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Wells Select Board reviews draft mobile-home-park rent‑stabilization ordinance at workshop
Summary
Select Board members presented a draft rent‑stabilization ordinance adapted from Sanford, laying out hearing thresholds, notice requirements, board membership rules and an appeal process; residents urged action citing double‑digit rent jumps after park sales.
The Wells Select Board held a workshop Aug. 1 to review a draft ordinance to regulate rent increases at mobile‑home parks, emphasizing procedures for hearings, notice and appeals but taking no vote on enactment.
Select board member (speaker 4), who led the presentation, said the draft borrows extensively from Sanford’s ordinance and would require 90 days’ written notice for rent or fee increases, limit owner increases to once every 12 months, and require hearings if proposed increases exceed defined thresholds or push lots past an affordability threshold. He summarized standards the proposed rent‑stabilization board would use: allowable increases must be “necessary to address maintenance, capital improvements or to cover increased operating expenses,” with large capital costs amortized rather than charged in a single year.
Legal clarifications during the meeting focused on how the new state law interacts with local measures. A legal commenter (speaker 10) said the recent statute requires parties to enter mediation but does not compel an agreement: “But there’s no requirement that at the end of the day, they come to an agreement.” Board members noted that the state law did add a requirement that park owners may raise rents only once every 12 months but does not set a statewide cap.
Residents who spoke during the public‑comment portion urged the board to move forward. Lisa Rotenberg (speaker 5), a Blueberry Ridge resident, described rent increases after a park sale and called the situation unsustainable: “When Phillips International purchased it, my rent increases have been more than 10% every time they do it. It is becoming unbearable. It’s unaffordable.” Other commenters described fixed incomes and difficulty keeping homes if lot rents rise sharply.
Board members discussed next steps and timing: if the board agrees to proceed, staff said the process could allow a public hearing and, if the board chooses, a ballot question in November. Several members asked staff to return with additional data (park names, unit counts and recent percentage increases) before the next workshop so the board can refine thresholds and grandfathering language. No formal ordinance vote was taken at the Aug. 1 workshop.
The board scheduled follow‑up workshops and asked staff to provide comparative analysis of how many current lots would exceed proposed thresholds under the draft language, and to circulate a revised draft before the next meeting.
