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Commission approves aid for the displaced

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published December 21, 2005

CLEARWATER - Despite objections from scores of mobile home owners, Pinellas County commissioners late Tuesday approved an ordinance that provides rental assistance for displaced mobile home owners.

In approving the measure, commissioners talked of the inevitability that mobile home parks will be redeveloped.

"I don't know if this is the total answer. I don't think it is, but it's a good starting point," Commissioner Susan Latvala said. "These people are going to be displaced like it or not. I think we're doing the right thing by trying to provide some assistance."

The vote was 6-1, with commissioner John Morroni the lone opponent.

"I think this is a work in progress and we ought to go back to the drawing board on it," Morroni said.

The commission's decision upset the hundreds of mobile home owners who had crowded into the county courthouse to oppose the ordinance, hoping for a moratorium on development.

"(I'm) absolutely totally disappointed in the vote, angry that they all indicated they didn't have a mindset but they asked few questions," said Dianne Miller of Causeway Village in S. Pasadena. "They all made statements but they didn't ask questions."

At issue was the Mobile Home Transition Program, created by county officials in an effort to help pay higher rents faced by displaced mobile homeowners.

The ordinance requires developers to find adequate housing for mobile home owners who would lose their homes. If adequate housing cannot be found, the developer must put put enough money in a trust fund to help pay the higher rents for two years.

County officials developed the ordinance in response to numerous mobile home parks being torn down across Pinellas to make way for more expensive housing such as condominiums or townhomes.

But mobile home owners wanted the commission to place a moratorium on development, rather than pass the ordinance.

"We're not trailer trash," Leo Plenski, president of the Bay Pines Mobile Home Park Homeowners Association, told commissioners. "I don't know how you can tell kids five days before Christmas that you're going to bulldoze their park."

Plenski reminded commissioners that, even though the mobile home dwellers do not own the land beneath their homes, "we own property on that land."

Ray Brooks of Anchor Bay Mobile Home Park told commissioners that there are about 92,000 residents in Pinellas mobile home parks. That many votes, Brooks said, could sway elections.

Plenski and Brooks were only two of the estimated 300 people who crowded three floors of the Clearwater courthouse Tuesday night.

They had to wait hours to be heard because commissioners rearranged the agenda to deal with the mobile home ordinance and a proposed rezoning of the Golden Lantern Mobile Home Park until later in the evening.

Consideration did not begin until 9:25 p.m., increasing mobile home owners' anger because they felt the commissioners deliberately delayed in the hope that they would go away.

"They knew these people were going to be here," said Jenny Cocciardi, president of the Golden Lantern Mobile Home Park Homeowners Association.

Those who left, Cocciardi said, commented that "well, they succeeded, we're leaving."

But, she said, "most of them are staying because they don't want to lose their homes."

The fate of the Golden Lantern at 7950 Park Blvd. was still undetermined early today.

Tuesday was the second time the Golden Lantern issue was scheduled before the commission.

Commissioners denied a proposal in July, saying they wanted to delay a decision until a plan was in place to take care of mobile home owners who would be displaced.

The developer, Triax, immediately reapplied for rezoning after the commission's July decision. This time, the developer changed its plan from a combination of commercial and condominiums to a combination of commercial, affordable housing and condominiums.

The Golden Lantern owners garnered support from across the state as mobile home owners threatened by development helped form a group to lobby legislators for changes in the law. They also gained support from mobile home owners across Pinellas.

Many of those, like Plenski, showed up at Tuesday's meeting to show their support.

One speaker, Barbara Hinman, executive director of Pinellas Habitat for Humanity, offered an alternative. Hinman said Habitat wants to buy mobile home parks that are in danger of being destroyed. The goal, she said, would be to create housing on the property and give the residents first chance at living there.

[Last modified December 21, 2005, 00:51:17]