Moss Spring Estates residents take developer to court
By PAT FRIDGEN Echo Pilot

A judge in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas was to rule yesterday on a preliminary injunction granted to residents of Moss Spring Estates March 13.

Fourteen families living in Phase I of the Planned Residential Development in Greencastle, through attorney Paige Macdonald Matthes, entered an emergency motion to Judge Richard J. Walsh for a preliminary or special injunction against Frank Plessinger and his company, P&W Excavating, Inc., both of McConnellsburg. The request asked for a block on the creation and/or enforcement of final plans for Phase IIA of the neighborhood in which they live.

Walsh ruled last Thursday that developer Plessinger must cease and desist any further development in Phase IIB that fails to conform to the ordinances of the borough of Greencastle. Plessinger also could not enforce the Phase IIA PRD terms and conditions against the single family lots within the borough. The ruling also stated Plessinger could not enforce the deed of covenants, conditions and restrictions for the Moss Spring Homeowners Association, including holding meetings, collecting dues or electing

officers.

Walsh instructed the plaintiffs to post a $10,000 bond and set a hearing for Tuesday afternoon on the matter.

The residents hired Macdonald Matthes from the law firm Serratelli, Schiffman, Brown and Calhoon in Harrisburg to represent them on a complex issue that involves a development situated in both Greencastle and Antrim Township.

Not interested

Residents of Moss Spring Estates first became aware of their alleged membership in the PRD and its inherent HOA in December 2006 when they received a letter from Plessinger's attorney. Ed Wine from Dick, Stein, Schemel, Wine and Frey explained that Phase I was part of a three-phase PRD for Plessinger.

Moss Spring Estates consists of three sections. Phase I is made up of single-family homes and is located in the borough of Greencastle. Phase II and Phase IIA consist of villas and are located in Antrim Township. Phase IIB is also in the township but has not been approved. Wine notified the homeowners that when Plessinger built the villas, he submitted a PRD zoning format to the township.

Because a PRD requires a mix of different housing types, he wrote that in order for that mix to be obtained, the township required the Phase I lots be included in the PRD and that a homeowners association be established. He said the Phase I lots were designated on the Phase IIA Final Plan as part of the PRD. He referred to a Declaration of Covenants recorded May 15, 2001, in Franklin County.

That declaration was filed in the Recorder's Office, signed by realtor Peggy Hays and Plessinger. It said the HOA would maintain screenings, sidewalks, common open space, streetlights, private rights-ofway, mowing and snow removal.

It also stated every lot owner (villa owners), was subject to a $60 monthly assessment. It said assessment notices would be sent to every villa owner. The lots subject to the plan included 40 single-family homes, two retention basins, 135 villas, and six open spaces.

The news surprised the neighbors, some of whom had lived in their homes for five years. Nowhere in the sales agreements or title searches did evidence of an HOA surface, they said. Residents approached both the Greencastle Borough Council and the Antrim Township Board of Supervisors last spring seeking a way out of the HOA.

Previous borough manager Kenneth Myers said at the time that the streets in Phase I were dedicated to the municipality. Council minutes from 1998 to 2002 contain several comments from borough solicitor David Wertime that the borough had no PRD ordinance.

Township zoning officer Angela Garland said last year that any PRD must have an HOA but the township had no authority over the borough section of Moss Spring Estates.

At a special meeting Jan. 14, 2008 the borough voted to investigate forms of litigation which could be pursued against Plessinger