Bob's Trailer Court owners seek to remedy missteps in planned closure

Randy Petersen, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
Updated ·3 min read

Apr. 13—ROCHESTER — A May 15 public hearing is being proposed to make way for the official closure of Bob's Trailer Park in southeast Rochester.

The park's owner, Pennsylvania-based TSJ Parks LLC, announced in September that it was

planning to close the park,

but the notice fell short of legal requirements.

In a Sept. 12, 2022, letter to TSJ Parks partner Scott Kramer, Olmsted County Senior Assistant Attorney Tom Canan said the notifications, which included

10-day notices posted on trailers

, were insufficient.

"As noted previously, your expressed intention to redevelop the property as soon as next summer is not consistent with the 12-month-notice requirement to government agencies with jurisdiction over the park, sending the required notice to park residents, having the City of Rochester hold a public hearing requirement regarding the proposed closure and the process to appoint a qualified neutral third party to handle compensation disputes with residents caused by the planned closure of the park," he wrote.

Since then, the owners

evicted the majority of legal residents

due to missed rent payments and took steps to remove and discourage squatters that had been found on the park located at 1915 Marion Road SE.

In a March 23, 2023, letter to the city and Olmsted County, Rochester attorney Travis Ohly said

four residents remain

in the park, living in three trailers.

Ohly's letter, which was sent on behalf of TSJ Parks, seeks to meet legal requirements for notification of the park's closure, which comes with a required public hearing.

A hearing is typically required nine to 12 months before official closure of a park, but Ohly pointed out that the four tenants have already signed agreements to vacate the park by May 31, 2023, pointing to plans for a vacant site by June.

"These agreements provide the residents and owners with financial consideration to assist in their respective moves and to compensate them for their trailers and personal property," he wrote in the letter to the city and county.

The agreements, which stem from lawsuits filed by the tenants after water service to the park was discontinued in November, call for varying levels of relocation expenses and funding for the next year of housing.

The park, which has 16 previously rented trailers and several that were owned by occupants, had been cited by city rental inspectors and public health officials prior to TSJ Parks announcing closure, but after water was turned off on Nov. 17, 2022, following damage to due to the inability to secure the city's water meter, scrutiny and legal proceedings increased.

Olmsted County District Court Referee Erin Felten ordered TSJ Parks to restore water in December, but the company's property manager, Cassandra Jakobson of Jakobson Property Management, said doing so would have required extensive repairs to the damaged house where the water meter was located.

Since the

loss of water,

the company have reportedly been providing legal tenants with bottled water.

Kramer said the company didn't plan to close the park when it was purchased for $1.3 million in 2021. He said the goal was to make needed repairs and upgrades, but the company struggled to make it happen.

Last year, the company unsuccessfully attempted to sell the property through an auction, and Kramer said owners decided to redevelop the property, planning a 30-unit low-income, senior housing complex.

In his letter to the city and county, Ohly confirmed TSJ Parks hopes to create income-based housing, pointing to the potential for seeking state tax credits to help fund the project.

No plans for development have been filed with the city.

The Rochester City Council will be asked on Monday to confirm the May 15 date for the planned public hearing. The council meets at 7 p.m. Monday in council chambers of the city-county Government Center.