DANA POINT : Mobile Homes to Get Code Inspections

The City Council voted 3 to 2 Tuesday night to add the city’s 256 mobile homes to the duties of Dana Point’s three city code enforcement officers.

City Council member Mike Eggers and Mayor Karen Lloreda cast the dissenting votes.

The vote delighted park tenants who have consistently complained about the lack of help from park owners for sewer, construction, electrical and landscaping problems.

“I’m very pleased,” said Barbara Weeks, 62, who moved to the 91-space Dana Point Marina Mobile Home Estates three years ago from San Diego. “Otherwise, we would have remained left out in limbo as far as the city was concerned.”

Until now, all inspections and code enforcement in the city’s mobile home parks was controlled by the state Department of Housing and Community Development. But the state has one inspector for all of Orange County and parts of northern San Diego County, including an estimated 50,000 trailer park spaces.

“That’s just too much territory for one person to cover,” Weeks said.

The majority of the City Council agreed despite a city staff report that suggested leaving the enforcement system as is because additional duties would cost more. No specific amount was mentioned.

“I believe one of the responsibilities we took on when we became a city is looking after the entire city, including the mobile home parks,” said Councilman William L. Ossenmacher, who made the motion to approve the city takeover. He said the state does not offer an adequate solution to problems in the city’s mobile home parks.

Eggers, however, believes that the problems in the parks are too extensive.

Eggers said that the city was opening up a “Pandora’s box” of problems and that the park tenants will be the ones who must bear the expense of bringing their mobile homes up to city codes.