Farmington Sets Nov. 19 Special Town Meeting To Revise Mobile Home Rent Ordinance

FARMINGTON — The Select Board voted unanimously Tuesday to hold a special town meeting Thursday, Nov. 19, to amend Farmington’s newly passed mobile home park lot rent ordinance.

The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Farmington Community Center, where voters are expected to consider a single article recommended by the town’s attorney to revise the ordinance, which residents originally advanced by citizen petition and approved Nov. 3.

Town Manager Erica LaCroix outlined the primary adjustments, which include addressing administrative issues and dropping a 3 percent cap on rent increases. If voters approve the article, the measure will take effect as the Farmington Mobile Home Park Lot Rent Stabilization Ordinance.

“We want to make sure that people who might be abusing those rents, that they don’t,” LaCroix said. “But we also want to make sure that those landlords who are providing a good value for the money and trying to keep people in their homes are not being forced to close their parks because they can’t operate on what they’re making.”

The ordinance now allows for one increase every 12 months, not to exceed the annual Consumer Price Index, or CPI, change plus 1 percent, with a maximum increase of 3 percent.
The amended ordinance does away with the 3 percent cap.

“In this economy, they’re probably never going to even get CPI without going over 3 percent,” LaCroix said. “That’s a little bit overburdensome to the park owners.”

The current and amended ordinances allow a 5 percent lot rent increase when a unit becomes vacant.

Violations of the ordinance carry a $100 fine per lot and per day.

The amendment would also eliminate the ordinance's retroactive provision, which took effect July 14.

LaCroix said enforcing the rule back to mid-July would strain the town’s resources.

The amended ordinance would specify that the Rent Stabilization Board must be composed of Farmington residents. The current rule requires only a majority of town residents, which conflicts with Farmington’s internal policies, LaCroix said.

The proposal also eliminates certain composition requirements, such as mandating a park resident or capping the number of park owners. Instead, the Select Board would look to appoint members who are free of any connection to the parks.

“We don’t want to put anything in a situation where there could even be a perception of bias when it comes to this,” LaCroix said.

The board would hear requests from landlords to raise rents beyond the formula's limits. Such requests would need to cover expenses that are “extraordinary, necessary and derive from operating or maintenance expenses, the cost of eligible capital improvements or unforeseeable expenses incurred at the mobile home park.”

Larger increases to correct health and safety violations would need to be rolled back to meet an increase allowable under the formula once the landlord had recouped their costs.
The amended ordinance adds Exhibit A, which sets guidelines for how the board evaluates requests. Organizers included the exhibit in an initial draft of the ordinance, but petitioners did not circulate it with the final petition, leaving it out of the Nov. 3 vote.

Exhibit A still requires park owners to submit three years of financial records with their petitions, though it drops a requirement for amortization schedules, which show the step-by-step payoff plan for long-term debts or large investments.

Appeals would not be heard until Jan. 1, giving the Select Board time to populate the new board. Until then, lot owners must follow the CPI-plus-1-percent formula.

LaCroix said the town’s lawyer did not make every change requested by town officials. For example, one possible change had been tapping the Board of Appeals rather than standing up a new governing board, but the town’s lawyer said that would change the intent of the ordinance too much.

Calling the amended ordinance “extremely well drafted,” Vice Chair Richard Morton asked about the likelihood that the town or town officials could be sued.

“I would anticipate that we were going to get sued either way,” LaCroix said. “One party or the other is likely to file suit.”

The Manufactured Housing Association of Maine has said that towns that enact rent control ordinances could face lawsuits. Additionally, supporters of the original ordinance could take legal action to try and prevent any proposed changes.

In other matters, the board unanimously approved a $33,450 contract with R.B. Allen Co. of North Hampton, New Hampshire, to install a new fire alarm system at the municipal building, which houses the town’s fire station. The town will pull the funds from capital reserves, and crews expect to begin work within three months.

Fire Chief Timothy D. Hardy said the upgrade became urgent once Farmington began stationing overnight duty crews at the building. The system includes smoke detectors in the truck bays to detect fires sparked by equipment, including lithium-ion battery chargers.

The only other quote the town received was for $85,999 from Cunningham Security Systems. Two other companies that walked through the building declined to submit quotes.
The annual maintenance cost for the system is unknown, although a similar system installed at the Farmington Community Center is about $700 a year.

The board also accepted a $2,500 Walmart grant for Farmington Fire Rescue. Hardy said the funds will be used to buy an updated hose decontamination washer.

LaCroix also announced that a holiday lights contest is planned for this season. Modeled after a Halloween decorating contest in Jay, the competition is expected to include prizes provided by Franklin Savings Bank. Residents and business owners can enter, with public voting determining winners across different categories.

LaCroix said this year’s contest will focus on the downtown area and Granite Heights neighborhood, with potential for expansion in future seasons.

Mt. Blue Community Access TV recorded the meeting.