Residents strike relocation deal

MANATEE - Most owners of mobile homes in a run-down trailer park in Bradenton are now willing to leave their unsafe homes under a deal struck with Manatee County government.

Owners of 36 homes have withdrawn their formal appeals of orders issued by the county that they demolish or repair their homes in Trail Motel and Mobile Home Park.

Twenty-eight of the withdrawals are under a negotiated settlement that converts past county orders for owners to repair their homes into new orders that they demolish their homes by April 19. The settlement amounts to a 30-day extension for residents to leave the park, 3503 14th St. W.

Owners of eight homes slated for demolition withdrew their appeals without receiving any time extension.

Eight appeals remain and are scheduled to be heard today by the Manatee County Construction Codes Board of Appeals.

County Building Official George Devenport said the settlement of most cases gives those residents time to move into safer housing.

"The additional 30 days helps them to pack up their belongings, get their affairs in order, get with the (county) Community Services Department to sign financial aid agreements and get out of those dangerous trailers," Devenport said Thursday.

John Dubrule, an attorney for Gulfcoast Legal Services Inc. representing Trail residents, agreed the settlement gives people enough time to find a new place to live and move.

"We're very happy with the results," Dubrule said. "This has been part of a process to get people relocated out of what is continuing to be a dangerous environment. The stipulation (settlement) is another piece of the puzzle of doing that."

The eight remaining appeals involve Devenport's orders to demolish two homes and one carport and to repair five homes.

Devenport said the carport has been demolished, so the appeals board will be told that case is closed.

He and Dubrule agreed Thursday that some remaining appeals may be withdrawn by home owners joining the settlement before the appeal hearings begin at 8 a.m. today in the Manatee County Government Administrative Center, 1112 Manatee Ave. W.

County Administrator Ernie Padgett said he wanted to work with Trail residents and their attorneys.

"If we can extend the times a little on the ones where it's safe that we can, it works to everyone's advantage," Padgett said. "As far as the county goes, we are pleased with where we are."

The mobile home park, located in the heart of the county's 14th Street West redevelopment zone, has a long history of building safety violations, code violations and lack of leases for tenants, according to records. Various crimes, including burglary, battery and drug dealing, are routine there, law enforcement officials have said.

The park is owned and operated by a trust controlled by James Maglione of Sarasota, who signed a contract last October to sell the park for $900,000 to a group of investors led by Joel McNair of southern Manatee County. The real estate closing was planned in late January, but it was postponed indefinitely because of the county's regulatory actions.

Devenport issued 81 unsafe structure notices dated Dec. 28, including 37 demolition orders with instructions for people to vacate 36 homes and a carport and 44 home repair orders that offered demolition as an alternative.

No appeals were filed regarding 37 notices for demolition or repairs.

The notices delivered in late December were follow-ups to warning placards posted on Trail homes by Devenport's staff in August.

Gulfcoast Legal Services and other legal advocates for the poor sued Manatee County commissioners in federal court in January, seeking an injunction to block the county from enforcing demolition orders and forcing residents to leave.

Commissioners won the case when the judge denied the injunction request, but Devenport admitted in testimony that he should have given Trail residents issued repair orders 60 days to make repairs - not 30 days as he had - under the county's ordinance.

Last month, commissioners established an emergency housing assistance program that provides rent subsidies, utility and security deposits and moving expenses to help people with low incomes who are ordered to leave their unsafe homes by the county's building official. That was prompted by the Trail cases.

The program offers up to $2,400 per year for rental assistance and moving expenses and up to $1,000 per year for utility and security deposits.