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Trailer park residents get heave-ho By TONY BOOM ASHLAND - Sandy Burke hadn't repaired the gas heater in her mobile home because she was pretty sure she'd be forced to move from the Lower Pines trailer park. Her premonition came true Friday when she and 10 other residents received notice they would have to leave the park in one year. "I've put thousands of dollars into this old trailer. I spent $5,000 in one year alone in plumbing and bathroom work," said Burke. She is likely to lose her investment because the trailer is too old for newer parks and too big for older parks. She's also not eligible for up to $3,500 in relocation assistance required by state law for notices of less than a year. Burke, who receives $314 a month from a disability claim, will use her oven to heat the trailer this winter. She may need to pay about $500 to have the trailer dismantled next year if she can't move it. The park's demise appeared likely in January, when owners Adams Group LLC and Galpin LLC planned to sell the 1651 Ashland St. park to Premier West Bank. The bank dropped its plan in February after low-income housing advocates decried the sale. Galpin LLC sold Lower Pines to Web Title LLC on Oct. 30. Web Title representative attorney Carlyle Stout III, of Medford, sent the rental termination notices to the park's residents. He said the company plans to convert the site to other uses, and several options are being considered, none of which he would specify. Stout would not name principals of the company, which registered with the Oregon Corporation Division in October. Names of principals do not need to be disclosed for state records until the company files its first annual report in October 2002. Web Title's action came less than two weeks before the city will consider an ordinance that would require landowners to help pay relocation and other expenses for displaced mobile home park residents. The city's housing and planning commissions will meet in a joint study session on Tuesday to consider an ordinance on the sale or closure of mobile home parks in the city. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. in City Council chambers. Under the proposal, the sale or conversion of a mobile home park to another use would require public notice to the city and park residents. The planning commission would hold a public hearing. A study of the closure's impact on residents and the city's stock of affordable housing would be required. In addition, residents could form an association to bid for the park. The draft ordinance also would require the applicant to pay relocation and other expenses for displaced tenants, or $5,000, which ever is less. If a home could not be relocated, the tenant would receive $5,000. "It's a way of leveling the playing field for mobile home residents," said Rich Rohde of Oregon Action, which supported and helped draft the ordinance. "The existing law is hugely slanted in favor of (park) owners and developers. "No other city in Oregon has something like this. The concept of making the owner responsible for some relocation costs and notification of sale with opportunity for tenants to purchase already exist in Oregon law, but are not strong enough to work. This proposal makes the existing Oregon statues fairer." Reach Ashland bureau reporter Tony Boom at 482-4651, or e-mail tboom@mailtribune.com |
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