For months, Oakland Park resident Linnea Burtch has been taking pictures, holding meetings and familiarizing herself and fellow residents with the laws concerning mobile home parks.

Tuesday, August 24, 1999

For months, Oakland Park resident Linnea Burtch has been taking pictures, holding meetings and familiarizing herself and fellow residents with the laws concerning mobile home parks.

She’s appeared at two Austin City Council meetings to inform the council of problems at the mobile home park. She’s called city Planning/Zoning Administrator Craig Hoium, State Health Inspector John Hawk, council member Jeanne Poppe and the State Attorney General’s office.

She’s not alone. Other CO-OP (Citizens of Oakland Park) members have joined in the crusade for self-empowerment and fairer laws in the park.

It all started last fall, when the previous park owner, Leighton Nelson, sold the park to Oakland Park, Inc.

With the change in ownership came other changes: individual water meters were installed and residents charged for water and garbage collection for the first time; the office area was remodeled and the back of the building, formerly a laundry and communal area, became park managers Greg and Jane Hammel’s private residence; new rules and lease agreements were sent out and requests made to residents to comply with the new rules.

"We didn’t know we had so many rights until this lease came out," Burtch said. "People refused to sign it, especially those of us who lived here before the park changed owners. Many of the provisions in the lease were illegal, so we met with management once – they agreed things needed to be rewritten – we still haven’t gotten an acceptable copy."

A large part of the problem was the fact that many of the rules amounted to substantial modifications from the previous policy, something Minnesota law says may only be enforced against new tenants.

Another bone of contention is the park’s designated storm shelter, required by law, which had previously been the office and community building that is now part office, part residence. All in all, Burtch has more than 100 pages of letters, photographs and complaints as well as booklets from APAC (All Parks Alliance for Change) and the Minnesota Attorney General’s office.

Manager Greg Hammel didn’t entirely agree with CO-OP’s interpretation of events.

"We have yet to find anything that was illegal in the rules or the lease," he said. "Whether some of the provisions were enforceable was the question … As for the storm shelter, we understand that both the office and the building behind it were previously storm shelters and people are still welcome to use both. Since we took over in October, none of the residents have, even though I’ve opened up that back building in severe weather."

Hammel added that many of the problems at the park were inherited from the previous owner – things Nelson had never fixed that Oakland Park, Inc. was taking care of.

"One thing Jane and I find disturbing as managers who work long hours is that all the work that’s gone