Residents afraid to leave mobile park homes BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer ERIC SUCAR staff Lee Cooper stands guard outside his mobile home at the Laurelton Mobile Home Park in Brick on Oct. 3. Residents are upset over the recent increase in crime and underage residents. For stories, see page 3. BRICK TOWNSHIP - The young man ambled down the dusty, unpaved roads at the Laurelton Mobile Home Park late one morning last week. He glanced at a group of senior citizens gathered outside Bonnye Spino's home, then kept on going. "He's going to the druggie's house," Spino said disgustedly. "I don't think he's 55," one man joked. The scene summed up the recent controversy at the age-restricted mobile home park off busy Route 88. The problems began, some residents say, when the previous owner, Philip Baretta, sold the park to developer Jack Morris three years ago. Baretta ran "a tight ship," said resident John Estelle, who has lived at the park for 10 years. "It was nice and quiet," he said. "He did everything he could. We never had a robbery." "I never in the world thought that anything could go down so damn fast," said James Huber, who has lived at the park for 28 years. "It's sickening." PHOTOS BY ERIC SUCAR staff Laurelton Mobile Home Park residents walk through their community during a warm day last week. Residents say crime has risen at the park since more young people have moved into the age-restricted location. Edgewood Properties, Morris' company, has still not responded to the Bulletin's requests for comments. Park residents own their mobile homes. They rent "the dirt the home sits on" - as Estelle puts it - from Morris and pay to live in the park. And they showed up at the Sept. 25 Township Council meeting to let Mayor Daniel J. Kelly and the Township Council know about what they say are rampant drug and crime problems at the park. Askin Road, which abuts a large wooded area that falls off sharply from the narrow roadway, is where many of the problems are, the residents said. The fence separating the woods full of pine trees, swamp oaks and butteryellow poison ivy from the road, is broken in some spots. A mailbox, with the wooden post still attached, had been flung over the fence. Beer bottles and cans stud the dry leaves and pine needles. "We call this Pot Alley," one man said, pointing to the woods. It's a frequent stopping place for drug dealers, who flash their car lights at night to signal other cars, they say. But township police have said the park has no more problems than any other area in town. A township ordinance adopted this year requires owners of mobile home parks to have a full-time manager on site from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. But the residents said they haven't seen the park manager, who does not live on site, in months. Instead, they say, Morris has installed an assistant manager who can only call the main company number if problems arise. They also fault township code enforcer Daniel F. Newman Jr. for not issuing enough violations in the park. But Newman says his department has issued violations when it's legally appropriate. The township ordinance, based on a federal statute, requires that 80 percent of the residents in mobile home parks be 55 years of age or older. At least one occupant in a home must be at least 55, he said. "That's 80 percent of the units, not 100 percent," Newman said. "We are aware of two units that were an issue. But one has an occupant over 55. He allows younger people to stay in his unit. That's not a violation." Some of the residents are asking his department to cite problems that are police matters, he said. "There is no law that says if a person commits a crime, they can be thrown out of their home," Newman said. "We don't do that in this country. The situation is not good. I wish it was better. We can only cite actual violations." Newman said he hadn't spoken to Morris in "quite some time" but does speak to his staff occasionally. "Have I been disappointed in the maintenance Mr. Morris and his company have provided on the site? Yes," Newman said. "Have they responded to every complaint I've given them or code violations they were cited with? Yes." The township has five code enforcement officers to cover 33,000 properties, including residential, commercial and retail, he said. We are patrolling that space," he said. "We are going to be in there more on a regular basis, but can only cite an actual code violation." Residents may feel that Morris is renting to people who are not all "upstanding citizens," Newman said. "That may be true, but that's not something I can cite as a code enforcement violation."