Panel wants every mobile home park to have a voice

JACKSON - A member of the Township Council believes there is a need for all of Jackson's mobile home parks to be represented on the Mobile Home Advisory Board.

"A lot of the mobile home parks in town, but not all of them, are represented on the advisory board," Councilman Jason Gudaitis said. "We want to get the word out to the other mobile home parks because some of them don't have a (homeowners) association they can call on."

There are eight mobile home parks in Jackson; four are represented on the advisory board and four are not represented. There are between 900 and 1,200 mobile home units in all eight parks combined.

Communication between the parks is a significant issue, Gudaitis said.

"Instead of one mobile home park having an issue and not knowing how to deal with it, they are now able to communicate right across the table," Gudaitis said. "Sometimes somebody (from another mobile home park) says they just had that issue or had it (in the past). The board representative now may be able to give the person whose park is experiencing a problem some insight as to how to deal with the issue."

The Mobile Home Advisory Board "opens the lines of communication and offers the members help," he said. "There have also been some recommendations from some of the mobile home members about different ordinances they would like to see that apply to the rent leveling board."

Those suggestions have been passed on to the rent leveling board's attorney, who in turn discussed those items with the rent leveling board, Gudaitis said. Several ordinances regarding the way things are being done on the board may be addressed in the near future, he added.

Mobile Home Advisory Board secretary Shari Williams said the group, which was reactivated in 2006, is made up of mobile home residents and at least one member of the Township Council. She said the board members would like to have at least one person from every mobile home park in Jackson serving on the panel. That is not the case at the present time.

The representative would bring concerns about tenant-landlord issues, ordinance violations, infringement of renters rights and other matters to the attention of the board, which would then help to address the issues.

The mobile home park representatives might also help to update ordinances regarding the mobile home parks.

She said that unfortunately, most of the mobile home parks in Jackson do not have a homeowners association, which leaves residents feeling like they do not have anywhere to turn when there is an issue in their mobile home park.

Williams said that is why each mobile home park needs to have a representative on the Mobile Home Advisory Board.

"What many people do not realize is that we own our homes, but not the land it sits on," Williams said. "This leaves us in need of very specific ordinances and laws to protect our homes and way of life."

For more information contact Shari Williams at (732) 833-7169 or Jason Gudaitis at (732) 928-1281.

- Dave Benjamin