A Community Of Ohio Campers Were Kicked Out To Make Way For New Condos

Flickr / keepitsurrealLong-term residents of an Ohio campground were told they have until May to pack up and move on down the road, the Sun News' Bruce Geiselman reports.

North Ridgeville's city council approved a deal with Ridgeville Three LLC to expand a nearby luxury apartment complex. Residents were served a notice earlier this month that they had three days to leave the property. That has since been extended to one month.

“Most of us are on fixed or zero income,” a 10-year resident of the campgrounds told Sun News. “It’s difficult to give somebody three days notice.”

To add insult to injury, some of the camp-dwellers were so desperate for more time that they were reportedly scammed into paying a man who claimed to work with the property owner's management company and promised them an extension.

Redwood later sent residents a letter saying they "were never advised" of the person's role.

Many residents of the campground have trailer homes and live there all year.

The residents said they didn't have formal leases, but did pay monthly rent to the campground. According to the Ohio Landlord-Tenant Act, a landlord can end a month-to-month lease that is not in writing by giving the tenant 30-days notice. That likely explains why the new property owners backpedaled and extended their deadline to a month.

Previous stories in the Sun News indicate that the mayor had threatened to close down the park for at least eight years before the development deal was finalized and had criticized it for being poorly maintained. But the campground's owner and city officials feared the dozen or so permanent residents wouldn't have a place to go.

“Redwood Management and the mayor say our campground is an ‘eyesore’ … to us, those [apartments] are an eyesore,” a resident told The Chronicle-Telegram. “Variety is the spice of life.”