It has taken several years, but the city and property owner are finally making substantial progress on cleaning up the River Cove Mobile Home Park on Claude Lane, just off the Sacramento River in northeast Anderson.
All but one mobile home or RV that previously occupied the nearly six-acre site just east of North Street are gone and an eviction notice was served on the lone RV owner who so far refuses to relocate, reported Kristen Maze, director of the city’s Development Services Department.
“Once all of the mobile homes and RVs are completely off the site, the owner (Bob Meissner of Redding) has agreed to grade and resurface all of the roads and mobile home parking pads inside the park,” Maze said Wednesday, Dec. 14.
Meissner has also agreed to remodel a building used as a laundry facility and bathrooms for the park, she noted.
Currently, the building does not meet code requirements under California’s Housing Community Development regulations, Maze said.
Reached by telephone Wednesday, Meissner said he has “hired an architect to come up with a plan to upgrade” the park and all facilities.
“We’ve got one tenant left, but as you know, the laws work more in favor of a tenant’s rights than a landlord’s rights,” Meissner said.
A court date for the lone remaining tenant’s eviction is set for the last part of December, he noted.
Once the property owner has the park vacant, “we are going to do a complete realignment of the trailer parking spaces,” Meissner said.
“We are also going to do a better job of marketing the park. We hope to bring in the type of people who will be more responsible with their pets,” he said.
Meissner said his on-site manager will also be more closely regulating the types of vehicles allowed into the mobile home park.
“With tighter rules and a manager who will spot the problems sooner, we are anxiously looking toward the future,” he said.
Meissner, who acquired the property from Michelle Elam two years ago, had originally agreed to allow Elam to manage the mobile home park on the property and retain any revenues from space rentals, he said.
However, when neighboring property owners continued to complain publicly of leaking sewage, uncollected piles of trash and the prevalence of suspected illegal drug use on the property, “we were drawn into it,” Meissner said.
“We stepped up to the plate and fixed the septic tank leach field leakage issue. We have been rather proactive in getting people to move and relocate. And the city has been very cooperative in helping us get that place turned around,” he said.
Long range, once the economy improves, Meissner said he hopes to develop the property more in line with its R-2 zoning status that allows for multi-family dwelling units such as town houses.
“At about 6 acres, the property is really too small to be viable much longer as a mobile home park,” he said.
From the city’s standpoint, Maze credits Meissner and his property manager Kevin Lindsey with turning the park around.
“Bob has been really good to work with. He is willing to work with us on making the necessary improvements. I have appreciated his ability to listen to our concerns and address them,” Maze said.
However, Maze is also quick to give credit to Building Inspector Marty Mofield and Code Enforcement Officer Steve Ayers.
From the Development Services Department’s perspective, “the mission of code enforcement in the City of Anderson is to protect the health and safety of the city’s residents and visitors” as well as enhance “the livability of the community by assuring compliance with the city’s land use, environmental and building codes,” according to the department’s recently revamped website page.
“Our ordinance enforcement program is handled on a complaint-driven basis,” Maze noted.
Once a complaint is received, city staff members review the allegations and schedule an inspection of the site to see whether any potential violations actually exist, she said.
“After a site visit, the inspector will consult with planning (officials) regarding violations of the zoning regulations,” the department’s website page states.
When it is determined that a violation of city codes does exist, someone from the department notifies the property owner of the violations and tries to achieve voluntary compliance to correct the problem, Maze explained.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 1
proudvet writes:
George, all I can say is someone aat the City sure put a good spin on this story. There are actually three travel trailors in the park, not just one. I guess Kristen Maze really hasnt driven through the park lately or she would know that more than one exist. Nor have you been told that in 2008 in order to avoid a lawsuit from elderly residents against the City and Miesner an agreement to clean up the blighted park was reached but never enforced by the city allowing this to fester for 3 more years before an outspoken member of the council researched and demanded the blighted park be cleaned up. In the process of those tree years nothing was done to follow through with the agreement, all the while APD was responding to Claude Ln at the rate of once every other day for everything from drug sales, to verbal threats on the lives of the few elderly residents who have been productive citizens in Anderson for 50 plus years. There is a lot more to this story than what you have been told.
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.