OCTOBER 12, 2000 - Director Kathy Wilbur announced today that the Michigan Department of Consumer & Industry Services is notifying Buchanan Mobile Home Park that it has five days to submit a plan of how it intends to cease operations or face possible legal action.

CIS has notified the attorney for Arie Dystra, d/b/a/ Buchanan Mobile Home Park, that its 1999-2000 license for 55 sites has expired.  CIS is ordering the owner to submit a plan within five days to the agency's Manufactured Housing & Land Development Division detailing steps that will e taken to cease operations as required by the Michigan Mobile Home Commission Act.

One of the three electrical systems in Buchanan, which services 22 homes on the Grand Rapids side and 5 homes in Wyoming, has not been functioning and resulted in eviction notices by the local municipalities.  CIS has been working with the cities of Wyoming and Grand Rapids, which share a common boundary running through the mobile home park. Also involved are the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the Kent County Health Department, both of which have conducted inspections of the property.

"CIS has not received a license renewal for Buchanan Mobile Home Park so we have no alternative but to notify the owner to take steps to cease operations," Wilbur said.  "Our first priority is the safety and well-being of the families, some of whom have already been forced from their homes as a result of power outages.  We have been evaluating our legal options and favor a more reasonable approach to closing this mobile home park which will allow the residents of the remaining 18 homes to relocate, rather than ordering an immediate eviction."

Wilbur said the department will take action in the event Buchanan Mobile Home Park does not comply with CIS' notice.

Read more Michigan Department of Consumer & Industry Services press releases.