Rolling Valley Estates residents struggle with unstable water situation
Hazel Slagle has lived at the Rolling Valley Estates mobile home park in Connoquenessing Township for over three decades. For most of that time, she had few issues with the park.
That was until 2022, when the previous owners sold the development to property management company Stackhouse Management. Since then, she said, she and her neighbors have dealt with almost nonstop issues with their drinking water for roughly two years.
“These people are nothing but thieves,” Slagle said. “They’re here to take whatever money they can get.”
As early as 2025, and possibly earlier, residents of Rolling Valley Estates have reported frequent instances of receiving boil-water advisories, with the park’s supply of well water becoming contaminated and discolored.
“It destroyed my tub. It was so dirty and so full of iron I had to use S.O.S. pads,” Slagle said. “I cannot own white clothes. I’m not paying money for white clothes to have them destroyed.”
“The water was disgusting. It had an odor,” said Dawna VanTine, who has lived at Rolling Valley Estates since January 2016. “I had to replace the heating element in my water tank because of the water.”
The water situation escalated in September, when Rolling Valley Estates residents received a letter from Stackhouse Management informing them the park had been cut off entirely from its well water system due to elevated levels of the contaminant manganese.
“Recent water quality testing identified manganese levels above the applicable health-based limit in the community’s well water. As a result, a do not consume notice is being issued,” reads a letter obtained by the Butler Eagle from management to Rolling Valley Estates residents, dated Sept. 10.
In recent weeks, local and state authorities have placed additional pressure on Stackhouse Management to fix the water issue at Rolling Valley Estates. Starting Oct. 3, Connoquenessing Township began issuing fines of $500 per day to Stackhouse for each day water issues persist at the park.
“From our township’s standpoint, when we have residents contacting us on an almost daily basis that they continue to have water outages continuously ... that’s where our fines come in, because they are out of compliance,” Connoquenessing Township Supervisor Angela Fleeger said.
According to Tom Decker, regional communications director for the state Department of Environmental Protection, the department has issued three notices of violation related to Rolling Valley’s water issues. However, the department declined to comment on future enforcement actions.
In September, state Rep. Aaron Bernstine, R-8th, issued a public statement urging Stackhouse to correct the water situation at Rolling Valley Estates and its other properties, which also include Bernie’s Mobile Home Park in Winfield Township.
“This is not an isolated incident,” Bernstine wrote in a news release. “This pattern of violations at Stackhouse Management’s parks must cease.”
The water situation is only the tip of the iceberg for residents of Rolling Valley Estates. Residents have also seen rent increases since Stackhouse Management took control of the property.
“When I first moved in here, I only paid like $240 a month for rent,” VanTine said. “Now, I'm paying over $600 (a month) for rent, sewage, water and garbage. I’m 62 and on a very fixed income.”
A legal counsel from Stackhouse said the rent increases “comply with Pennsylvania law.”
“I’ve not heard anything that we’re not complying with those laws in what we’re doing. I understand why tenants are not happy about the lot rent, but it is what it is,” the legal counsel said.
Multiple residents of Rolling Valley Estates said no property managers are available on-site to address their ongoing concerns and their only communication with Stackhouse Management comes in the form of occasional emails or letters.
“The rules are now that you cannot talk to a live person. You have to leave a message,” said Rolling Valley resident Robert Tekac. “We don’t hear from them unless there’s an issue.”
Although well water is now inaccessible at Rolling Valley Estates, Stackhouse Management recently began delivering drinking water to residents in 5-gallon jugs. According to at least one resident, the water itself is coming from Lou Negley’s Bottled Water in Butler, which has provided donations of clean drinking water to residents of both Rolling Valley Estates and Bernie’s in the past.
An additional source of water comes in the form of two plastic white tanks which are filled multiple times per day by the Beaver Falls Municipal Authority. According to multiple residents, the water in the tanks is primarily meant for washing dishes and other purposes, not for drinking.
“It’s for flushing toilets, washing dishes, taking showers,” VanTine said. “You can’t drink it, though.”
“The permanent solution is not the water trucks,” Fleeger said. “The permanent solution is getting the filtration system fixed.”
The legal counsel of Stackhouse said problems at Rolling Valley date back to before the company took over management.
“It’s not like we bought it and then all of a sudden the water fell off a cliff,” the legal counsel said. “We’re doing what should have been done all along.”
The legal counsel also said the company is frustrated by delays in acquiring necessary permits for water infrastructure upgrades from the DEP and that attempts have been made by Stackhouse to hook up Rolling Valley properties to municipal water sources, but the company has “run into roadblocks” with local government.
“DEP continues to work through corrective actions with the operator to return the system to compliance, including issuing emergency permits for upgrades to the treatment facility and for interim bulk water hauling to be able to provide bottled water to residents,” Decker said.
According to multiple residents, the frequent water issues, along with rent increases and other concerns, have caused some to leave Rolling Valley Estates. When an Eagle reporter showed up at the park in early November, at least one trailer had a “for sale” sign nearby.
“There’s places here for sale now because of this ... going on,” Slagle said. “There’s been two or three people who I’m told have just packed up.”
“If people are thinking of coming to live here, I would advise them not to,” Tekac said.
