Residents of the Hoback RV Park south of Jackson have started a petition to extend their leases through the winter, seeking to stay in one place through the remainder of the winter.
Late last month, the approximately 30 residents of Hoback RV Park were informed that their leases would not be renewed at the end of December.
Crowley Capital, minority owners of the RV park, plan to replace the community's septic tank. The new, smaller septic tank will be in line with state and federal regulations, but won't be able to support as many residences. Crowley Capital cited guidance from the Department of Environmental Quality and the local permitting process as reasons for the short notice in a recent press release.
Inanna Reistad, a resident of the RV park, started an online petition asking for an extension to her and her neighbors' leases to last through the winter. The petition now has more than 1200 signatures.
"We totally understand that they [Crowley Capital and MV Farms I, LLC] own this property, that they have future ideas about development. That's great. We understand that," Reistad said. "The point of the petition is that it's not just to kick out elderly, disabled, at-risk folks in the middle of winter."
Reistad said it's no easy task to move a mobile home that's been winterized. And the ever present coronavirus makes moving all that more risky for elderly, disabled and at-risk residents.
"It seems very myopic," she said. "I think these people see an end result, which is them making money, and they don't really understand the full picture and the implications of what they're doing to these people in the middle of winter, in the middle of a pandemic."
After some public outcry, Crowley Capital has made alternative temporary housing available at another location, starting Dec. 8. But, as it stands, the residents will have to move a second time in a few months when those new, temporary leases are up.
