Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The owners of a local mobile home park have been cited for nearly $300,000 in fines each for alleged permit violations.
Robert Lund of Albany pleaded not guilty at Sweet Home Municipal Court Thursday afternoon, Jan. 17, on two counts of occupancy violations, four counts of work done without a permit, five counts of expired permits and six counts of general nuisance for stored mobile homes.
Lund owns the trailers in the park, called View Villa, located at 4610 Highway 20, according to Sweet Home Code Enforcement Officer Byron Wolfsong. Thomas E. Brissey of Georgia owns the park itself. Wolfsong cited him on the same charges, but Brissey did not appear in court on Thursday.
Each charge carries a fine of $300 per day. Wolfsong cited the two men for 58 days, from Oct. 27 to Dec. 24. They could be fined up to $295,800 on the citations.
The charges stem from allegations that people are living in mobile homes without proper permits, that homes have been sited without permits, had expired permits or that homes are stored illegally on the property.
A single charge of occupancy violation was dropped after the city located a valid permit, Wolfsong said. Of the 17 homes on the property, nine have proper permits.
The case will be set for trial on Feb. 7, Wolfsong said. The same day, Lund told him that he would meet with him and the building official that day in an attempt to resolve the situation.
“At this point, he said he would work with us,” Wolfsong said.
The park was approved by the Planning Commission in July 1997. Lund had told the commission that he planned to restore older mobile homes and site them in the park. He received permission to site up to 25 homes on 3.82 acres.
“Basically, I’ve gotten delaying tactics from him,” Wolfsong said.
Wolfsong said he has been working with Lund on the problems for some time, and when Lund brought him four permit applications in December, he listed a general contractor who told the city he was not working for Lund.
With that, Wolfsong chose to cite Lund and Brissey.
Community Development Director Carol Lewis has no plans to return to the Planning Commission about the park’s conditional use permit, she said. The commission and permit are related to the entire project, while the permitting issue relates to specific sites.
Lund did not return phone calls prior to press time.