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Mobile home owners may get city help

Largo will consider a program similar to the county's to help mobile home owners who must move when developers buy their parks.

By LORRI HELFAND
Published January 10, 2006

LARGO - City leaders may try to protect mobile home owners by adopting an ordinance like the one Pinellas County approved for unincorporated areas last month.

At tonight's work session, city commissioners will consider whether to adopt a relocation assistance program like the county's.

If Largo passes its own version of the ordinance, the city would be the first in Pinellas to follow the county in adopting such a law.

Largo officials are not scheduled to vote on the measure tonight. If they decide to pursue the matter, they could choose to adopt an ordinance citywide, just in the community redevelopment districts or not at all.

"It's worth giving it a shot," City Manager Steve Stanton said. "But it is not going to be a panacea."

Since the county's ordinance is triggered by requests to rezone mobile home parks, Stanton said the ordinance may persuade some developers to evict tenants now and rezone later.

But City Commissioner Pat Gerard said that shouldn't be an issue.

"Frankly, I think there's more danger of them doing that now," she said.

Anthony Jones, the county's assistant director of community development, agreed, saying private property rights mean that mobile home park owners can stop running their parks any time.

"There's no way to protect anyone in that situation," Jones said.

Stanton said he hoped the likelihood of smoother land use changes could persuade developers to do the right thing.

The city staff is recommending a citywide ordinance. But adopting the county's protections could specifically aid Largo's long-range plan to rejuvenate the Clearwater-Largo Road area.

Four months ago, the city's plan was rejected by county commissioners who said it didn't do enough to protect mobile home park residents or provide affordable housing options. Stanton said the city wants to resubmit the plan if Largo adopts the ordinance.

Community Development Director Mike Staffopoulos said the city is not considering the ordinance just to further the plan.

"It's being evaluated because it's a good ordinance and worthy of consideration," he said.

Staffopoulos said the city wants the county to iron out a game plan to promote affordable housing before tackling those issues in the Clearwater-Largo Road plan.

Bruce Bussey, county planning manager for community development, said the county staff has been working with city staffers, developers and other members of the private sector to come up with ways to solve affordable housing problems.

Solutions, which should come before the county in the next few months, include updating regulations, creating a housing trust fund and passing legislation that requires affordable housing or payments from developers who want to increase density.

Mayor Bob Jackson said he would support a citywide ordinance to protect mobile home owners.

"I see no reason to limit it to Clearwater-Largo Road," he said.

Officials have encouraged redevelopment of blighted parks, but Jackson and Gerard said they would like to find ways to discourage redevelopment of the city's well-kept mobile home parks.

"There are a lot of people living in good, decent parks in nice communities," Gerard said.

"We have to look closely at automatically rezoning a mobile home park just to increase density and make the park more valuable," Jackson said.

If Largo adopts an ordinance like the county's, the city would administrate the plan itself.

But Stanton said he wants the city to do more to meet housing needs of displaced residents, especially those in Largo's most rundown parks.

The city should try to run a counseling program like the county's, which provides individualized guidance for people who need help finding long-term housing, he said.

"We need to look at this in a more holistic fashion," Stanton said. "The type of people living in those types of places have other issues that have to be addressed before they can be self-sustaining."

--Lorri Helfand can be reached at 445-4155 or at lorri@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 10, 2006, 01:52:17]