COVER STORY : Rules Keep Mobile Home Park Tidy, Residents Happy

When Max Dunn and his wife decided 11 years ago to sell their three-bedroom house in Bellflower and buy a mobile home, they decided to move into Aztec Mobile Estates near the center of town.

“We looked around, but this was clean and nice and centrally located,” said Dunn, who is now the manager.

Bellflower officials, who recently inspected all 42 trailer parks in the city, say Aztec is still one of the best-run, best-looking parks.

The 70 mobile homes show no signs of disrepair. Shrubs are trimmed. Yards and patios are uncluttered.

And there are 11 pages of rules and regulations, which residents must sign before moving in, to ensure that the park stays tidy.

For example, fences can be no more than 3 feet high. Landscaping can’t have wood chips or artificial turf. Only patio furniture, bicycles and barbecue equipment are allowed outside the units. Such items as brooms, mops, tools, firewood and trash cans must be kept in storage sheds next to each mobile home.

No units may be rented, and guests may only stay 30 days a year.

Elaine Harper, who has lived there two years, said the rules are reasonable.

“As long as they let us have plants and flowers, I’m happy,” she said as she tended the roses, lilies, pansies and other flowers in front of her mobile home.