Wells weighs mobile home lot rent stabilization ordinance, schedules workshop
The Wells Board of Selectmen on Tuesday scheduled a workshop to further discuss a rent stabilization ordinance after hearing from concerned mobile home park residents.
The workshop will take place at the board’s Aug. 4 meeting, where selectmen will weigh their options and examine ordinances from other Maine towns that have instituted mobile home lot rent stabilization.
Rent stabilization ordinances for mobile home parks have been popping up over the past few years statewide, in towns and cities including neighboring Sanford, in response to rent hikes that residents have said are too high.
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During a period for public comment Tuesday, several Wells residents came before the board to share their concerns with the rent increases they have experienced at their mobile home parks.
Diane Whiteside, 79, said lot rents at Blueberry Ridge Mobile Home Park were around $395 in 2015. Now, her rent is $625, with some newcomers even paying upward of $900 a month.
“I’m still working because I have to keep my home,” Whiteside said. “I have an 82 year-old neighbor who has to borrow money to afford her lot.”
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Whiteside also brought a cup of brown, murky water that she said had come from her faucet, and that residents have recently received a boil water order because the water is unsafe to drink.
“I’m not saying that they’re not trying to fix it,” she said. “I’m saying that after 20 years of a water problem, it hasn’t been fixed, and the owners don’t seem to be responsive.”
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She said because Blueberry Ridge is run by a major corporation called Philips International, not a local company, that the owners are not responsive to the needs of the residents.
“We need your help,” Whiteside told the board. “We really, really would like you to take action on creating a local ordinance to protect us from being forced out of our homes.”
Selectboard Member Avery Seuter said data shared with him by residents showed that mobile home owners on Social Security are spending more than 50% of their fixed income on lot rents.
Seuter also pointed to Sanford’s ordinance, which caps on how much and how often park owners can raise rents.
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Selectboard Member John K. MacLeod urged his fellow members to local property owners in mind when drafting their language.
The board has until Sept. 7 to finalize language for a potential ordinance in order to send it to voters for approval in the November election.
The Aug. 4 workshop is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at Wells Town Hall.
LODGING RULES
An earlier portion of Tuesday night’s meeting was dedicated to a public hearing for a possible amendment to Chapter 150 of the town code, regarding occupancy registration for hotels, inns and other lodging facilities.
Several property owners spoke against some of the proposals, including one that would have required facilities to keep lists of the names and ages of all occupants.
Katy Kelly, from Lafayette’s Oceanfront Resort in Wells, said she was curious why the board needed information like ages as opposed to just an accurate number of occupants.
She listed numerous concerns, including how hotels were expected to verify children’s ages and about what precautions the town would make to protect private information from Freedom of Access Act requests.
The board then announced several language changes, including removing the proposed requirement to list the ages of occupants.
Members of the board initially voted to approve the amendment before another resident who didn’t identify himself raised a concern that the action wasn’t properly labeled on the agenda. The board agreed to table official approval until the Aug. 4 meeting.
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Tagged: affordable housing, Board of Selectmen, mobile home parks, rent control
Abigail is a community reporter for Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Sanford, and Wells. She recently moved up to Maine from Connecticut after getting her bachelor’s degree in English/Journalism at the University. More by Abigail Driscoll
