Residents of mobile home park have 18 mos. to move Rt. 35 and Wyckoff Rd. site to be developed into commercial lot BY DANIEL HOWLEY Staff Writer EATONTOWN - Residents of the Circle Trailer Sales and Court Mobile Home Park are seeking additional time to remain at the Route 35 and Wyckoff Road site of their homes. The residents were told that they have until Aug. 26 to remove their mobile homes from the 6-acre lot to make way for a commercial redevelopment project, according to Jacky Strasser, a resident of the mobile home park. "We are working to get an extension," said Strasser. "It could end up being two and a half years instead of 18 months." James Tarella, attorney representing residents of the mobile home park, said requests will be filed within the next few months to extend the 18-month limit the group has been given to find a new location for their homes. Tarella explained that if the requests are denied, the owners of the site can take the residents of the mobile home park to the Monmouth County Tenant and Landlord Court to seek eviction. At court, the presiding judge will see that the residents filed requests for more time to remain at the site and could grant an extension, according to Tarella. "If the residents have made the appropriate relocation requests, the court can give them more time," Tarella said, explaining that the residents can be granted a maximum extension of five and a half years. Plans call for the site of the mobile home park to be sold to a new owner and the property be redeveloped for commercial purposes. The current owners of the property, Robert Freibaum and Randi LaFountain, declined to name the potential buyer of the land. Allen Kann, a representative of the potential new owner of the site, told residents at a Feb. 22 meeting that they will be offered compensation packages that will be negotiated on an individual basis, according to Strasser. "[Kann] said that they are going to be fair and that they would talk to each person individually in reference to what needs they have and there would be a compensation package," Strasser said. "Within a month or two, they are going to make appointments to talk with residents to discuss what, if anything, they would get for relocation or compensation for our homes," Strasser said. The residents of Circle Trailer Park received Notice of Termination of Occupancy letters last week stating that the site of the mobile home park will be developed for a commercial use. "The landlord, and or its successors, will be permanently closing the park and will retire [it] permanently from residential use," Michael Vitiello, attorney for Freibaum and LaFountain, said in the letters. The site will no longer be used for residential housing and will be converted into space for a commercial shopping center to include retail uses such as a commercial drug and convenience store and an electronics retailer, according to Vitiello. The notice of termination gives residents 18 months to vacate the park premises. The residents of the park were given the opportunity to purchase the land from the park's landlords in December after learning of the potential sale of the property. The estimated 70 residents of the mobile home community were unable to afford the $7.6 million price tag. Mayor Gerald Tarantolo explained to residents in January that if the park is sold, it could be developed as a commercial use because it is zoned as a B2 Business and Mobile Homes zone. The dual zoning allows for the site to be developed for commercial uses, according to Tarantolo. The borough does not plan to pursue any legal action against the sale of the property, according to Tarantolo, who explained that the sale is legal. Tarantolo said the borough will offer advice to residents on how to obtain forms for affordable housing and what kind of legal recourse is available to them.