Sunrise residents plan protest picket

DINGMAN - Residents are going to be picketing the management office at Sunrise Lake this week and every weekend until some operating changes are made, according to one resident. Three-year Sunrise resident Diana Margiore says development management’s announcement that the community pool would not open this year has been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Margiore said she called co-owner Bill Ramagosa after hearing of the decision and asked to discuss the decision. “He told me ‘that’s my business. The pool is not opening,’” she recalled. Ramagosa was unavailable for comment at press time. She was told that the man-made lake, which has algae growth requiring ongoing treatment measures by Department of Environmental Protection staff, has problems and needs repairs related to the dam. But Margiore said Ramagosa had pledged that the pool would be open in a letter soliciting annual dues from residents. She said about half of the residents paid before word leaked out that the pool would not open. Margiore said the pool is an amenity guaranteed in her deed. “He’s just breaking the deed,” she charged. Margiore said Ramagosa would be forced to change his marketing brochures. “He can’t advertise a pool and tennis. The pool is closed and there is no tennis. It would be fraud.... He’s taken away every amenity,” she charged. “This is all in addition to the fact that we have no police protection. The state police won’t come here.” She recounted a recent accident where several youths rolled a car over near her home. There were no injuries, but Margiore said state police declined to respond after two separate requests. A spokesman for the state police at Blooming Grove said troopers do respond to criminal law violations in Sunrise and other private communities, but because the roads are private property, not state or township highways, state traffic laws cannot be enforced. Margiore said Sunrise’s combination of safety and quality of life issues has made it difficult to sell and recover an investment, “unless we wait deceive buyers in the dead of winter.” Margiore says the protesters have notified local realtors and that potential new buyers will get a better idea when they see the pickets and their signs. “It’s not okay to change the rules in the middle of the game,” she said.