Blue Haven residents ask Saco for 180‑day moratorium and rent‑stabilization as mediation looms

Dozens of Blue Haven Mobile Home Park residents and community advocates used the council’s public‑comment period to press elected officials for immediate local action to protect vulnerable tenants.

Speakers described a recent series of communications and mediation scheduling that residents called coercive and said it favored the owner. Sarah Jazz Gardner of 17 Pine Haven Street told the council she and neighbors were facing large lot‑rent increases and asked the city for a 180‑day moratorium and a rent‑stabilization workshop. "I wanna emphasize the need for the hundred and 80 day moratorium," she said.

Kathy Dobbins and other speakers said they had retained counsel for mediation but said owners had proposed timelines and mediators without adequate resident input. Brian LaRoche cited state research and other municipal ordinances as models and asked the council to schedule a public workshop to draft protections modeled on Old Orchard Beach and Sanford.

Residents described who would be affected if lots are repriced or homes removed: seniors, veterans, people with disabilities and households on fixed incomes. Several speakers said owners had presented contract terms and deadlines over the winter holidays and that some residents lacked clear written leases or timely answers to questions.

Councilors responded that the moratorium’s impending expiration and the mediation timeline made the requests urgent. Councilor Nathan Johnston publicly supported both a 180‑day moratorium extension and concurrent work on a stabilization ordinance to reduce court‑room pressure while mediation proceeds.

The council did not take immediate final action during the meeting, but public testimony and council comments signaled priority and an expectation that staff and council will consider an extension and an ordinance workshop before the moratorium expires.