FARMINGTON — Mobile home park residents urged the Farmington Select Board on July 14 to support limits on annual lot rent increases, while park owners warned that rent controls could discourage investment and make properties harder to maintain.

The proposed ordinance would tie allowable increases to the consumer price index, establish an appeals process for larger increases and create a municipal rent stabilization board.

Supporters said manufactured-home owners who rent their lots face a particular financial risk because they own their homes but not the land beneath them. Moving a manufactured home can be costly, difficult or impossible, leaving residents with few options when lot rents rise.

Residents of Cascade Leisure Park said rising rents are placing pressure on retirees, people with disabilities and households living on fixed incomes.

“We don’t want to be priced out of our homes or unable to pay the land rent or unable to afford to move our homes,” resident Lynn Pieran told the board.

Pieran suggested limiting annual increases to about 3% and requiring 90 days’ notice.

Representatives of Guardian Communities, which owns the Cascade, Sunrise and Westwood parks, disputed claims that the company’s increases have been excessive. They said Guardian has complied with state law and argued that rent limits could prevent owners from covering rising insurance, utility and maintenance costs.

Managing partner Zach Rabin said the proposal would address “a problem that hasn’t started” in Farmington and warned that restrictions could interfere with property maintenance and future investment.

Board members questioned whether the ordinance would duplicate protections adopted by the state, how appeals would be handled and whether Farmington would need another volunteer board. They also raised concerns about the amount of financial information park owners might have to provide when seeking approval for a larger increase.

The board took no formal action on the proposal.

Town Manager Erica LaCroix said afterward that town staff determined the ordinance does not fall under zoning or land-use review. Although staff initially discussed whether it might go before the Planning Board, supporters instead chose to pursue a citizen petition.

Town Clerk Diane Dunham said residents may petition the Select Board to call a special town meeting or place the proposed ordinance on a secret ballot at the next general election.

The petition must contain verified signatures from at least 324 registered Farmington voters, equal to 10% of the votes cast in town during the most recent gubernatorial election, Dunham said.

Petitioners seeking a secret-ballot referendum must state that request in the petition. Without that language, the Select Board could choose whether to send the proposal to an open town meeting or a secret-ballot vote.

To place the ordinance on the Nov. 3 ballot, the petition must be filed by Sept. 4. The town clerk’s office must verify the signatures before the petition is presented to the Select Board.

A petitioned referendum article also would require a public hearing at least 10 days before the election, with public notice issued at least seven days before the hearing.

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