|
Despite two days of intense meetings, two bills supported by owners of manufactured homes failed to make it out of a House subcommittee. Lawmakers will meet again at 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 14, to take up a compromise measure.
Manufactured home owners and owners of the parks they live in clashed Wednesday, Jan. 9, unable to move forward with either of two proposed measures.
House Bill 258 would require park owners to justify rent increases and Senate Bill 122, the right-of-first-refusal bill, would give homeowners an opportunity to buy a park before it is sold to an outside investor. That bill passed the Senate in June.
But on Thursday, Jan. 10, instead of reaching a compromise, Republican Rep. Donna Stone of Dover, vice chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Manufactured Housing, introduced an amendment that effectively struck the entire text of S.B.122. Her seven-page amendment to the five-page bill immediately met objection from supporters of the legislation.
“I know a power play when I see it,” said Rep. Pete Schwartkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, frustrated by the maneuver.
In another partisan move, Rep. Donald Blakey, R-Camden, withdrew the rent justification bill, H.B. 258, effectively killing that legislation. On Wednesday, he had proposed the compromise legislation that will now be discussed next week.
During Wednesday’s deliberations, Republican subcommittee members had first argued for more time to review the bills – a move that Schwartzkopf had called a stalling tactic.
Meanwhile, on the steps of Legislative Hall, roughly 200 members of Delaware Manufactured Home Owners’ Association in red shirts on Wednesday waved signs calling on the subcommittee to release the bills.
Michael Morton, an attorney with First State Manufactured Housing Association, which represents park owners, called Wednesday’s session a “pure, raw, political wrestling match.”
While most agreed that capping rents would require further discussion, Schwartzkopf and others said rents should be frozen until new legislation is in place.
Homeowners, for their part, urged the subcommittee to vote on the bills, send them to the House and let the 41 House members determine their fate.
On Wednesday, Blakey, who sponsored H.B. 258, introduced a measure he said contained facets of both H.B. 258 and S.B. 122. But introducing it just before the meeting was adjourned left little time for either side to review it.
Homeowner spokesman Fred Neil called Wednesday’s last-minute measure “an attempt to scuttle.”
Dixie Boucher, president of Angola Beach and Estates Homeowners’ Association, said, “I was there for democracy to happen. That did not happen. It was sabotaged by political party affiliation.”
“We’re almost set to agree to an amendment that afternoon. The next thing you know at the last minute there’s a compromise bill,” she said.
Said Schwartzkopf, “The Democrats knew nothing about the bill. The Republicans all knew it was coming.” He said the compromise was introduced to divert the process of addressing legislation at hand.
“Don’t raise the rents while this thing is being ironed out. Parks are going under,” Schwartzkopf said. In 2003, the Delaware Supreme Court lifted rent caps, which quickly sent rents skyrocketing in prime markets in the Cape Region.
Park owners say they are protecting their investments, and if a cap is put on the maximum rent for homeowners, it will reduce services such as maintenance and upkeep. Park owners also point out many residences are second homes, questioning the role of government in setting rents in luxury communities that may include docks and pools.
But homeowners who live in the parks year-round, including many retired residents, say rents are escalating beyond their ability to pay. Many tenants say they have lived in parks for decades and don’t have the income to allow them to move their homes elsewhere.
Schwartzkopf made a motion to bring S.B. 122 to the House floor, seconded by Rep. John Kowalko, D-Newark. Schwartzkopf said while lawmakers debate this bill, three Sussex County parks are being sold.
Homeowner spokeswoman Jeanne Sisk said homeowners entered into negotiations to buy Love Creek in the Lewes area and Sandhill Acres and Laurel Village, both in Laurel.
“If S.B. 122 was in place, we would know exactly how much was offered for the property. Obviously, if you make an offer for a piece of property, you have to know the selling prices,” said Sisk, prior to the hearing.
Sisk said $18 million was offered for the three communities, but she said park owner Milt Chaski said he received two other offers in cash to buy the parks.
Calls to Chaski were not returned at press time.
Other subcommittee members remained skeptical of S.B. 122, saying the bill should contain better timelines.
Stone opposed the right-of-first-refusal bill, calling it flawed. “There’s no timeline for negotiations for considered offers or when responses are due,” she said.
Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Robert Valihura, R-Talleyville, who has been criticized for holding up the legislation, said, “I’m uncomfortable with moving forward without public input,” he said.
“The role of government is to protect the weak,” Schwartzkopf said. “These owners don’t want to be regulated but these park owners regulate everything the tenants do.”
Despite two days of discussion, in the end, no legislation was released to the House floor. Instead, on Monday, Jan. 14, the subcommittee will continue to discuss Blakey’s compromise bill and other options.
In September, Speaker of the House Terry Spence, R-Stratford, who appointed Valihura to the subcommittee, said he would remove himself from office if the committee failed to allow the bills to move out of committee.
Spence did not return calls at press time.
~
Tunnell Company workers urged to oppose bill
A December memo sent to employees of the Tunnell Company urged employees to protect their jobs by contacting local lawmakers to oppose two measures aimed at owners of manufactured housing parks.
Senate Bill 122 would give manufactured home owners an opportunity to buy parks if they are for sale, and House Bill 258 would require park owners to justify rent increases. A House subcommittee discussed both measures on manufactured housing on Wednesday, Jan. 9 and Thursday, Jan. 10.
The memo states, “Tunnell Companies LP is firmly opposed to rent control. We believe in the free enterprise market, with no artificial price controls mandated by federal government.”
The memo also states, “The most negative effect is that with rent control budget cuts will necessarily follow which will almost certainly result in cut backs in staffing and layoffs. You have the power to do something about this. We are organizing a targeted letter writing campaign to the legislators. It is important for them to realize what the long-term and ongoing consequences of these bill could be.”
On Wednesday, Jan. 2, employees were asked to attend a letter-writing campaign meeting at Pot- Nets Lakeside Community Center with a schedule of times corresponding to their last names.
The memo states, “We will provide information on H.B. 258 stationery, envelopes and postage. We also will provide ‘bullet points,’ to help you express your view clearly and concisely.”
Along with the memo were 40 points of suggested content for letter writing and points to remember, along with a report by the National Multi Housing Council, “The High Cost of Rent Control.” The contact information for nine legislators was also included.
Earlier this week, Ed Speraw, president of the Delaware Manufactured Home Owners’ Association, called the letter-writing campaign a mafia-style tactic.
Robert Tunnell responded to the memo and allegations. He said the campaign was not mandatory and no employees were forced to participate. “I think the proper thing to do is to keep our staff informed. I guarantee there were no threats to any individual staff members, but we fully informed our staff members that if the rent control bill passes there would be a reduction in staff,” Tunnel said in a phone interview. “It just makes sense. It would be a reality under rent control. We want them to know what this means if the rent control bill becomes reality.”
Tunnell’s letter to employees also points out that roughly 50 percent of Pot-Nets communities’ residents are second-home owners, so if HB258 passes, it would create rent-controlled vacation homes.
Tunnell denied that the letter-writing campaign was a strong-arm tactic. “You didn’t have to; not everybody did it,” he said.
Contact Kevin Spence at kevin-spence@hotmail.com
Contact Kevin Spence at k.spence@capegazette.com.
|
