Webster campground residents "have nowhere to go" after judge rules area uninhabitable
WEBSTER – Packing up with nowhere to go, year-round residents at the Webster Family Campground have until Wednesday night to leave the property after a judge ruled that the campsite is uninhabitable.
"It's a home. We're a community," resident Danielle White told WBZ-TV.
A judge sided with the town, which complained of unsanitary conditions at the campground. The decision gave residents like White just 48 hours to leave.
"I've called every campground from Maine, New Hampshire," White said. "They're all booked for the season. We're at October almost. We have nowhere to go."
Campground owner Michael Finamore said he's in a tough spot having to evict roughly 30 of his customers. One has been living at the campsite for 23 years. Others have children in the Webster school system.
"Why do the have to get out if they have a safe, clean, friendly environment?" Finamore said.
But the town and judge see things differently, citing several violations from unregistered campers to sewage and/or gray water observed at multiple campsites.
"There's no raw sewage," White said. "We haven't had any issues here. At all."
Time is ticking for several families. One, who didn't want to be identified, has been living at the campground for two and a half years and is now being forced out.
"We're both missing work trying to pack up and clean up everything when the time comes, but we don't know – we don't have anywhere to go," he said.
About a dozen of Finamore's customers have left, some even deserted their campers.
Even though the judge ruled that it's the campground owner's responsibility to provide alternate housing for these families, others are still scrambling to figure out the next steps.
"We don't have a choice but to stick around. We don't have anywhere to go, we don't have financial means," one resident said. "I just made our rent Thursday and we're told Friday we have to go?"
The judge ruled that Finamore can open up the Webster Family Campground seasonally, only in the summer months, pending inspections.
