing announced rent increases and enforcement issues that have taken place since the announcement that the redevelopment of the park would not be taking place in the foreseeable future. Ms. Meiser told the meeting that the redevelopment plans had been scrapped due to taxes and higher than expected construction estimates.
A local housing activist, Jacob Lang, who was present at Monday’s meeting, told the BayNet that the outcry Cherry Cove received when residents attended a St. Mary’s County Commissioners meeting in early 2024 and expressed their concerns about being displaced might have been relevant as well to the decision to cancel the plans to evict residents, as well as an email campaign that generated more than 800 messages to the property owners on the issue. It has been announced that new leases would be provided to the residents by September 1, and should be signed and in place by October 1 of this year now that the development plans are on hold.
Some residents have seen actions by Cherry Cove in announcing the phased-in 20% rent increase and the quick implementation of an initiative to enforce strict towing in the community in recent weeks as harsh and attempting to drive residents away, or even to allegedly punish them for speaking out publicly on the issue. At Monday evening’s meeting, Cherry Cove asked the residents to put any questions they had onto index cards to be read aloud at the meeting. Some attendees felt deprived of the opportunity to voice their concerns in public, and up to 20 of them chose to walk out of the meeting after a brief argument on this point took place.
One attendee, Coretta Henderson, a resident of the community for 17 years, told the BayNet that she was among those who expressed displeasure at being unable to voice her concerns out loud at the meeting. “I think it’s still going to be sold, and they are trying to get rid of as many of us as they can, because they’d have to pay to move our trailers if they evict everyone and redevelop the property,” said Henderson. She went on to detail her account of the rent increases and how that was affecting many of the senior citizen residents, pointing out that in addition to the 20% increase in rent announced, that they had been told there was no longer a discount for seniors which had been part of the old rent structure. Henderson was particularly annoyed at the index cards. “As soon as she said that we could only speak via the written index cards, we were upset…Because I feel like I have a right to say what I want, when you’re saying you’re going to raise the rent and change this and that, I feel we had a right to speak our minds.”.
One area of contention is that the community has begun enforcing parking restrictions aggressively in recent weeks, with a special emphasis on trucks and work vehicles, such as work trucks, vans, and tow trucks. These issues have not been enforced for years, but now they are towing cars with minimal notice and banning the parking of “commercial” vehicles, which many of the working class residents drive for their business and work needs, and have parked in the neighborhood as well. Another new area of focus by Cherry Cove are “add-ons” to the trailers, like decks or sheds. For years, these improvements have been tolerated at Lord Calvert, but now since the announcement that the development project is canceled, some residents are saying that they are making an issue of things that they didn’t do before.
At the meeting, Cherry Cove promised to increase the number of allowed cars to expand from 2 to 3 and to make sure that is in the new lease documents. Residents are waiting to see what the new lease documents will contain when they receive them by September 1. “They are saying that we’ll have to choose between a month-to-month lease, or a 1 year lease,” said resident Coretta Henderson. “They are saying that some properties here have 9 or 10 cars, I think they are exaggerating a little bit…these are good people that live in here, and we think we’re being treated unfairly.”
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The trailer park is definitely an eyesore. That said, if Cherry Cove wants people out, they need to man up and do it the right way. If they still plan on developing, then take care of the people who live there. If they don’t plan on developing, then leave people the heck alone.
This is a small idea of what Kamala’s housing fix would look like. Run down trailers for all!
Cherry Cove made it clear at the meeting they are going to lord it over the tenants and that the tenants won’t have a say in anything. During the meeting Cherry Cove said they would remove things from tenants’ yards if they didn’t want these things there. In other words, Cherry Cove is now going to steal tenants’ belongings! They wouldn’t even let tenants speak at the meeting. They told them to write their questions down on index cards (so, Cherry Cove could censor which questions to answer) or send an email, which Cherry Cove ignores. The only emails they answer are questions having to do with making lot rent payments. Other emails, such as maintenance requests, are ignored. Like many landlords, Cherry Cove only cares about money and power. I hope the tenants will find a way to fight back. They need a lawyer.
I’m a resident of cherry cove I have been here since 2017. I GOT NO NOTICE OF THIS MEETING. I HAD NO IDEA. BELIEVE ME I WOULD HAVE WALKED ACROSS THE STREET. There’s so much wrong with my trailer and cherry cove does the minimum if that to fix things. We only have 2 guys as maintenance men.. they do what the order says.. I get that, nothing should be blamed on those 2 gentleman. In December 2023, I was left with no lights in the back half of my trailer for 21 days. I was left without a refrigerator for 30 days. I have a family with 2 boys. If cherry cove wants more money they need to take our money and fix our homes. If they are not redeveloping then they should be entitled to fix what’s wrong in each trailer with the extra money they’re asking for each month. We all are being feeling the same way. Except for the ones that are in nice double wides. My trailer is 45 years old. You could control my bedroom in my laundry room, Well I got shocked. It threw me back a little bit, I did not go to a hospital or call 911 because what in the heck could they do, I got shocked, It was like that when I moved in. I’m on my 5th landlord. Cherry cove finally got a electrician out to my house and the electrician told me that this whole trailer is completely wired wrong. I have pictures my light sockets are completely black that means that they’re burning they’re getting too hot so I’m scared of death to touch them. ( Yes more then one) I just think it’s very wrong to do whatever you can do people will just move out. Where do they expect the whole entire trailer park to go??? DID ANYONE ASK AND GET A ANSWER??? I’m so mad I had no clue about this meeting!!! Im not the only trailer with problems. I should be heard.
Cherry Cove made it clear at the meeting they are going to lord it over the tenants and that the tenants won’t have a say in anything. During the meeting Cherry Cove said they would remove things from tenants’ yards if they didn’t want these things there. In other words, Cherry Cove is now going to steal tenants’ belongings! They wouldn’t even let tenants speak at the meeting. They told them to write their questions down on index cards (so, Cherry Cove could censor which questions to answer) or send an email, which Cherry Cove ignores. The only emails they answer are questions having to do with making lot rent payments. Other emails, such as maintenance requests, are ignored. Like many landlords, Cherry Cove only cares about money and power. I hope the tenants will find a way to fight back. They need a lawyer.