By: Rose White
CLINTON COUNTY, MI – A court ordered the owner of a Lansing-area mobile home park to continue providing water to tenants who faced shutoffs after being given only days to move out of their houses.
Clinton County 29th Circuit Court Judge Shannon Schlegel also issued a temporary restraining order Thursday, June 26 that bars any demolition while there are pending lawsuits against the park, according to the Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center, a housing advocacy group.
The ruling comes after the residents of Kristana Manufactured Home Park, located in DeWitt Township about five miles north of Lansing, were told on March 27 they had four days to leave, by April 1, due to “declining occupancy rates and the inability to maintain the community’s infrastructure.”
Then on April 2, they say the water was shut off.
Some residents scrambled to move out and were given $2,000 in relocation assistance. But three of the remaining park residents, who have lived with the water shutoff for 85 days, responding by filing lawsuits against Kristana Estates LLC. They were seeking court intervention to get the water turned back on and prevent any demolition work.
“This ruling gives us room to breathe,” said Jason Eldridge, who has lived at Kristana for more than five years, in a statement. “But we’re not backing down. All of us own our homes. We’ve poured our savings, time, and lives into them. What they’re doing to us isn’t (just) wrong, it’s illegal.”
Park owner Ara Darakjian has apologized for how the situation unfolded and says the water was shut off because the infrastructure “decayed to the point that it is inoperable.” He closed the 60-year-old park, that had fallen into disrepair under previous owners, with plans to raze it and redevelop it with new manufactured houses.
Darakjian said prior to Thursday’s hearing the park developed a system to provide running water to the remaining residents. A temporary water supply was provided on June 18.
“We agreed to continue to deliver water while the case is pending. We also agreed to not begin demolition until all residents have moved, which could and would not have happened while they remained anyway,” he said in a statement.
Demolition has not started yet, according to the park ownership.
But Darakjian said the park has been unable to negotiate relocation with the remaining tenants so the “only remaining solution” is to begin eviction proceedings.
“We are sorry that it has reached this point but look forward to offering a new solution for affordable homes once the redevelopment is complete,” he said.
The project, which promises to revitalize a distressed mobile home park with a new stock of affordable housing, secured a $2 million earmark in the state budget last year. But after the abrupt closure, state Rep. Emily Dievendorf, a Democrat who sponsored the grant, says the funding has been paused.
The Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center, a housing organization that has been pushing for evictions to be halted and water restored, celebrated Thursday’s court decision.
“This ruling confirms what we’ve known all along — that denying people water is unacceptable and that attempting to tear down homes while residents are still living in the community is a clear violation of their rights,” said the organization’s executive director Khadja Erickson in a statement.
“We are grateful the court stepped in to stop further harm, but it should never have come to this. This is a temporary protection — not justice. That part still has to be won.”
Residents have also been demanding an investigation because Kristana Manufactured Home Park has been unlicensed since Oct. 1, 2024. The penalty for operating an unlicensed park is up to one year in jail or a $500 fine per day.
The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs last said it has an open compliance file on the park and referred the case to the Michigan Attorney General and Clinton County Prosecutor for criminal enforcement. Neither responded to requests for comment.