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KICD: Spencer City Council Votes to Not Fully Restore Electricity to Local Trailer Park

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Spencer, IA (KICD)– The Spencer City Council met in special session Monday evening to hear an appeal from a local trailer park owner to have electricity fully restored to his property more than a year after it was turned off due safety concerns.

The appeal stems from a decision rendered earlier this year by the city’s Electrical Board that kept power from being fully restored to the trailer park on West 18th Street.

Attorney Anne Quail represented master electrician Lane Schindler and property owner Bill Caskey and asked that the original verdict be overturned citing a section of Iowa code that she says was not taken under...

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Our thoughts on this story:

What an obvious attempt by the city to try and shut down the trailer park:

Quail noted she understands that the city is wanting to improve the community but feels there is also a secondary motive in this case that involves officials wanting to do what they can to do away with the trailer park saying it is being treated differently than any other inspection, a claim the city denies.

And then when it looks like maybe the park owner may sue the city, they’re afraid to even vote:

An initial motion by Councilman Ron Hanson to take the information received under advisement with a decision as to whether or not to uphold the decision made by the Electrical Board at a later date ultimately died for lack of a second. Hanson later abstained from a second motion to stick with the original verdict that passed with four yes votes from the rest of the council.

If the facts of this case are as I suppose they are, I hope the park owner sues each and every one of these council members personally and individually and then we’ll see how much fun they’re having with their bullying.

Cape Gazette: ‘Donovan-Smith residents plead for help at public workshop

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Residents of the Donovan-Smith Manufactured Home Community had the first of two chances to tell Lewes city leaders what they think of proposed zoning changes that would bring their community up to code.

The Aug. 24 meeting was conducted in English with a Spanish interpreter.

Lewes Mayor Andrew Williams and city council members went over the ground rules and addressed the top six concerns they’ve heard from residents.

Next, City Planning and Building Manager Janelle Cornwell took the podium to explain definitions of terms like conditional use and text amendment, go over details of the proposed zoning ordinance and dispel rumors. It only...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Quick, somebody send a calculator to Lewes, Delaware – which owns this trailer park. Check this out:

The Lewes Board of Public Works is currently spending $5 million to connect Donovan-Smith to city water and sewer.

There are only 80 households in this park. And they’re going to spend $5 million of city money just to connect them to city water and sewer? That’s $63,000 per household!

For the love of heavens, just shut the park down, give the residents the $63,000 each, let them buy a better place to live (look at the photos) and demolish the property and sell it for development land.

Are the citizens of Lewes aware of what some virtue signaling idiots at the city are doing here? Because this is all really stupid.

The Press Democrat: ‘Where are we going to go?’: Cloverdale trailer park residents, some of them elderly and severely ill, face displacement

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Soul Cotton, 53, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer three months ago. He uses a walker to tread the gravel and dirt driveways of the makeshift trailer park where he’s lived the past six years.

Amid a ramshackle assemblage of recreational vehicles, trailer homes, auto parts and junk, Adrian Cholula Gonzalez, his wife, Yasmin Lara, and their autistic son also have put down roots here.

Elizabeth Peterson, 64, has lived here with her daughter for 12 years. Peterson, who has a medical condition that causes swelling in her left leg and limits her mobility, cares for her daughter, who suffered a traumatic brain injury as a child.

Along...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Nobody likes mobile home parks until they shut down – and then they suddenly love them. It’s like some country western song in which the spouse hated their significant other and then, once they leave, wants them back.

Daily Mail: Is this the most expensive trailer park home in the US? Humble 2,150 sq-ft house is listed for a record $4.4 MILLION in the Hamptons just 75 feet from the ocean

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A trailer park home set in the Hamptons has hit the market for an astonishing $4.4 million proving that location really is everything. 

Far from being trailer trash, the 2,150-square-foot dwelling, built in 2015, would set a 2023 record if it sells for the eye-watering price. 

Set within the Montauk Shores 'upscale' trailer park, the property commands a price that rivals that of luxury homes in the area. 

The two bedroom, two bathroom property sits just 75 feet from the Atlantic Ocean and the beach at Ditch Plains - a renowned surfing spot. 

'This outstanding modular home boasts two bedrooms and two bathrooms and is situated right next to...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Look at the photos. Look at the price. Is this not the most absurd waste of money yet at a time when America has an obsession with excess. Between spending millions to fly on Jeff Bezos’ rocket for a couple minutes or $500,000 to see the Titanic (that didn’t work out well) some of America’s top earners have a new pastime: outdoing the Jones’ by wasting more money than they do. Let’s be honest, this home is hideous. And nobody considers this location a surfing mecca. But it does allow you to tell your friends “hey, I own a $4.4 million mobile home on a beach” which will outdo the other guy that says “I own a $1 million coffee maker”

Marin Independent Journal: Dick Spotswood: Novato’s mobile park political malpractice was avoidable

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The recent Novato City Council meeting was a textbook example of political malpractice.

The issue was the potential sale of the Marin Valley Mobile Country Club. The facility consists of 325 manufactured homes owned and is occupied by 410 Novato residents . They are all over age 55 and 41% have low or very low incomes.

The balance is working folks who saved to buy a manufactured house on land owned by the city.

Events were precipitated by Marin County Civil Grand Jury’s report, “Novato’s Chronic Fiscal Deficits: A Call to Action.” It focused on the poor state of Novato’s fiscal management. The report was in part based on a misleading...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This is a hard article to understand. Why does Marin County own this mobile home park? How can they possibly be smart in not accepting a $30 million offer for it? Why would the offer constitute a doomsday scenario for the tenants?

Of course the answer is that people think that the county will charge less rent than the market supports, and in this way the county is effectively subsidizing the 400 residents, no different than doling out monthly checks to all of them.

But that then begs the question if Marin County is supposed to be benevolently giving away the tax money of all the other residents in the county without their knowledge or permission?

Obviously, the city should take the $30 million offer, let the new owner raise the rents to market levels, and stop trying to be Robin Hood. If it was their personal money they would be free to gift it, but I don’t think the taxpayers of Marin County have a clue what the bureaucrats are actually doing to them.

Peninsula Daily News: Sequim approves moratorium on manufactured home redevelopment

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SEQUIM — To help preserve manufactured home parks as more affordable housing options in Sequim, city council members recently enacted a six-month moratorium on redevelopment applications for those parks if it is for any project other than manufactured homes.

For the moratorium, city staff were directed to consider zoning options, such as a manufactured home overlay to protect park residents from potentially losing their homes in a redevelopment project.

Council members unanimously made the decision for a moratorium on Aug. 14 in response to continued concern from manufactured home residents about losing their homes to potential...

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Our thoughts on this story:

If the city refuses to let any mobile home park to be redeveloped into any other use – yet has no rent control – wouldn’t all of the park owners simply double or triple their rent to match any other development options? Every time bureaucrats think they’re making a virtue signaling initiative, it always backfires.

Daily Star: Inside celeb trailer park 'Paradise Cove' where Pamela Anderson lived in tiny home

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Across the US are tens of thousands of trailer parks offering low-cost housing to Americans and it's estimated that more than 20 million people are currently living in the mobile caravan sites.

But while they're traditionally seen as a more affordable way of living, one trailer park is so expensive, only the rich and famous can afford to live on the lavish site — and it's attracted celebs including Pamela Anderson and Matthew McConaughey.

Dubbed "America's most glamorous trailer park", Paradise Cove stretches across one of the most iconic beaches on the highly-sought after Malibu coast.

The private waterfront community has 265 trailers...

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Our thoughts on this story:

There’s a big correction needed to this sub-headline, shown below in GREEN:

Paradise Cover in Malibu has been dubbed 'America's most glamorous trailer park' and is loved by former A-list celebs including Pamela Anderson, Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Paulson

Have you ever been to Paradise Cove? I have. I’ve driven by it many times. It’s a classic trailer park, built in the 1970s. It looks like any other trailer park with old doublewides shoulder-to-shoulder. It has zero glamour and zero sex-appeal. It’s just a place where you live when you’re down on your luck as a former celebrity but can’t give up the Malibu address when you go to cocktail parties with other celebrities who don’t know you moved out of a real house yet.

I’m all for elevating the industry, but this type of article fools nobody.

Citrus County Chronicle: Vote no on glampground

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To develop a commercial RV Park and Glampground, large or small, in an environmentally sensitive area so you can offer an eco-camping experience to explain how “eco-sensitive the Ozello environment is” is confusing, to say the least.

Supporters of the proposed Ozello Fishcreek RV Park and Glampground often reference the historical development of the Ozello Fishcreek property and the mobile home/RV park that was there but not really. While there are remnants of previous developments, what isn’t present and is nowhere to be found is documentary evidence. A search of county and state records produced no building permits or licensing...

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Our thoughts on this story:

You gotta love the hypocritical nature of the woke community:

“To develop a commercial RV Park and Glampground, large or small, in an environmentally sensitive area so you can offer an eco-camping experience to explain how “eco-sensitive the Ozello environment is” is confusing, to say the least.”

Of course, you later learn that there was an RV park in that same location decades ago.

This is not a case of “saving the environment” but simply homeowners not wanting an RV park next to their homes but refusing to tell the truth and blaming it on their deep desire to save the planet.

Reasons to be Cheerful: ‘Their Voices Will Be Heard Now’: How a Colorado Community Preserved Affordable Housing

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On a quiet day this spring, Alejandra Chavez walked into her office at Westside Mobile Home Park in Durango, Colorado. Residents were gathered in the community space, discussing their plans for the park’s future, some leaning on the kitchen’s baby-blue counters while others sat in plastic lawn chairs. A year ago, this building was owned by a New York corporation and was off-limits to residents. But now, residents use the space for yoga, child care and community events. That afternoon, there were piñatas in the corner, left over from a recent birthday party.

Not long ago, 63 families at Westside faced the threat of displacement. In early...

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Our thoughts on this story:

What’s missing from this article? Not one mention of the most important element: what did the non-profits pay to buy the park to put it into a “land trust”? 63 households lived in this park, and I’m betting the non-profits paid $10 million for the property so they could live there at lower rents (which have supposedly fallen from $650 to $500 per month). What always blows my mind is that you could move all these people to a less-expensive state and buy and give them a nice brick home and do so much better for them than what they’ve accomplished. This virtue-signaling nonsense is all fine and good, but is anyone actually minding the store financially? Is thrusting the only non-subsidized affordable housing in the U.S. into the same subsidized model as Section 8 apartments really the track you want to be on? I think not. 

WCTV: Lake Bradford Estates residents meet to share stories, plan action steps

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Residents at Lake Bradford Estates met to share stories of dealing with alleged poor living conditions, rent increases and eviction threats at a Tallahassee mobile home park.

Melanie Payne-Powell has lived in Lake Bradford Estates for 33 years, she purchased her current mobile home in 1997.

“I bought that mobile home with my husband’s death money so I could keep a roof over our heads,” said Lake Bradford Estates resident Melanie Payne-Powell. “I was homeless 35 years ago. I don’t ever wanna do that again.”

Payne-Powell lives on a fixed income and said, like other residents in Lake Bradford Estates, her rent has...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Look at the video. This is a really nice property, right? Then read this quote:

“Residents at Lake Bradford Estates met to share stories of dealing with alleged poor living conditions, rent increases and eviction threats at a Tallahassee mobile home park”

So let’s cut out the B.S. and get straight to the truth. The property is really nice and the “poor living conditions” claim is a lie. The residents simply don’t want to pay market rent, which at $750 is about right. That’s all this story is about, nothing more.

Florida has no rent control. The rent appears to be fair. There is absolutely no story other than people trying to take advantage of a screwed-up media and political system to try to coerce maintaining their rent at below market levels. It’s not going to work long term. Never does.

Consumer Reports: How to Save on Insurance for a Manufactured Home

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Last year when my friend Tami Crandall from Spearfish, S.D., renewed her home insurance on her 2,400-square-foot, 1913 two-story farmhouse with a detached garage, the price tag was about what she expected: $1,800 for the year. But Tami’s daughter and son-in-law, who live just a hundred feet away in a 1,500-square-foot manufactured home—a factory-built structure that rests on a permanent metal chassis as its foundation—had to pay more than twice that amount, almost $4,000, for similar coverage. 

Manufactured homes, built in just a few facilities around the country and then shipped to a manufactured home park or land you own, are...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This article is just plain stupid. Stupid #1: it does NOT cost $4,000 per year to insure a mobile home. Stupid #2: Single-wides DO NOT average $86,400 for 1,064 square feet of space, while doubles run about $158,600 for 1,757 square feet.

Does nobody fact-check this stuff anymore?

Can’t wait for AI to replace these writers.

HUD User PD&R: Fifty Years of Efforts to Reduce Regulatory Barriers

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Land use regulations are implemented locally, under authority given to municipalities by their state government. It is generally accepted that the federal government has limited ability to influence local land use regulations. Nevertheless, over the past 50 years, the federal government has sought to understand the extent and effects of regulatory barriers and encourage state and local governments to reduce the zoning and other land use regulations that have prevented jurisdictions across the country from providing adequate and affordable housing for current and future residents. This article discusses PD&R's role as part of those federal...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This is a really informative article from a historical perspective. It also fully demonstrates the incompetence of the U.S. political system which failed to make any advancements on affordable housing in a half-century of talking about it.

Superior Telegram: Douglas County OKs trailer park cleanup

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SUPERIOR — Douglas County officials will be seeking proposals to clean up the north and south Country Acres trailer parks in Parkland.

The County Board approved spending up to $200,000 Thursday, Aug. 17 to remove the mobile homes that remain on the two sites. Funding for the project will come from available the American Rescue Plan Act money allocated to Douglas County.

The project will be done in three phases — asbestos assessment, asbestos removal and removal of mobile homes.

The goal is to get the work done before winter, said County Board Chairman Mark Liebaert.

“We’re looking for at least three (proposals) in each separate category,”...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Another mobile home park bites the dust – this time from a county government initiative. Anyone who tells you that cities and counties are big fans of affordable housing has no idea what they’re talking about. Actions always speak louder than words.

County of Sonoma: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to discuss temporary moratorium on mobile home park space rent increases

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During its meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 22, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors will consider an urgency ordinance placing a temporary moratorium on rent increases in mobile home park spaces in unincorporated areas. 

The temporary freeze on rent increases is designed to preserve housing for vulnerable populations while the Board of Supervisors considers updating an existing ordinance that regulates rent increases in mobile home parks in unincorporated areas.  

If approved, the ordinance would take effect immediately and will remain in effect until the board adopts an ordinance amending the existing regulations, or through February 29,...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Well you’ll soon see every mobile home park in Sonoma go on the market as land to be re-developed. Rent control simply makes park owners adapt to more profitable uses. These parks will no doubt be new apartments in the near future. As Ronald Reagan once said “the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government and I’m here to help”. And Reagan lived in California so he really understood this stupidity better than most.

Crested Butte News: RTA offers housing to evicted mobile home residents

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On the heels of a recent notification that some residents will be displaced from a mobile home park in Gunnison while the park undergoes renovations and has new mobile homes installed, the Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority (RTA) board of directors agreed last week to temporarily offer several vacant units it has available in Gunnison for workforce housing to alleviate the sudden housing crunch. 

The small mobile home park, Frontier Lands, is located in Gunnison city limits, has 12 lots and approximately 40 to 50 residents. The park went up for sale in late 2022, and the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority (GVRHA) set...

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Our thoughts on this story:

The Gunnison Valley Regional Transit Authority did a nice thing here. They are loaning some workforce housing trailers to the residents in the local mobile home park that are being displaced while the park is rebuilt and new mobile homes brought in. I live in a small town and we also do proactive things like that to help people. Big cities could learn from small towns.

The U.S. Sun: I live in a tiny home village full of fellow veterans – we’re ‘one misstep away’ from eviction after rents were raised

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RESIDENTS at a mobile home park fear losing their homes and having to "start all over again" after rent hikes and eviction threats.

Tiny home villages are popular among those with low incomes, veterans, and people with disabilities due to their affordability and sense of community.

However, residents at Live Oaks Manufactured Home Community in Mt. Washington, Kentucky say changes in ownership mean they are more likely to be able to "buy a home off the market" than afford their new rent.

Army veteran Mike Runnells moved out of Bullitt County in 2020 to find peace at Live Oaks after his father loaned him money to buy a mobile home.

Live...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Mt. Washington, Kentucky has a single-family home price of nearly $300,000 and a housing vacancy rate under 5%. While I don’t believe a word of this article as the numbers don’t add up (one tenant says their rent went up $130 per month and another – in the same park – claims it went up $600 per month) there’s no question that a $370 per month lot rent is not going to work when apartments are $1,000 per month more than that. So the truth is that the rents need to go up significantly and that’s just the facts of life.

The Salt Lake Tribune: How Utah could build more homes, more quickly

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This story is part of The Salt Lake Tribune’s ongoing commitment to identify solutions to Utah’s biggest challenges through the work of the Innovation Lab.

Carolyn and Brett Matesen purchased a small, single-family home in Salt Lake City’s Ballpark neighborhood about five years ago.

While the house was small, the lot was large and they wanted to put an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) on the property. They would live in it once they retired, enabling them to rent out the front house for extra income.

Rather than building another house on the lot, they purchased a prefabricated unit from Stack Homes, a Utah-based company that sells and...

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Our thoughts on this story:

I’m a big believer that the future of U.S. housing will revolve around modular construction (look at the photos in the article to see that this is a god idea). Warren Buffett also believes in it, as do many others. But the big problem right now is found near the end of the article:

The base price for the 640-square-foot Ridgeline, a one bedroom, is $245,000.

If modular housing is going to be taken seriously, it can’t be at a price-point of $400 per square foot NOT INCLUDING THE LAND UNDERNEATH.. When the price gets down to $200 per square foot – which it can – then you have something.

The Times Record: State intervenes amid ongoing water problems at Wiscasset mobile home park

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After repeated water problems and outages dating back to February, the Maine Center for Disease Control is calling for the out-of-state owners of a Wiscasset mobile home park to drill a new well that can keep up with use.

 

Whippoorwill Hill Mobile Home Park residents have reported unscheduled water shut-offs and poor water quality over the past seven months, saying they haven’t been able to shower, wash their clothes or flush their toilets on multiple occasions. The property’s well was installed in 2020 but has run dry several times.

Maine CDC spokesperson Lindsay Hammes said Whippoorwill is contracting to get two potable water...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Sure, the headline is misleading. This quote from the owners is very sensible on an Act of God they had no control over:

Maine Real Estate Management has been working daily to coordinate with experts to resolve the problem and anticipate a new well being installed very soon. In the meantime, we have arranged for regular deliveries of water to fill the holding tanks, as well as supplemental drinking water deliveries,” the company wrote.

So what’s the problem here, other than the considerable expense to the owners until the new well gets drilled? Well, apparently, none of this is good enough for the residents who claim they don’t like the taste of the “imported water” and it messes up their washing machines (which I’m sure is a complete falsehood). If the residents don’t get a better attitude I’m sure there’s a land re-development plan in the making for this tract – and who would blame the owners?

Planetizen: Durango Mobile Home Park Residents Form Community Land Trust

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According to an article by Kirbie Bennett and Jamie Wanzek in High Country News, a Colorado manufactured housing community offers “one model for how to preserve affordable housing, with the potential to reshape housing in the West in a way that allows residents to guide the discussion.”

When threatened with a buyout by a notorious institutional investor, residents of the Westside Mobile Home Park banded together to make their own offer. “With the support of Elevation Community Land Trust, Westside’s residents were able to purchase their park, becoming one of the six community land trusts in Colorado. It was the first time that Elevation...

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Our thoughts on this story:

I guess the residents did not read the fine print. But it’s right there in the article:

In years to come, residents, with the help of the land trust, intend to redevelop the park by removing the trailers and transforming the units into homes. The co-op and land trust are currently in the early stages of redeveloping the park, and residents are leading those discussions.”

So all the trailer park folks are going to be going bye-bye and replaced with single-family homes which they will never qualify for or afford. And they voted for it! What would you call this: “political suicide”?

Daily Camera: Boulder’s modular home factory sparks community debate about location, noise, environmental impact

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A new modular home factory being built in Boulder has stirred excitement as well as a healthy dose of controversy among members of the community.

The city announced Monday that construction on the factory is due to start this month. City officials who have championed the project say the factory — which is expected to eventually produce up to 50 permanently affordable homes every year — will be a game changer in terms of creating more affordable housing in Boulder. They also say it will provide an unparalleled hands-on learning experience for students in a local construction program.

However, numerous residents in nearby neighborhoods have...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Wait a minute – is this a typo?

Once the factory is completed in 2024, it can begin producing modular homes. It is expected to produce 12 to 15 homes per year in its first few years of operation, but eventually will ramp up its production to up to 50 homes per year.

The average mobile home park factory produces 7 homes per day. That’s 1,820 per year. And this one is going to produce 12 homes a year initially and then a whopping 50 per year in the future?

I know that marijuana is legalized in Colorado, but these would have to be the slowest assembly line workers in history, right?

EPA: United States Files Complaint Against Oasis Mobile Home Park for Alleged Safe Drinking Water Act Violations

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OS ANGELES, Calif. – The Department of Justice, on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), filed a civil complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California today against the operators of Oasis Mobile Home Park, located in the Eastern Coachella Valley in Southern California. The complaint alleges that the Administrator of the Estate of Scott Lawson and a corporation called Lopez to Lawson, Inc. failed to properly maintain and operate Oasis’ primary drinking water well, treatment and distribution systems and wastewater system, and failed to perform corrective measures to protect the health...

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Our thoughts on this story:

I don’t know anything about this park or its water and sewer problems, but I do know the fundamental laws of economics and I’m sure that the heirs will simply condemn that park and sell the land off at a huge profit. 1,500 individuals will then be left homeless. It would have been much smarter for the government to make the required repairs for the late owner’s estate and then bill the park monthly until repaid in full. But, once again, it exemplifies that the most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help’. In this case the quote would be “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you be homeless”. Does nobody from the government realize that there’s no way the heirs are going to do any of this incredibly costly cap-x work when the land is worth more than the park in all likelihood and they probably just want to settle the estate?

Patch: Mobile Home In Malibu's Paradise Cove Listed For $2.95M

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MALIBU, CA — The Paradise Cove mobile home park — known for its celebrity residents and picturesque seaside locale — has a home for sale. Check out below why the New York Post once called the community "America's priciest trailer park."

Check out more information and plenty of photos below.

  • Address: 167 Paradise Cove, Malibu, CA
  • Price: $2950000
  • Bedrooms: 3
  • Bathrooms: 2
  • Listing Description: A super buy in Paradise Cove, located in the desirable upper section of the park. This newer, custom-built, upgraded 3Bdrm, 2Bth, has it all! Open floor plan, high vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, tiled bathrooms and kitchen, top-of-the-line...
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Our thoughts on this story:

Look at the photos. Look at the price. Look at the photos again. Then look at the price again. If you think this is a good deal then you need to immediately check into rehab because you must be out of your mind.

WENY: Cherry Lane Park obtains license to operate and demolition permits

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SOUTHPORT, N.Y. (WENY) -- A mobile home park in the town of Southport has taken the next steps in a proposed improvement project on its property on Sherman Avenue.

At a special meeting on July 17th, the Town of Southport board voted 3-2 to approve a new licensing agreement with Cherry Lane Park, LLC. According to the agreement, the park's owner had ten business days from July 17th to file for a license to operate, and apply for 10 demolition permits for condemned trailers on the property. 

However, according to the Town of Southport Supervisor Joe Roman, the necessary applications weren't submitted until Monday, August 7th. WENY...

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Our thoughts on this story:

I hope this project makes lots of money because when the city, residents and media go after the owner on such ridiculous technicalities as if the permits were supposed to be filed in “10 days” or “10 business days” you kind of wonder if the project is worth this much hassle.

WSBT: Recycled shipping containers could bring life back to mobile home park in Marshall County

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MARSHALL COUNTY, Ind. (WSBT) — A new, non-traditional, housing community could be on the way in Marshall County.

It would turn a former mobile home park into an upscale residential area.

The proposed plans are for 33 two-story homes made out of shipping containers that are meant to last 200 years.

Thomas Landgrebe got the idea for the homes after building the modular home museum in Elkhart, which is now in the RV hall of fame.

He wants to take the old Maple Leaf Mobile Home Park on Michigan Road, between LaPaz and Plymouth, and create affordable housing for the community.

“It will be very much like a condominium. With this, it'll be like...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Back before Zappos founder Tony Hsieh died in a tragic fire his personal assistant gave me a tour of his Airstream Village community in which he lived in downtown Las Vegas. She told me the story of how he originally wanted to make Airstream Village out of shipping containers (it ended up being Airstream RVs and tiny homes) but found them to be unsuitable from a utility cost standpoint (“they were like tiny ovens” she said). So that’s problem #1. But the bigger issue is that I don’t think that anyone will pay $200,000 to live in a shipping container in Indiana – and then pay lot rent on top of that. This is a product that might work on the beach or a mountaintop. But maybe I’m wrong.

The Real Deal: Mobile home park and Santa Clarita at loggerheads over solar panels

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Attorneys for a mobile home park in Santa Clarita have played their latest card in a legal poker game with the city over a hillside covered with solar panels.

Canyon View Mobile Home Estates has responded to an appeal filed by the city to a judge’s order regarding the solar system at 20001 Canyon View Drive in Canyon Country, The Signal reported.

Superior Court Judge Stephen Pfahler ruled early last year that if the city orders the removal of 6,580 solar panels, the city must pay for the panels (which it can keep) and the cost of plucking them off the hill.

The city’s appeal last spring argued the city 30 miles north of Los Angeles...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Every time I drive across America I am confronted by those hideous wind turbines that make scenic vistas look like industrial graveyards. And now suddenly people are waking up to the fact that all this wind and solar energy is really, really ugly to look at? I could have told them that 20 years ago.