Wabanaki’s Website Prompts Ownership Questions

Freedom—October 7, 2026—Until it was taken down last week, Wabanaki Campground’s website stated that the business had “successfully transitioned” from a public campground to a “private cooperatively owned community.”

“The land, beach, docks, and facilities are now collectively owned and maintained by a dedicated group of families,” and access to the property is “strictly reserved for our co-owners,” the website stated. “We thank you for respecting our privacy,” it concluded.

Wabanaki applied to the N.H. Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau in January, 2024, for approval to sell cooperative shares of the property to campers under the provisions of N.H. RSA 356-A. The application process stalled and was never completed, according to the Bureau.

Asked about the website’s claims, campground manager Mark Salvati said he is “not currently pursuing cooperative approval.”

Asked if that meant there was no property agreement with campers, he said the question was “irrelevant.”

“The type of ownership would not change the number of users or the impervious,” he said, referring to two of the property’s environmental metrics under scrutiny by Freedom officials.

Mr. Salvati said the campground’s website was “outdated” and he would take it down. It was removed last Wednesday.

HOA Questions
Wabanaki Campground Conversion LLC owns the campground, according to the Carroll County Registry of Deeds. The legal entity was established in 2023 with Mark Salvati as manager.

While Wabanaki Campground Conversion LLC is billed for property taxes, three of the four most recent town tax bills were paid by entities stated to be HOAs. HOA is an acronym for homeowner association.

The July bill for property taxes was paid by Wabanaki Campground Cooperative HOA. The three previous property tax bills were paid by Wabanaki Campground Conversion HOA, Wabanaki Campground Conversion LLC, and Wabanaki Campground HOA, according to town records.

Mr. Salvati did not respond to a request to comment on what the homeowner associations are and why they are paying Wabanaki’s property taxes.

Questions about the website and the apparent existence of HOAs come as Freedom seeks to resolve the property’s environmental and zoning issues. A change in the property’s ownership structure could potentially affect responsibility for the compliance process.

In January, the town said it would provisionally forgo taking legal action against the business after it agreed to pay $137,000 in fines. The town said if it were forced to litigate the campground’s violations it would seek to collect more than $700,000 in fines.

Town Counsel cautioned that paying the fine did not “validate or authorize the continued existence of any structure.” Toward that, the town required Wabanaki to produce two plans for review by the Planning Board.

An “existing conditions” plan and a “stormwater management” plan were to be completed by February 26 in time for submission to the Planning Board for its March 19 meeting. Those deadlines were missed.

Wabanaki has submitted several iterations of the two plans to the Select Board to date. The plans are under review for compliance. No plans have been submitted to the Planning Board.

In response to a question about compliance, Mr. Salvati said he is “the sole manager of the LLC that owns the land, so am the responsible party for all matters with the town and the state.”