More than two dozen Vernon County families forced to move out of mobile homes

The sewage system is leaking into the groundwater in the park, but the owner's attorney says replacing the system is "not tenable"

FRANKLIN, Wis. (WKBT) – More than two dozen Vernon County families are being told they need to move within the next few months.

Imagine buying a home, thinking it would be the best place to spend the rest of your life.

That was the case for Sheila Perrigo and her fiancée, who not too long ago bought a mobile home in the Town of Franklin near Viroqua.

“We bought it last September as an investment for a retirement home,” Perrigo said.

But her residence at her newest home won’t last longer than a year.

“Everything that we started doing in our remodel is just wasted,” Perrigo said.

Attorney Sarah Fortune, who represents the owner of Green Acres Mobile Home Estate, tells News 8 Now in a statement in part that the Vernon County Zoning and Sanitation Department decided all of the wastewater treatment systems in the park must be either abandoned or replaced. She added replacing the system is “not tenable.”

A document from the Zoning and Sanitation Department says it costs $90,000 to replace the entire sewage system.

The owner says he doesn’t have enough money to replace the system.

“The seepage of the septic tank is going into different waterways in different directions I believe,” Perrigo said.

So that means the park has to shut down.

That leaves residents like Perrigo with no other choice but to leave.

“I’m going to stay with one of my adult children,” she said. “Until I can find housing somewhere, somehow, that’s the only options we have.”

Perrigo says she is also responsible for moving her trailer, but is hoping she can have it torn down at a lower price.

“There is no money to move these old trailers,” she said. “And if we did have the money to move them, there is no place to move them to.”

The park is divided into an upper and lower section. People living in the upper park must move out by September 30. Those who live in the lower park, like Sheila, need to leave by October 29.

“I fear there’s a lot of people about to be homeless,” Perrigo said.

All of the planning and all of the investments now appear to be gone.

“It’s going to hurt us badly,” Perrigo said.

With just little time left to find a new home.

News 8 Now contacted the Zoning and Sanitation Department, but we did not hear back.

There is a GoFundMe page to help Sheila and the other families.

COPYRIGHT 2021 BY NEWS 8 NOW/NEWS 8000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.