The Town of Peterborough seeks to levy hefty fines for zoning and code violations against former Walden Eco Village landlord Akhil Garland and the Garland Family Realty Trust. The town filed its own suit against Garland in May, several months after Garland blamed the town for the December 2020 eviction of all 25 tenants at the Walden Eco Village in a separate, ongoing suit that several evicted tenants filed against Garland and his associated business and land trust in December.
The mass eviction followed a site inspection that revealed a number of permit and safety violations on the site, which was comprised of rental cottages as well as tiny houses, whose tenants accessed kitchen and bathroom facilities in a separate, communal building. Peterborough officials determined that eight of 15 total rental units were missing building permits, and other permitted structures were operating beyond their permitted use. Garland initially applied to subdivide and construct more residences on the site last summer, which prompted the inspection. The subdivision application is still in process with the Peterborough Planning Board.
In a complaint filed on May 27, the town detailed how the cabins and tiny houses on the Eco Village property violate 15 specific town and state ordinances and codes, a list also issued to Garland in a Cease and Desist order on April 20. “To date, those violations continue unabated,” the complaint read.
“The Defendant is subject to a fine of $275 for each of the offenses … and they are subject to fines of $550 for every day each of the offenses has continued since receiving the Town’s April 20, 2021 Notice of Violation/Cease and Desist Order,” the complaint read, citing state ordinance.
Tuesday, July 13 marks 84 days since the first order.
Peterborough’s lawyers did not respond to a request to clarify how that civil penalty schedule squares with the town giving Garland until September to apply for a variance from the ZBA to continue using the property, as per the April notice.
Garland has not yet applied for a variance from the ZBA, Town Planner Danica Melone confirmed, but is still moving forward with an Open Space Residential Development application to increase the number of buildings on site.
Although the Eco Village buildings have been unoccupied since December, they don’t have to be occupied to violate the zoning ordinance, Town Administrator Nicole MacStay said.
In March, Garland’s representatives succeeded in bringing in the Town of Peterborough as a third party in a suit former tenants filed against Garland’s associated business and land trust in the days following the eviction. Garland claimed that Peterborough’s decision to evict the tenants was “unreasonable and unlawful,” and therefore the town, rather than Garland, was responsible for their damages.
In May, the Hillsborough County Superior Court awarded $5,829 to four former tenants for costs they incurred due to the abrupt eviction. A hearing on the case’s class action status was rescheduled to October from July.