Mold closes clubhouse at seniors community

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Mold closes clubhouse at seniors community

Press of Atlantic City - Atlantic City,NJ*

By ELAINE ROSE Staff Writer, 609-272-7215

Published: Thursday, March 27, 2008

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/179/story/116853.html

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP - The residents of the Four Seasons 55-and-older

community have a beautiful clubhouse with an indoor pool, a fitness

center, a ballroom and a fireplace.

Too bad they can't use it.

The clubhouse closed Feb. 24, and is now surrounded on all sides by

plastic sheeting as contractors work to fix damage caused by a water

leak, said resident Dan Prado. Workers hired by the developer, K.

Hovnanian of Red Bank, came to check out the problem.

" When they opened up the walls, it was loaded with mold, " Prado said

Wednesday. " They found the wood was all starting to come apart. "

Residents are asking the township to intervene and force Hovnanian

to fix the damage before the clubhouse is turned over to the

homeowners association and they become responsible for what they say

is the developer's shoddy work.

Nick Russo spoke up at Tuesday night's Township Council meeting to

say there is a serious problem with mold in the clubhouse and that

he saw beams in deplorable condition. He asked township officials to

make sure that

repairs are done properly.

The contractor was advised to get building permits so the township

could inspect the work, township Manager Jill Gougher replied.

Prado said he and resident Marty Horak, editor of the community's

unofficial newsletter, met Monday with Gougher and the supervisor of

code inspectors. It was then they learned Hovnanian did not have a

building permit to do the repair work.

The township issued a stop-work order, and construction has ceased,

Prado said. He was shocked that a builder the size of K. Hovnanian

apparently didn't know they needed a building permit to do work on

such a large scale.

Hovnanian spokesman Doug Fenichel said Wednesday that the company

initially believed there was only a minor water leak in the

clubhouse, but later learned there was more water intrusion than

originally thought and also a problem with mold.

" We brought in the big guns, used infrared cameras and that sort of

thing to track the moisture, " Fenichel said.

Wherever the crew found moisture, they treated for mold, Fenichel

said.

Hovnanian was about a week to 10 days away from completing the work

when the township requested they stop and allow inspectors, Fenichel

said.

Complaints about drainage and other issues at Four Seasons have been

ongoing since the first model homes opened in 1997.

In November 2003, residents staged a protest in front of the sales

office to say that drainage and landscaping issues had not been

addressed.

The township intervened in 2006 and said it would not give Hovnanian

new building permits until the problems were fixed. A resolution to

withhold bond payments was rescinded after the state Department of

Community Affairs said the Township Council overstepped its

authority.

Prado, a three-year resident of Four Seasons, said he first noticed

the clubhouse problem about two years ago.

" I went to the clubhouse one day after it had rained very hard and

the whole corridor was flooded, " Prado said. " The carpet was sopping

wet and there was water all over. "

A maintenance man was vacuuming up the mess and said he would suck

up 40 or 50 gallons of water after every heavy rain, Prado said.

A member of the maintenance committee at the time, Prado said he

examined the building and saw that the foundation wasn't graded

properly, which allowed the water to flow inside.

Prado said he brought the problem to the attention of a Hovnanian

manager, who insisted that it was only a matter of mulching, Prado

said.

He went to the board of trustees of the homeowners association,

Hovnanian management and township officials, but no work was done

for two years, Prado said.

The mold was discovered about six weeks ago, and Hovnanian workers

began to investigate, Prado said.

But residents are still waiting for test results on the mold that

was found in the building, as some forms are relatively harmless and

others can be deadly, Prado said. Some residents have spent many

hours in the clubhouse and don't know what they were exposed to.

" What is so upsetting is the total disregard K. Hovnanian has for

our health, " Russo said Wednesday. " They can't claim ignorance on

this. As a builder, they know how debilitating mold allergies and

reactions to mold can be, especially on seniors. "

To e-mail Elaine Rose at The Press:

ERose@...