Mobile home park neighborhood association pays off
Last summer, wildfires scorched hundreds of thousands of acres in the West.
Fear of fires was one of the factors that brought neighbors of the Mullen Hill Terrace Mobile Home Park together to form a neighborhood association last July.
The park, a mix of 119 mobile and manufactured homes, is nestled in the middle of a Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forest, a quarter mile south of where Hatch Road comes into Highway 195. Currently, a 74-lot expansion is under way.
Development of the park began in 1990, but until last summer, there was no formal association. The park doesn’t have a community center or clubhouse.
According to board member Janet Woodward, the Mullen Hill Terrace Tenants Association made it easier for neighbors to get to know each other and speak with one voice in working with the park’s owner, Brett Smith, an investor who lives in North Bend, Wash.
Joining the association is voluntary, and about half of the tenants have joined. The group is a nonprofit organization with bylaws, a board of directors, and officers. The group began with weekly meetings, but they now meet monthly.
One of the first things they did was contact the Department of Natural Resources for a Community Wildfire Risk Assessment. The association has applied for grants, completed applications, and established a plan to reduce the risk of fire.
“We are establishing a means of dealing with emergencies. It’s probably the most important thing we’ve done,” said Woodward. “A plan is under way so that in case of an evacuation, neighbors will know if someone is confined and might not have anyone there to help them.”
The association has joined the Mobile Home Owners of America, an organization that lobbies for laws to improve rights for mobile home tenants.
They have formed a greeting committee to welcome new residents to the park and a women’s group, the Mullen Hill Matriarchs, gets together every month for a social gathering.
A community bulletin board has been created to post announcements and locate lots in the development.
If a tenant has a problem concerning the park, the association will give advice on how to file a grievance.