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Families Forced To Move From Retirement Community Children Discovered Living In Berkeley Home, Association Wins In Court
By Bill McLaughlin
BERKELEY - Two families living in Silver Ridge North retirement community, Berkeley Township, will soon have to move for failing to comply with the rules and regulations of the senior only association.
A message went out to underage residents of the over-55 communities at the end of September when a long, contentious court battle was won by the residents' association.
Silver Ridge North association president Helene Frishman said the court case involved a family named Brennan who had a 10-yearold grandchild living with them.
"They asked permission and we had to say no because it contradicts our charter," Frishman said Friday following a meeting of the senior coalition of Silver Ridge and Holiday City associations.
As a result, the family must im- mediately seek to find a fair-market buyer for their home and move before next June.
The association had been told that a child had been living in the home and that the little girl's father would come and take her to school. The father lived in Toms River. Attempts to reach the Brennans for comment were unsuccessful.
"She had only been there a short time," the association president said. "But they asked that she be allowed to stay."
When the association refused, about 15 months ago, the grandparents sued. Toms River lawyer Nick Acocelli defended the association's position that a senior community is what its title entails.
"Silver Ridge is a senior community, they knew that when they moved in," Frishman said. "We cannot tolerate minor children in Silver Ridge North."
All over-55 communites operate on an 80-20 basis; that is, in any any household at least 80 percent of the domicile's residents must be of age in the age-exclusive subdivision. No one under 55 is allowed to own property in a senior community, and heirs of deceased seniors are given a specified time to dispose of the property to settle the estate.
The 20 percent allows for live-in caretakers, underage spouses and children over 18.
There have been a number a number of instances where a senior home owner has died and an underage spouse was forced by the association covenant to sell out
and move.
"You have to understand," Frishman said. "People move here for the quiet and serenity. They have raised their children, worked a lifetime. They don't want to live with minor children. That's why they choose to live in a retirement community."
Frishman said the association would not have fulfilled its duties by looking the other way, or by condoning the underage children. In fact, coalition members have identified nine such children just in Holiday City and Silver Ridge.
Frishman said the order by Superior Court Judge Vincent J. Grasso instructs the homeowner to sell by next May 15. If not, the association "will take action," in Frishman's words.
After the first child was discovered in the development, Frishman said, an anonymous call of a second underage resident was given to an association member.
"In the Brennan case, after the anonymous phone call, we had to do some detective work and start our own surveillance," she said.
That family has agreed to move, the association learned. In the first case, the association made sure of its facts before moving to oust the family.
"At 7 a.m. on school days, we saw a child in a school uniform leave the home. Her father works nights and lives elsewhere. He would come to take her to school."
The basis of the lawsuit was a challenge to the 20 percent rule, Frishman said. But the law backed the association covenant which specifically ruled out minor children living within the Silver Ridge community.
Senior communities throughout Ocean County are mobilizing for a fight to preserve their exclusive charters, getting the help of state legislators to fashion a bill that would spell out exactly what over-55 housing means.
That bill was introduced last month and could come to a vote before the current legislature leaves for its holiday vacation.
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