Melendy Pond

Melendy Pond - Brookline, NH

Melendy Pond

Protecting Homes, Rights, and Families

”We want to remove Melendy Pond low cost housing so they’re not a burden on the school or welfare system…We don't want them to have the same rights as the rest of town” Brookline Official

Discover the past, present and future for Melendy Pond residents

Residents at Melendy Pond own their homes on shared land - similar to a condo or mobile home park.

We’re organizing for lawful, fair, and humane treatment—without intimidation, retaliation, or exclusion.

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$2.1Million Homeowner compensation obligation eliminated by the Town — without a vote, hearing, or condemnation proceeding

6 Distinct constitutional and legal claims — each grounded in documented facts and established NH law

80+ Years of documented conduct — public records, meeting minutes, deeds, and statements by officials

Frequently Asked Question About Melendy Pond

Here are some of the questions residents have heard..

Do Melendy Pond residents pay taxes?

Yes — full property taxes are paid on the houses, including the school portion. Brooklines taxes are almost 9% higher than the state average, tearing down these homes would only increase property taxes for the town.
Why don’t they get services like schools or voting rights?

Lease terms explicitly prohibit residency to avoid granting access to those services, despite taxes being collected, claiming it would be a burden on the system. Homeowners meet the NH requirements for residency and voting.
The SAU41 Superintendent stated that any students from Melendy Pond would be prohibited from enrolling.
Homeless persons have more rights than homeowners on Melendy Pond
Why not just sell the land to them?

Residents have asked repeatedly. The town has refused or deferred without offering alternatives. Meanwhile subdivision plans have appeared with costs to turn the land into housing lots after the current homes have been removed.
Isn’t this just seasonal housing?

The “seasonal” restriction was added 20+ years after the homes were built. A note is that NH allows college students to use their dorm to register to vote, which is inherently seasonal.
Many of the homes in this region began seasonally and converted into full time homes.
What happens in 2032?

Unless policies change, homes will be demolished, and the land repurposed — all funded by the lease fees and taxes of the very people being evicted. Many families had passed these houses down through generations and planned to continue the trend, or retire here, and many have left as their dream was crushed.
How is the water quality? I’ve heard the septic systems are not up to state code

The state of NH did not have standards for septic systems until the 1970’s. These houses were built prior to that and water quality reports do not show the septic systems are affecting the pond in a negative way.
Approximately 523 or 30% of the homes in Brookline were built before this timeframe.
I heard there was a lot of crime and drug use there?

Police reports do not support this claim. Any activity is at least consistent with the rest of town, possibly even less.

The Problem - A brief overview

Initial land lease terms in the late 1940s offered perpetual renewals and were offered without residency restrictions. This offer compelled owners to build permanent homes in good faith. They were required to submit building plans and install septic systems.
Lease terms began attempting to restrict residency in the 1970s - Decades after the structures had been built on initial promises
2000’s plans appear to remove ~30 structures and develop the land into 11 building lots.
2000s - Officials claimed the intent was to remove the homes around Melendy Pond because they had become low cost housing and they didn’t want them to be a burden on the schools or welfare system, also that year stated that restricting school attendance could get courts to overturn this restriction and fear it would give all homeowners the same rights as the rest of town.
2019 - Community structure was altered and homeowner representation was removed
2018+ Actions appear designed to diminish property use and drive residents away without compensation for their homes.

These patterns raise concerns about fairness, transparency, and equal treatment for all residents.

See the Full History below

What This Is About

Property & Human Rights - Residents report treatment that undermine basic rights.

Fair Access to Services: Policies have been used to deny normal town services while still extracting fees and compliance.

Representation & Transparency: Decisions about Melendy Pond are made without residents input and limited oversight.

Housing Security for homeowners

The Goal:

Ensure fairness and longevity for the homeowners and that the Town of Brookline follows state and federal law

A Legacy of Leases, Legal Loopholes, and Systemic Exclusion

Melendy Pond History

The Deliberate Sequence

Each step below is sourced from public records, deeds, meeting minutes, or documented statements by town officials. No single action tells this story — the pattern only becomes visible across the full sequence.

For more than 70 years, generations of families have called Melendy Pond home.

Residents pay full property taxes, care for the environment, and invest in maintaining and improving their homes — without access to basic municipal services or equal civic rights.

Today, the Town of Brookline is moving forward with plans to remove these homes — and the lives built within them — by 2032, despite having no town vote or mandate to do so, reflecting an obvious bias against this community.

Current leases prohibit residents from voting in town, sending their children to local schools, receiving proper road maintenance, or securing the same recognition and protections other homeowners enjoy.

By these actions the town has created a separate class - homeowners with less rights than the homeless.

This section tells the real story of Melendy Pond — its past, present, and possible future — so the public can understand what is at stake and avoid decisions that could bring costly legal and community consequences.

Timeline:

DATE: 1949–1951

Original Framework — Resident Governance, Perpetual Renewals.
Brookline begins leasing land at Melendy Pond through the Melendy Pond Authority (MPA). Original terms required building plans and septic systems — consistent with permanent homes, not seasonal camps. No residency restrictions. Lease fees were set to cover property taxes and land maintenance.
1970: Town deeds the land to the Melendy Pond Authority, reinforcing the expectation of long-term use and stability for residents
1971/2: Melendy Pond Authority institutes residency restrictions.
1975: Melendy Pond Authority votes to double their own salary, evict a homeonwer for residency and hold the annual meeting in Switzerland.
1975-1980: The Melendy Pond Authority financial accounting dissapears. Federal funds were received and used together with MPA funds to purchase additional lot B94.
1990s: The town raises tax assessments based on “amenity value.” This is later overturned in Appeal of Beatrice Rice (NH Supreme Court). The town is forced to refund property taxes with interest, a decision that appears to spark ongoing retaliation from certain officials.
1990s–2000s: Pattern of retaliation toward residents emerges. By around 2009, Melendy Pond residents were not serving on the Melendy Pond Authority, contrary to provisions in the original deed.
1997 - NH House Of Representatives - Attempted to Retroactively Validate the MPA and Leases
1999 -NH House Of Representatives - Attempted to Retroactively Validate the MPA and Leases under HB-77 - Notable comments: “The MPA doesn’t currently exist”
2000: Subdivision Plans appear to show the desire to remove the ~30 homes and build 11 luxury lots.
2002: Brookline votes to phase out all leases, planning removal and demolition of homes by 2032 with no compensation or land ownership path offered.
2010: Town Official stated the intent was to remove the homes around Melendy Pond because they had become low cost housing and they didn’t want them to be a burden on the schools or welfare system.
2010: Internal acknowledgement that restricting school attendance could get courts to overturn this restriction and fear it would give all homeowners the same rights as the rest of town.
2014: A Town Employee warned that the leases were discriminatory.
2018: In a Selectboard non-public session, town officials discuss removing the Melendy Pond Authority (MPA) and restructuring governance over Melendy Pond. This secret meeting indicates that exclusion of residents from decision-making was considered before any public process began.
2018: Brookline holds a vote to dissolve the MPA and replace it with the Melendy Pond Management Committee (MPMC), appointed entirely by the Selectboard and prohibiting resident participation. Recorded statements from the process reflect bias, reinforcing concerns that the outcome had been predetermined prior to the vote.
2018: MPMC changes lease terms and begins charging above and beyond what would reasonably cover “property taxes and land maintenace”. Projections show the MPA profiting at least $500,000. Meanwhile MPMC officials refuse necessary road maintenance and use restricted funds for unauthorized purposes.
2020: Homeowners told emergency services would be denied
2023: Town Report States that the MPMC repaired Melendy Pond Rd, but this repair was not completed until August 2025. The town acknowledged in writing the repair was not completed in December of 2023 but published the false statements anyway.
2024: Brookline pays $610,000 settlement to Developers for housing discrimination based on School Burden Concerns. Case: “Brookline Opportunities”
2025: Town official states publicly: we can’t legally stop you from voting, but If you vote, we will evict you - raising real questions of voter intimidation & suppression.
2025: MPMC attempts to narrow the dead end access road from 25’ wide to 12-15’ ignoring the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standard of 20’ minimum. This would have impaired safe traffic flow. SEE NFPA Standards

A Future of Fairness - The Proposal:

Homeowners want equal rights and representation

Ensure equal rights to vote and access municipal services. Stop punishing families who have given so much — and simply want the dignity of rights and permanence.
Homeowners have been caring for the land for over 70 years

Without support from the town, residents have been caring for the land.
Melendy Pond Residents are FOR Brooklines future!

Residents are a part of the Brookline community and are supportive of its future.

What You Can Do

Vote YES on future articles supporting long-term ownership or fair lease extensions

Create a longterm lease or offer direct land ownership or condo style management to current lessees.
Speak Up at town meetings.

The residents of Brookline have a say in the future of the pond
Share This Site with friends, neighbors, and local officials.

The residents at Melendy Pond desire to see full transparency and equal rights
Stand with the families who built this community — and deserve a future here.

For over 70 years these families have been caring for the land without town support.

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