By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
When the mobile home park permit for Skyview Terrace came up for renewal before the the East Troy Village Board on June 20 Department of Public Works Interim Director Jason Equitz told the board it might be a good time to make sure the park was in compliance in regard to its water cross connections.
The board agreed and tabled renewing the permit until they could talk to the village attorney about some legalities as to whether or not they could postpone issuing the permit until arrangements had been made to inspect the connections.
Village Police Chief Alan Boyes also told the board at the June 20 meeting he had some concerns about the park permit and would like to bring that to the board at the Committee of the Whole meeting on June 27.
At the June 27 meeting, Boyes’ concerns became clear when Betty Douglass, wife of Trustee Fred Douglass, spoke about the issues in the park where they live.
“I’m concerned about things going on in the park,” Betty Douglass said. “The criminal activities. Our home has been damaged and we know there are drugs in the park. I guess I don’t feel real safe there.
“Where do I go with these concerns,” she asked. “Police reports have been filed and it’s a very prominent concern with others too.”
Village Board President Randy Timms said the board couldn’t respond directly to the concerns during citizen participation because it wasn’t the proper forum, “but, we’ll certainly be looking into it.”
When the agenda item came up to renew the permit for Skyview, the board discussed its options after learning they could legally only do two things – renew the permit, or deny it. Timms said in his discussion with the village attorney, there wasn’t an option to “postpone” the permit renewal.
“Just to let the board know,” Boyes said. “Like Mrs. Douglass said, we’ve had a lot of problems over at the park.
Boyes said the owners of the mobile home park were cited $1,300 for violations on June 21 “to get management to do something.”
Boyes told the board the Police Department was making arrests in the park on a regular basis and he had spoken to park management more than once, and they’ve told him they’ve passed the concerns on to the corporate owners – Meadows Development Group LLC – but nothing had been done.
Boyes said he had hopes the citation would get a response, but if it didn’t the village could take things further.
Timms said the problems at the park “seem to be escalating” but the board had little recourse at that time but to renew the permit since it was set to expire on June 30.
Trustee Dusty Stanford said he didn’t want the board to harm people living in the park by pulling the permit on short notice, but suggested the board revisit the issue to make sure progress was happening.
“We’re not talking minor infractions,” Stanford said. “This is serious.”
Trustee Ann Zess said she didn’t want to wait a year to look at the park again, “It’s too long.”
None of the board members wanted to harm the residents of the park by not reissuing the permit, so they voted to renew it with Fred Douglass abstaining.
Timms suggested the board revisit the issue once a month until things improve or they have to take action because they haven’t.
