LYNNWOOD — Harry Warren has hauled away 18 tons of junk from his mobile home park and asked a few residents to leave.
He wonders if it will be enough to prevent the nearly 50-year-old park from closing.
“I’d like to keep this place. It keeps me active,” said the retired airline pilot, who lives at the park along Highway 99.
Recently, the city sent Warren, 75, an order that requires him to fix more than a dozen problems at the park or face possible closure.
“We’ve warned him time and time again,” code compliance officer Peter Van Giesen said.
The warnings turned into legal action when the city learned last month that several children were living in “sheds” at the Seattle Height Mobile Home Park. Two families had built illegal additions to two mobile homes, Van Giesen said.
“Once we realized children were living in these lean-tos and sheds, we started looking at things overall,” he said.
Van Giesen found illegal modifications to the trailers, fire hazards and several other code violations, he said.
Warren could be fined if he doesn’t correct the problems, according to the order.
“Fines will be the last resort and only if (Warren) puts himself in a position that he refuses to take reasonable steps,” Van Giesen said.
Warren admitted that he allowed some of the additions when he shouldn’t have. He also said he’s working to comply with bringing the park up to code.
The building violations, however, are not the only problems plaguing the park.
In the order, the city also warned that it will close the park if Warren doesn’t bring down the crime rate there.
“We’ve been trying to work with the owner to make sure the safety of the residents is not at risk,” Van Giesen said.
There are 29 units at the park, with a handful of units owned by residents. Warren owns the majority of trailers and rents them out for $450 to $650 a month.
Police say they are responding to the mobile home park too often for the number of residents living there. Officers were called 89 times between September 2003 and August 2004, according to police data. Firefighters were called 13 times in the same period.
Two other larger mobile home parks in the city have significantly lower numbers, police said.
For example, during the same time period a 34-unit park had seven calls and a 45-unit park had 20 calls.
“For a place its size, it is taxing police resources,” Lynnwood police Commander Paul Watkins said.
The city named the park a “high-crime area.” Warren and the residents who own trailers have to shake that title or be forced to move.
If by January the number of calls is more than 10 during a 30-day period, the park will be ordered to close, and Warren will have to give residents a year to vacate, according to the order sent Sept. 3.
A few residents who have caused problems in the past have been evicted, Warren said.
He questions, however, how he will be able to control the 911 calls. “I’m in the rental business not the police business,” he said.
The city says Warren can make better choices about who he allows to rent at the park.
As part of the order, the city will require him to do criminal background checks on all new tenants. The Lynnwood Police Department must review those checks, Van Giesen said.
“Given the number of police calls, we want (Warren) to use some management tools to control the number of people living there and be aware of their histories,” Van Giesen said. “We certainly aren’t going to tell him who can and can’t live there though.”
Warren said he has filed an appeal.
“I think they’re going overboard on some things,” he said. “It’s making it difficult to stay open.”
Diana Hefley is a reporter for The Herald in Everett.
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