LEBANON — In January 2025, the Department of Planning and Development received a seemingly routine complaint: A tenant had no heat in apartment No. 6 in a building at 3 Campbell St.
But the complaint was curious to city officials because records indicated the building had just four apartments.
Now the building is one of three where the city alleges that developer Mike Davidson, who owns at least a dozen buildings in Lebanon and many more in surrounding communities, has built apartments without city approval.
In court documents filed in Grafton County Superior Court, the city alleges that Davidson failed to get necessary approvals for additional apartments at 3 Campbell St., 22 School St. and 18 Mahan St., where the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office is also investigating an environmental issue.
Davidson’s property management company, Ledgeworks, contends that city records are incomplete and the permitting process takes too long.
The city is asking the court to order Davidson to address any violations, acquire proper approvals and permits for the renovations, pay outstanding impact and permit fees and pay fines and attorney’s fees to the city.
3 Campbell St.
After receiving the January heat complaint, officials inspected 3 Campbell St., where records said there should have been four apartments and a commercial unit in the front house and five apartments in a second “carriage house,” according to court documents.
Instead, Lebanon’s Chief Building Official and Health Officer Leigh Hays found three extra unpermitted apartments in the front building, which sits across from Lucky’s Coffee Garage. The unit where the tenant lived had no heat and no emergency exit.
The city issued an order for the tenant to vacate until the issues which presented “clear and immediate dangers to the life and health of occupants” could be addressed, according to the order.
The city also issued two notices to Davidson for violations of the city zoning code and state building code, including a shortage of smoke detectors, hazardous windows, inaccessible electrical panels and junction boxes, and exposed and unsupported wiring.
22 School St.
In March 2025, the city received another heating complaint from a tenant living on the first floor of the apartment building in the former School Street School down the road. There weren’t city records of any apartments on that floor of the building.
In 2014, the Zoning Board of Adjustment gave Ledgeworks permission to use the School Street building for two apartments, a photography studio, a school and a basement with no apartments, according to records prepared by the Planning and Development Department for an April 6 Zoning Board of Adjustment, or ZBA, meeting.
Through inspections following the no-heat complaint, city officials found that without proper approvals Ledgeworks has built two more apartments upstairs and four more downstairs in the two-story building since 2014. Officials also found safety issues including non-functioning fire doors, emergency lighting and exit signs; inaccessible electrical panels and a shortage of smoke detectors.
Though the Planning Board approved a site plan for more units in 2018 and city officials issued a building permit for one apartment, they never issued a certificate of occupancy for the unit, Planning and Development Director Nate Reichert wrote in meeting materials.
The city further alleged in court records that the approval for the expansion expired in 2020 after Ledgeworks did not satisfy conditions of approval, pull building permits or secure a certificate of occupancy.
In an email, Ledgeworks Chief of Operations Tim Sidore maintained that the city approved the two upstairs apartments in 2017 and 2018 and these were permitted and inspected by city officials.
18 Mahan St.
In March 2025, city officials observed that a single family home at 18 Mahan St. had been split into a duplex and that the property still held an unpermitted contractor’s yard.
Though the city did not know about the duplex, which court records indicate has been there since at least 2006, the existence of the contractor’s yard was not entirely new to city and state officials.
In 2023, the nearby Mascoma River flooded the property, prompting a response from state and city officials who made note of the yard.
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services investigated the property and found oil sheens on flood water on the lot and “dozens of cans of paints, varnishes, lacquers, sealants, gasoline and unknown contents accumulated directly on the ground within the flooded area,” according to an order from the Department included in court records. The department ordered Ledgeworks to address eight hazardous waste violations in connection with the incident.
“We worked with local, state and federal officials to ensure proper remedy,” Sidore wrote in a Saturday email.
But the case remains ongoing. DES transferred it to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office in December 2024 “due to the severity of the violations” and for “failing to comply with the Order.”
The matter is still under active investigation, Michael Garrity, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office, said Friday.
Legal wrangling
The discovery of the unpermitted apartments and violations of the city’s Zoning Ordinance and state building and fire codes sparked a series of inspections and enforcement actions.
The process came to a head in October when the city, finding that Ledgeworks had not addressed the issues over the course of nine months, took the situation to Superior Court.
Lebanon filed a complaint against Davidson asking the court to order the company to retroactively get approvals from the Lebanon Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment, file building permits, and obtain certificates of occupancy.
The city also asked the court to fine Ledgeworks $275 per day per violation for the first offense and $550 for each subsequent offense per day per violation, as dictated in state law, and to require the company to pay Lebanon’s legal fees and costs.
Reichert declined to comment on the ongoing litigation last week.
“Because this remains an active matter, it would not be appropriate for staff to comment further on potential enforcement outcomes or to speculate on pending board deliberations,” Reichert wrote in an email.
In court records, the city maintains that the issue is a matter of public safety because the apartments do not have certificates of occupancy.
In response to questions about the ongoing litigation, Sidore alleged in a Saturday email that there have been “multiple instances” in which city records have been incomplete or misplaced.
“We have been working with the City staff and boards to update their files and correct any technical deficiencies regarding zoning approvals, etc,” Sidore said.
He also emphasized that the developer is working to “bring top-notch residences and work spaces to downtown Lebanon and other communities. We also stand by our forty-plus year track record of meeting or exceeding building and life safety codes.”
Outstanding issues
In November, the city and company agreed to resolve the outstanding issues, file appropriate permits with the city, take on the review process and, ultimately, secure certificates of occupancy for the apartments on Campbell Street and School Street by April 1, according to a stipulation agreement filed in court.
For 18 Mahan St., the developers contended that the duplex and contractor’s yard uses were grandfathered in and agreed to provide the city with proof. In an email, Sidore declined to explain or to provide this proof.
As of Monday, work to address the issues was ongoing. The court has not issued any final decisions in the case.
Ledgeworks has filed building permit applications for the Campbell Street building and is working with the city to complete the approval process, Tiffany Adams, executive assistant in the Planning and Development office, said Monday.
The company is also seeking city approval for the six unpermitted apartments at the School Street School and looking to build four more, for a total of 12. Ledgeworks needs a special exception from the zoning board to convert the formerly mixed-use building into a fully residential property.
“These apartments will bring needed housing options to downtown Lebanon in line with the Lebanon Downtown Vision Study,” Sidore wrote in a Zoning Board of Adjustment application.
The project needs approval from the ZBA and Lebanon Planning Board. But, the ZBA opted last week to put off its review after Planning and Development staff deemed the application incomplete for the fourth time.
Staff said the application was unclear and lacked information such as a construction timeline, according to meeting materials.
Ledgeworks was “puzzled” by the Zoning Board decision and the “numerous delays” the approval has faced, Sidore said in an email last Tuesday. He noted at the ZBA meeting that it has already taken “several months to get to this point.”
Court records indicate that Sidore filed a special exception application for the work in September, but the city deemed it incomplete.
The developer has provided updated site plans and analysis prepared by its architect, Sidore wrote. Plans don’t include exterior changes.
“It is frustrating to incur costly delays similar to those that previously derailed our plans, and it seems we are being held to the standard of an entirely new real estate development,” Sidore wrote in an emailed statement. “That said, we will continue to work with the staff and municipal leadership to bring this redevelopment project to fruition.”
Ledgeworks will calculate and pay any impact fees and water and sewer fees, including for the unpermitted apartments, after the Planning Board approves the project plan, according to the project application and as stipulated in court documents.
The Planning Board was scheduled to determine if the application is complete and start its own review of the project Monday, but this can’t happen until the Zoning Board approves a special exception for the project. It is expected to take up the review in May.
