ORANGE — Residents of the Leisure Woods Estates mobile home park seem satisfied with the increased monthly lot fees approved by the Rent Control Board on Tuesday, saying the forthcoming new figures are fair to them and the park’s owners.

The $398 monthly fees will jump by about $52 for one year starting Dec. 1 and by an additional $50 beginning Dec. 1, 2025. Glenn Gidley, the principal owner of Leisure Woods Estates Inc., and his son Adam had petitioned the board to be allowed to charge tenants $588 per month – a 43% increase. The board took its unanimous vote during the fourth portion of a public hearing held on the matter, and park residents were relieved a middle ground was found.

“It’s tough to have an increase, but we’re all dealing with it in our lives, all of us, whether it’s your groceries, your gas, whatever,” said Jim McIntosh, who has lived at Leisure Woods Estates for 12 years. “They’re stretching it over two years, is what they’re doing. And we can’t ask for more than that.”

Donna Britt, who has lived in the park for 20 years, said she thinks the amount agreed to will be manageable for most residents. She said she enjoys calling the property her home.

“We have good neighbors,” she said. “It’s a nice, quiet area.”

The new fee amounts do not include a $12 monthly tax collected by Leisure Woods and paid to the town. With the tax included, the impact on the tenants is $462 per month in the first year and $512 in the second year.

“We hope this proposal, which falls short of attaining fair net operating income in year 1 but exceeds it in year 2, will satisfy Leisure Woods’ request for a rent increase and will put them on a course for reasonable future increases, while not overly burdensome for Leisure Woods tenants,” Board Chair Jane Peirce read from a prepared statement. The board is rounded out by Peirce’s fellow Selectboard members Andrew Smith and Julie Davis.

John Kuzinevich, the Gidleys’ attorney, wrote in a letter to the board that his clients need to recoup $40,650 spent on inspections and increased professional fees mandated by the Orange Board of Health. In addition, the town has increased the park’s assessed valuation. In an email to the Recorder on Wednesday, Kuzinevich said his clients are awaiting the board’s official written decision before deciding a course of action.

“The property owners wish to thank the board for all of the time it devoted to the matter,” he wrote.

He had previously told the Recorder that last year, the Gidleys had a $16,000 return for the entire 72-acre park at 519 East River St., which Leisure Woods Estates purchased on Dec. 1, 1977. He said his clients needed an increase to account for the current economic climate and inflation.

The monthly fees cover the right to have a modular home on a plot of land. Checks are made out to Leisure Woods Estates but sent to Salem Manufactured Homes, which Glenn Gidley runs in Salem, New Hampshire. Residents then separately pay a mortgage broker for their home.

The town’s Mobile Rent Control Board bylaw was adopted at a 1986 Special Town Meeting and allows the board to regulate rents “so as to remove hardships or correct inequities for both the owner and tenant of such mobile home accommodations.” The bylaw also states that adjustments may be made — either upward or downward — to levels that “yield to owners a fair net operating income for such units.”

The most recent public hearing had been held on Aug. 14.

Outlining the company’s payroll requests — which over the last five years had steadily increased from $70,000, to $92,000, to $94,000, and eventually $141,000 — Peirce asked if the increase accounted for the addition of a new employee. In response, Glenn said the increase accounted for his son Adam’s salary for his role as a park manager, stating that the business did not have funds to pay him.

Tuesday’s session was initially slated for Sept. 11 until it was rescheduled. The other sessions had been on July 16, which was continued from the initial meeting on June 11.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.