What happens when you own a mobile home and lease the land it sits upon, but the owner of the entire property decides to close the park? That’s what the County Planning Commission discussed on Wednesday afternoon, when they were presented a new set of rules designed to protect mobile home park residents by forcing park owners who close to pay for, among other things, relocation expenses.
Though the county had adopted some changes suggested during the original public hearing on November 15, many mobile home owners still weren’t happy, arguing that the new ordinance should further protect the “in-place market value” of their homes in the event they are not able to move.
Some residents, fearing that they may lose 80 percent of their equity should a park sale occur — for instance, a mobile home may be worth only about $40,000, but the value of it in a well-located park could be closer to $300,000 — are already looking to sell their homes, expecting that the ordinance will pass. They’ve pointed to ordinances approved in other jurisdictions as evidence that the county could do more to protect their interests.