TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Mobile Homes Must Be Moved From Park

ADVERTISEMENT

By TODD LESKANIC

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 17, 2008

Updated: 09/17/2008 11:19 am

NEW PORT RICHEY - A months-long scrap between Pasco County officials and the owner of a mobile home park for low-income residents ended Monday night.

The result wasn't good for the residents.

Park owner Deloras Johnson signed paperwork agreeing to remove the 26 mobile homes from the Whispering Oaks park by June 15. That means the 60 or so residents who live in the park for little or no rent and no utilities will have to find somewhere else to live.

Johnson agreed to the deal on the eve of a court hearing in which the county would have asked a judge to make her pay thousands of dollars in fines for code violations.

The agreement requires either the removal of the mobile homes from Pasco County or their demolition. The mobile homes that still house residents must be removed by June 15. Vacant trailers must be gone by Jan. 15.

Johnson must also pay a $5,000 fine to the county, according to court documents.

"I'm not going to dismantle anything, but I'm going to see if I can't find some place to take them," Johnson said. "If you go north of Hernando County, they allow older trailers, and most of mine are in good shape. I put new appliances, walls, electricity, all kinds of stuff in them. I'm not going to tear them up, because they're too hard to find."

Johnson, 79, of Dade City, purchased the 2.4-acre park off Houston Avenue in 1988 as an investment for her son, Paul Branch.

In November, code enforcement officers cited Johnson for ordinance violations involving almost every mobile home in the park. Some units had exposed wiring. Others had their windows screwed shut, making it tougher for people to get out in a fire. Other citations called the park a "breeding ground for mosquitoes, rodents and vermin."

The fines totaled more than $150,000.

Johnson responded to the citations by spending thousands in repairs and upgrades to the units. The park was rewired, and individual units were worked on in an attempt to bring them up to code.

But Monday night, Johnson decided she had had enough of the fight and signed the agreement. She said her health had been failing in recent months and that she had been in and out of the hospital.

"It's just not worth it," she said. "We don't make enough money for this. I just don't know what they're going to do with poor people in Pasco County."

In June, advocates for the homeless said they were concerned about the fate of the park's residents. Jan Martini, chairwoman of Fresh Start for Pasco, a group that helps the poor, has been working with the residents in the past few weeks to prepare them for the possible loss of their homes.

"We're helping as many as we can try to relocate," she said Tuesday.

Martini has organized a Sept. 27 concert at the USA Flea Market to help raise money for the residents. The concert is free, but Martini said she's hoping people will donate generously.

She went to the mobile home park last week and asked residents what they needed. Any money raised from the concert will go to meeting those needs.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT