The developer of Seven Oaks, the tony subdivision of townhouses and detached homes in Odenton, recently went to court to evict a handful of residents from the J&J Mobile Home Park, which has problems with unsafe water and sits uncomfortably close to the new development.
There appears little reason to doubt that developer Warren E. Halle will emerge victorious in the end. He gave ample notice to residents of the three-acre mobile home park that they would have to find other housing after unhealthy levels of radium were discovered in their water. The impending closure of another mobile park also underscores how difficult it is for Anne Arundel countians of modest circumstances to find accommodations in the lower end of the housing market.
The number of trailer parks in the county has steadily declined in recent years. As county real estate has become more valuable, land has been gobbled up for pricier housing complexes. Many other trailer parks disappeared to make room for commercial or industrial development. Or they disappeared because they were too close to growing Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Nevertheless, there are many county residents who can barely afford the less than $300 in rent that many trailer parks charge.