Editorial: Bill would help prevent Sky-Vue-type travesties

Monday, May 2, 2005 | 9:20 a.m.

A year ago this newspaper exposed the squalid living conditions at the Sky-Vue Mobile Home Park at 15 Owens Ave. in Las Vegas, near the Salvation Army. The city eventually evacuated the residents and tore down the five-acre park's 100 trailers. The park evolved into a fire and health hazard in part because agencies responsible for enforcing city and state codes were not communicating with each other.

Assembly Bill 343 would help prevent such a communication gap in the future. The bill calls for the state Division of Manufactured Housing to be notified in the event of any violation at a mobile home park. The division is responsible for the safety of the mobile homes, while other jurisdictions -- cities, counties, health districts -- often inspect only the land on which the homes sit. Sky-Vue might have been acted upon earlier if division inspectors had seen the leaky sewer pipes and electrical problems affecting the homes, and the garden hoses that were supplying their water.

The bill also allows local governments to collect any costs associated with emergency evacuations of tenants, allows state inspectors to levy fines for code violations and requires owners and managers of mobile home parks to attend classes on the standards that must be met and maintained.

Critics say this will lead many owners to close their parks and sell the land to home developers. But at Sky-Vue, we've all seen the consequences of lax and uncoordinated code enforcement. A Senate committee has approved the bill and we hope the full Legislature, too, sees its urgent need.