BITTER FEUD IN SWEETWATER

From the Press of Atlantic City, July 9, 2010-Lee Procida, Staff Writer

"Sweetwater Haven" becomes an ironic name as civil war engulfs Atlantic County lagoon community.

Sweetwater Haven is a lagoon community at the northern tip of the township, secluded by pine forest near a bend on the Mullica River, where some of the region's wealthiest residents once held community barbecues and bonfires and waved to each other from their yachts and waverunners.

But an ugly inter-household legal battle has made homeowners choose sides and has divided the community. Friends have become enemies, neighbors heckle each other as they paddle their kayaks through the canals and accusations of harrassment fly.

"When this is done, no one's going to put their arm around each other and say, ‘Well, it's over,'" said Gary Pieper, a 27-year resident, during a recent afternoon on the deck of his Venice Avenue home. "It's gotten personal. It's a shame."

The litigation involving seven residents is a tangle of legal accusations and interpretations of the law centered on the homeowners association.

The group of plaintiffs alleges that the association's former trustees dissolved the association years ago to benefit themselves but carried on normal business as an illegitimate body. The accusers want the association reformed and its by-laws changed to make sure it can regulate only the community waterways.

One person outside the suit who has watched the situation devolve into a civil case before Atlantic County Superior Court Judge William Todd explained what is going on fairly simply: Many of the people who live there are used to getting what they want - and they don't like it when they don't.

"We got a situation where we have a lot of strong personalities," said Lawrence Thomas, a 16-year resident of Quartermaster Court. "And you've got a group of people trying to assert their will on another group of people."

Not all of the 33 homes in Sweetwater Haven are directly involved, but everyone has an opinion.

"The majority of the people just want it back to normal," Pieper said.

About a shed

Most of the residents living along the development's five rows of cul-de-sacs trace the start of the disagreement back two years to Quartermaster Court, a street where the average home value is more than $286,000 - expensive for Mullica Township - and each backyard has a private pool next to its dock.

In 2001, Susan Berntheisel and Frederic Carlton bought a home on the corner, and in 2004 they bought the house next door as an investment. That second house was adjacent to Ralph and Donna Leek's, a wealthy family with long ties to the region.

Ralph Leek's father, Jack, founded local boat builder Ocean Yachts, giving his son an executive position. The family has long been involved in the community: Ralph Leek served as president of the Mullica Education Foundation, and his parents hosted community fireworks shows.

Carlton said the Leek home on Quartermaster Court had a shed sitting on his new property, and when he purchased the place he asked if he could move it off so he could resell the property later. He said that started animosity between the two families.

Ralph Leek said he has never understood why the two families had any issues, saying his family is well-known for being generous volunteers throughout the area and helping their neighbors.

"I really don't know where our relationship went wrong," he said. "I've always been baffled by it."

Association dissolved

Carlton said the shed issue set the atmosphere for the lawsuit, which he said stemmed from a simple question at an association meeting about two years ago. Berntheisel asked what type of entity the group was, and when they did not get a straight answer, they did some research.

They said they found that the trustees had dissolved the corporation, inadvertently endangering the community's riparian grant, a state permit that gives them access to the river. The trustees then formed a new group later, but in the meantime they continued collecting $250 annual dues and enforcing the development's by-laws.

"They were just doing whatever they wanted to do," Berntheisel said.

Berntheisel and neighbors Patricia Hayes and Larry Borowec decided to file suit against the Leeks, plus former trustees Gennaro Schiavo Jr. and Brent Lilliston.

"The plaintiffs' opinion is that the defendants have breached their duties as trustees and have put all of our ownership rights in the waterways and riparian grant in jeopardy," states a letter they sent to all the community members last summer, "as well as exposing us to personal liability resulting from third-party lawsuits as a result of improperly dissolving the original Corporation."

They seek an explanation for the dissolution of the association, an accounting of the former group's assets and prevention of the Leeks from building any sort of dock or bulkhead in the canal without formal group permission.

They also want the association reformed, but with limits, so that it would focus strictly on the neighborhood waterways instead of policing the appearance of private property. Mediation between the two sets of neighbors did not resolve the issue, and they have a hearing with Todd scheduled next week.

"We believe we have the documentation to support our position," said the Leeks' attorney, David Patterson.

"It seems like the majority of people are quite happy there, and we're trying to resolve this issue as quickly as we could," said the other defendants' attorney, Samuel McNulty.

Letter campaign

In June, Musket Lane resident Stephen Cors, a resident since 1995 and former association trustee, wrote a letter to the surrounding homeowners, attacking the plaintiffs and raising a call-to-arms for his neighbors to send letters to Todd explaining their point of view on the situation.

"Maybe it is too much to ask to think that everyone would get along and respect one another like good neighbors, but I see no good reason for the majority of us to not stand up and say enough is enough," he wrote. "We want our community back."

Several listened.

"Our once friendly, quiet, feel-good neighborhood has now become what can best be described as a battleground, pitting plaintiffs against defendants in what we believe has turned into unwarranted, needless and costly litigation that in the end will have served no purpose whatsoever," Pieper wrote in June. "In addition, it is a pure and unmitigated waste of our court's time."

"We feel there is absolutely no need for this dissension, and it is absolutely unnecessary," Schooner Lane resident Ronald Rothman wrote.

On a recent sunny afternoon, Thomas motored his boat through the canals, pointing out different homes along the way to explain his neighbors' points of view on the situation.

Sprinklers saturated well-manicured lawns, and speedboats sat docked near tiki bars. A yacht sat outside the $500,000 home the Leeks built and moved into on the other side of the community.

He said everyone in Sweetwater Haven seems to have a strong opinion one way or the other, although he said he was neutral. He saw people who were close friends become enemies when they disagreed over who was right and who was wrong.

"I just don't get it," he said.

Several residents said they are worried about their home values decreasing if word of the situation gets out. There are few homes for sale, and they worry the dissension could scare away potential buyers.

Back at his Quartermaster Court house, Carlton finished leafing through a box of paperwork documenting the fight's legal history and walked onto his deck, where the sunshine glistened off his kayaks sitting out back.

"By the way," Carlton said, "it's a beautiful place to live."