Mobile park raises ire Neighbors try to stop sale; developer sues township

1. Mobile park raises ireNeighbors try to stop sale; developer sues township By Amy Lee / The Detroit News http://www.detnews.com/2002/oakland/0211/10/b04-6408.htm

2. Shannon Carravallah, left, Tim Murphy and Chris Nordman survey the property behind their homes where a developer wants to build a 600-unit mobile home park. Carravallah, Nordman and other neighbors are supporting efforts to block the development.

3. Farmer Ralph Ruggles owns the land where the developer wants to build a mobile home park. He says farming is no longer a viable option for his family to make a living and he resents neighbors who have lobbied to stop the sale. "It kinda grinds me that (neighbors) like to look at a farm, but they don't want to pay for it," said Ruggles, who bought the property in 1951. "If we were losing it, nobody would help me pay the taxes."

4. White Lake officials and residents who oppose the manufactured housing development argue the rezoning is inconsistent with the township's master plan and is inconsistent with surrounding land use patterns, among other reasons. Further, the township has no plans to service the area with sanitary sewer or water, and both township officials and residents voiced grave concerns about the environmental impact of community wells and a septic field servicing the 300 to 600 manufactured homes. Residents say the conflict and lawsuit have caused ill feelings to fester between longtime neighbors who've heretofore enjoyed each other and the natural beauty of the remote area, which is served mostly by dirt roads, said Chris Nordman. "He's no longer a neighbor. He has no consideration for us," Nordman said. But Ruggles says those neighbors are interfering with his right to make a profit from his property. "I know this doesn't make my neighbors too terribly thrilled, but that's happened time and time again. They feel like, 'I'm out here now, so let's close the door,' " Ruggles said