Laserfiche WebLink
February 12, 1997 <br /> <br />Dear Mayor and City Council Members: <br /> <br />First I would like to thank you for your compassion for all of the residents at Elk Terrace Mobile <br />Home Park. It's comforting to know that our local government understands that our situation is <br />unique and that we are not being treated fairly by the Hohlen's. <br /> <br />I spoke to Roger Holmgren and learned from him that the City is concerned that an ordinance <br />will not apply to our park closing. However, the City Council has the authority to grant payment <br />to the residents from all parties involved without passing an ordinance. MN Statute 327C.095 <br />states, "Before any change in use, or cessation of operation and as a condition of the change, <br />the governing body may require a payment by the park owner to be made to the displaced <br />residents for the reasonable relocation costs...The governing body of the municipality may also <br />require that other parties, including the municipality, involved in the park closing provide <br />additional compensation to residents to mitigate the adverse financial impact of the park closing <br />upon the residents. <br /> <br />We also learned from Steve Ach that the City is working on proposals similar to the Bloomington <br />ordinance, would like to explain to you why this ordinance would not work in our unique <br />situation. <br /> <br />1) Moving costs within 25 miles. <br /> 'It has been established that there are not any available lots within 25 miles. <br /> <br />2) <br /> <br />Averaqe relocation for more than 25 miles. <br /> <br />Residents are established in the Elk River community. Children are in schools and <br />daycares. Some residents are on medical assistance through Sherburne county. All of <br />us have planned to make Elk River our home. <br /> <br />3) Tax assessed value of the home with or without ~;900 relocation money. <br /> <br />Tax assessed value will not give us enough money to payoff homes with loans and <br />mortgages. The difficult part with this is that most of us have mortgages which means <br />our homes are the collateral for these loans. After speaking to my mortgage company <br />was told that they would not release my title until the full balance is received. As it <br />would not be legal to order Earl Hohlen buyout our property and not receive anything for <br />it. It would also be illegal to order us to surrender our homes to Earl Hohlen when the <br />loan remains unpaid. <br /> <br />You've heard it before, everyone except the residents stand to gain from the sale of this property. <br />Earl Hohlen isn't only holding up the development of his property but also of the farm behind us. <br />We, the residents, did not ask for any of this to happen to us. As a matter of fact, we were <br />repeatedly assured by the Hohlen's that this would not happen to us. <br /> <br />I've shown you how the current proposals wilt not work in our situation, instead please <br />reconsider granting the residents the appraised value of their homes or the tax assessed value <br /> <br /> <br />