Agenda Packets - 1996/11/04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mayor and City Council Mobile Home Park Closing Ordinance November 4, 1996 • Page 2 how adoption of a mobile home park closing ordinance affects this long term goal. Improvements to Park Condition: Staff has had an opportunity to talk with the City Attorney's office and with Joe Hibbard, Ramsey County Health Department, about the tools available for improving conditions in mobile home parks in Mounds View. State and County Law: Minnesota State Law, Chapter 327, requires manufactured home parks to be licensed, and licenses are issued on an annual basis. It allows for the State Department of Health to adopt rules for the operation and maintenance of manufactured home parks and for safeguarding the health and safety of people living in mobile home parks. The State Health Department has adopted such rules in Chapter 4630. These rules relate to the following issues: • requirement for a caretaker; duty of caretaker to maintain the park • spacing between mobile homes • domestic animals • water supply • plumbing • sewage disposal • toilet, bathing and laundry facilities • barbeque pits, fireplaces, stoves and incinerators • • handling and disposal of garbage and refuse • insect and rodent harborage and infestation control • night lighting • community kitchen and dining rooms (where provided) • bottled gas • fuel oil supply systems • fire protection In 1992, Ramsey County adopted an ordinance regulating manufactured home parks (which included all of the provisions in State law, and requested that the State Health Department delegate the responsibility for licensing and inspection to the County Health Department. The Ramsey County Health Department assumed responsibility on January 1, 1993. Mobile home parks having at least 50 or more sites are inspected each year, and licenses are issued on an annual basis. Mr. Hibbard, from the Ramsey County Health Department, noted that Ramsey County has 17 mobile home parks. Licenses are issued to mobile home park owner. Procedures are in place for suspension, revocation and denial of renewal of licenses. When Ramsey County takes action on a violation, the action is to the license holder and not to the individual mobile home owners. If the violation involves conditions on a particular lot, it is the license holder's responsibility to get compliance from the mobile home owner. In practice, Ramsey County usually works with the mobile home park manager on violations. Violations are handled in three different ways: 1. Civil: Ramsey County Health writes an order to the license holder to correct the violation. If the license holder fails to do so, Ramsey County seeks a court order for abatement. If they fail to abate, the license holder is in contempt of court.