Plymouth Board of Public Works & Safety disuses Unsafe Property Order for North Gate Trailer Park

Plymouth’s Building Commissioner, Dennis Manuwal, appeared before the Board of Public Works and Safety last week to discuss the unsafe property notice issued to the North Gate Trailer Park. The notice gave them 15 days to make repairs, and that deadline was the end of last week.   

One of the new property owners, Abrahm Anderson, met with Mayor Listenberger, the City Attorney, and the Building Commission on-site last Monday and attended that evening's meeting to explain his plan to the Board of Public Works and Safety.

 Ownership began less than two months ago, and a list of critical issues, like sewer leaks, was completed with the assistance of the building commissioner. Anderson said a company was hired to address the critical issues and will eventually scope the entire sewer line in the park to make sure there are no underlying issues. The company will also look at electrical issues on the vacant lots.

Anderson said they inherited all the issues, including determining the legal status of a mobile home that caught fire, and the residents left.  He said they have a plan over the next 12 months to make major improvements in the development.

 Councilman Duane Culp said some of the tenants have called him complaining about the lack of communication with the new owners. Anderson said the person he hired experienced some medical issues and ended up in the hospital, so he is personally taking over the oversight of the property. They will have a new onsite manager and a phone number that will be responsive to residents who call with questions.

Councilman Don Ecker asked if the manager would be full-time, and Anderson said yes.  Ecker also asked about the number of lots available, and he said there are 135 lots on the property, with 65 currently occupied and 4 or 5 vacant mobile homes that may be too far gone to be salvaged. He said they will infill with new homes, but that won’t happen until improvements are made to the park.

Councilman Dave Morrow asked about the improvements, and Anderson said it includes going lot by lot and encouraging or working with owners to get their yards, skirting, and trailers looking the best they can.  They do have rules in place, and if an owner doesn’t want to make an effort or isn't willing to accept assistance from the new owners, they could be evicted from the property.  Other improvements include cleaning up the common areas, patching potholes in the roadways, and trimming the trees.

Mayor Listenberger asked Anderson to share a copy of the written notice to tenants with the city. 

Ecker said he believes that once the tenants see the owners taking pride in the development, the tenants will also take pride in their properties.

Building Commissioner Manuwal said he spoke with a contractor who said it would take a week to create a quote for work to be completed.  Once the quote is accepted, work could start immediately.

Morrow was concerned about the safety aspects in the park and asked Manuwal to comment on the safety factor and concern for the work the contractor had already completed. 

Manuwal said that while the one large area that had backed up sewage on it was cleaned up, and they put down straw and grass seed, they didn’t fix the broken pipe.  He said the small area with sewage leaking just had a board thrown over it.

Anderson said work should begin the first week of June on the two to three vacant lots where the clean-out pipe was cracked, and sewage was leaking out.  He also said finding a contractor willing to work on the property has been difficult, and some said it would be weeks before they could get on-site. 

A local electrician was on site recently and wrote a report stating they terminated all the old service lines that were randomly sticking out of the ground.  Manuwal said the service lines are not alive; they don’t have any electricity going to them, but it does create a safety hazard for someone tripping over them.    

Several residents of the park attended the meeting, and one lady spoke, saying the new owners don’t keep in contact with residents.  She said they raised the rent from $440, which included trash, sewage, and water, to $495 but took away the trash dumpsters.

Anderson said they did increase the rent price, but it does include water, sewer, and trash.  Trash is collected by individual toters now instead of larger dumpsters.

The Board of Public Works & Safety unanimously extended the unsafe property notice for two more weeks, but the sewage and electrical work must have started, and they must put fencing around those areas and provide a copy of the written plan to the tenants and the city.