WESTMINSTER : Mobile Home Park Relocation Rules Due More Study

Mobile home park owners and residents faced off this week in the first public hearing about a proposed change in the compensation that must be paid to residents by owners who close parks.

The Planning Commission’s proposed revision of a city ordinance would give residents more protection in the event of an eviction, including payment by park owners of food and lodging expenses if residents must move. Owners would also have to pay the cost of moving the residents’ personal belongings.

After an hour of public discussion at a City Council meeting, during which both sides expressed dissatisfaction with the revised ordinance, the council voted unanimously to send the proposal back to the Planning Commission for more study.

“There are clearly some issues that need to be looked at,” said City Manager Bill Smith. Most importantly, the Planning Commission needs to come up with a way to appraise the value of homes deemed “unrelocatable” and decide how much park owners must pay residents for such homes.

Some officials, including Councilwoman Margie L. Rice, expressed frustration that no resolution was in sight although the issue has been before the council for more than two years.

“So much time and money has been spent . . . you could have bought a park,” Rice said. Ethel Hirsch, spokeswoman for Westminster Mobile Homeowners Coalition for Good Government, a residents’ organization, agreed.

“This has been going on for so long, and I think the park owners expected that we might just drop out of sight,” she said. “But we are not going anywhere.”