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More Revisions Coming To Mobile Home Park Regulations
Township Also Expected To Vote On Massage Parlor Rules Next Week
By Catherine Snipe
In the saga that never ends, Brick Township will again try to bring greater accountability to its mobile home parks in an ordinance before the township council.
The ordinance strengthens one already on the books. It says mobile home parks must have an on-site manager. At issue is the Laurelton Mobile Home Park, whose residents say the new law is not being followed, because an on-site manager is not stationed there.
In late November, the Brick Township Council approved a law forcing mobile home parks to keep an on-site resident manager or office staffed 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Township officials discovered the ordinance they hoped would put the manager there had some weak language in it; the new version is intended to take care of the issue.
Over the course of the last two years, residents of the Laurelton Mobile Home Park on Route 88 regularly came to council meetings to describe poor conditions and bad communication with the park's management in addressing their needs.
If the park was required to have an on-site manager during scheduled business hours, as specified in the ordinance, then residents could have an avenue to immediately address some of the problems they described instead of trying to track down management.
In addition, the ordinance puts in an arm of enforcement, requiring a township inspector to review applications to move or demolish a mobile home. The ordinance also required an on-site office to post a copy of the bylaws and lease provisions information at all times. It also spelled out when a mobile home could be moved or destroyed.
Despite the protection the ordinance is supposed to create, residents continue to complain during township council meetings that conditions have yet to improve at the park, and have urged officials to send inspectors to monitor the situation and see if fines are warranted.
The ordinance is moving toward final vote after discussion at the township council caucus meeting held this week.
Another ordinance near its final vote is one setting standards for massage parlors in the township. Like the revised mobile home park ordinance, it also amends existing municipal law on the books.
The current law, township Attorney Jean Cipriani said, does not match some of the standards in the state law regulating what can be defined as a massage parlor. The township's version dates back to the 1970s, she said, and the massage therapy industry has changed dramatically since then.
The amended law, which the township council is scheduled to vote on next week, will better define what activities can occur at a massage parlor and puts in place fines if the law is broken and if an employee hopes to hold a license for massage therapy.
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