ROBBINSVILLE: Sewer impasse riles mobile home park residents

By David Kilby, Special Writer
   ROBBINSVILLE — After years of dealing with a deteriorating sanitary sewer system at Mercer Mobile Homes, the trailer park’s residents, owner, and the township zoning board are casting about for solutions while contending that in many ways their hands are tied.
   The Zoning Board of Adjustment said it did what it could at its Oct. 16 meeting by amending a prior subdivision approval to clearly state it’s the trailer park owner’s responsibility to make all repairs needed that affect the “public safety, health and welfare” of the residents. However, some people said the amendment would do nothing to fix the ongoing problem.
   Last year, the cost of the repairs was estimated at about $1.2 million.
   Allies, Inc., a nonprofit organization, had been under contract to purchase the property and fix the sewer system, but the deal fell through earlier this year and the sewers were never repaired. The trailer park’s owner, Larry Kaufman, has been looking for another buyer, but that has been difficult because of the needed repairs.
   Zoning board members said last week they had no jurisdiction to force immediate repairs. The board was only able to require sewer repairs as a condition of the subdivision approvals it gave the owner in 2007 and 2011. Those approvals allowed the owner to subdivide and keep 4.5 acres fronting Route 130 and sell the 14-acre tract behind it where the mobile homes are.
   ”When Mr. Kaufman first applied for the subdivision, the restrictions were that the sewer system and water lines would be fixed,” said Sally Harrison, president of the homeowners association.
   ”He promised before the board,” Ms. Harrison said. “Those of us who live in the park knew better. He has done nothing. Everything is coming out of the sewers and onto the ground.”
   Beatrice Suzch, of Millside Road in the park, said many of the residents are senior citizens living on fixed incomes and have no other place to go.
   Betty Alfano, a resident of Fourth Avenue in the park, said one day she came home from work and found her shower filled with “raw sewage.”
   ”It’s a disgrace for people to have to live like this,” Ms. Alfano said.
   Michael Herbert, the zoning board attorney, said the hope is for the property to be sold to a reasonable purchaser who will make repairs.
   ”When purchased the purchaser will make necessary improvements to the park,” he said.
   Zoning board member Debra Rogers expressed frustration that the sewer situation has not been resolved.
   ”The board was very concerned about this issue five years ago,” Ms. Rogers said. “The issue is still there and has intensified. It is our job to ensure the health, welfare and well being of our residents. I’m sorry that our hands are tied and we haven’t been able to do anything for five years.”
   Jeff Hall, the mobile home park owner’s attorney, said the board was reacting to the comments of two residents out of 140 in the park and he claimed there had been no complaints made to the Board of Health. Ms. Alfano disputed that statement, saying she had complained to the Board of Health plenty of times.
   Mr. Hall said he and his client are looking to establish a new relationship with the township. “Right now you have a resolution that’s not reflective of certain circumstances,” Mr. Hall said. “This is what we’re proposing as a solution.”
   Mr. Herbert said, the zoning board’s action amending the resolution was a way of “not litigating the issue, but also getting the language to get this thing settled.”
   ”We’re trying to make the best of what is a bad situation,” Mr. Herbert said.
   The township and Mr. Kaufman have had long-running battles about rent control and other park-related issues that escalated in April when the Mr. Kaufman posted a letter to residents that called Mayor Dave Fried derogatory names.
   The Allies Inc. deal had called for the nonprofit to purchase the trailer park for $5.5 million with up to $2.1 million in assistance from the township’s affordable housing trust fund. The units in the park would have then counted toward the township’s state-required affordable housing obligations.
   After Allies backed out, a for-profit company that runs trailer parks in several states also expressed interest, but that deal fell apart as well.
   Board member Barry Petersen asked Mr. Hall if the new relationship that the trailer park owner is seeking with the township also heightens the responsibility of the owner and operator to address the sewer problems in the park.
   ”What you have in your current resolution is for a buyer to make extensive repairs,” Mr. Hall said. “We all recognize the change we need to address.”
   Zoning board member Michael Caputo disagreed. “He’s trying to sell it,” Mr. Caputo said, referring to Mr. Kaufman. “He’s gotta bring it up to code.”
   The board added the following language to the latest Mercer Mobile Homes subdivision resolution: “Mercer Mobile Homes will make all immediate repairs which arise that are necessary to protect the public safety, health and welfare. A purchaser acquiring the Mercer Mobile Home Park shall complete all other repairs necessary to replace outmoded and deteriorated and/or leaking sections of the sanitary sewer system.”
   All board members except Mr. Caputo voted yes on the resolution.
   ”I didn’t think it was in the best interest of the residents of town until the existing problems are fixed,” Mr. Caputo said of the amended resolution.
   ”Unfortunately it is out of our jurisdiction,” Mr. Caputo said. “Tonight was just a technical matter, but it doesn’t address the problem.”