Twp. wants ages of Laurelton park residents
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer

Laurelton Mobile Home Park resident Helen Witherspoon describes problems at the park on Route 88. Residents say conditions have deteriorated since a new landlord took over three years ago.

BRICK TOWNSHIP - The township plans to do a survey to determine if the age restrictions at the Laurelton Mobile Home Park are being complied with, the township attorney said.

"The survey to determine the current occupants of the units is critical," said Township Attorney Jean Cipriani. "We do not know at this date if the federal standards and the township ordinance is being complied with. We need to know the age of the current occupants of each unit."

The township's current ordinance on mobile home parks mirrors federal statutes and requires that 80 percent of the units in the mobile home park must be occupied by at least one person age 55 or older, Cipriani said.

"There is no age restriction on the remaining 20 percent that live there," she said.

The only circumstance that would forbid anyone under 55 from living in the park would be a restriction in the master deed, she said.

"In my research, there does not appear to be a restriction which would hold the Laurelton Mobile Home Park to anything tighter than the federal standard," Cipriani said. "But it is possible for such a restriction to exist."

The "foot survey" would be voluntary. The township cannot compel anyone to reveal their age, she said.

The township did contact owner Jack Morris and requested the names and ages of the occupants, Cipriani said.

"He wrote back with names, but no ages," she said. "He said ages are protected by a state privacy statute. Under these circumstances, the township is entitled to that information. We will take any necessary steps, up to going to court to acquire that information. We cannot enforce our ordinances in its absence."

Mayor Daniel J. Kelly has met twice with park residents to discuss the problems. Kelly met last week with several park representatives and several residents from the nearby Laurelton Heights development across the highway.

Laurelton Heights residents told officials at the Sept. 25 Township Council meeting that the crime problems at the park are spilling over into their neighborhood.

Kelly said in an interview Friday that the township would do all it could, but that Morris had rights as a property owner also.

"When you are a homeowner in fear, you don't particularly care what's legal," he said. "I can understand their fears. We will work to get the problem solved."