HOT SPRINGS – The condition of the town’s various trailer parks and the age of the trailer homes within those parks was discussed once again at the Hot Springs City Council meeting held last week on Tuesday, Sept. 8, when it was brought up during Communication from the Public.
Jody Stone, who lives in Grandview Trailer Park along Canton Avenue, first asked the council if he could get a copy of the rules and regulations for trailer homes and also when the city had decided to establish the maximum age for a trailer home to be within the city limits.
After being told he could get a copy of the regulations by going to city hall, City Administrator Aerial Allison responded to his second question and told him that there is a pending ordinance change which addresses the age of a trailers, but that it only applies to trailers that are going to be moved into city. Allison said that currently the city is going with 1976 as the potential cutoff year, since that is when the federal HUD standards were put into place. She later added, that in addition to being built after 1976, trailers must also pass an inspection.
Stone then restated his request to see the city’s regulations for trailer parks, because he was being evicted by the Grandview Trailer Park management company for ongoing issues which he felt he has been adequately addressing over the past two years.
“We can certainly get you that information but I would be hesitant to think that we are the reason you are being evicted,” responded Allison. “The standards we asked the trailer court owner to follow were having adequate water and sewer, clean premises – nothing that would evict someone, in my opinion.”
City Finance Officer Misty Summers-Walton again clarified that the pending ordinance changes only refer to trailers being moved into the city and that any existing trailers were “grandfathered in” and are not subject to the pending 1976 requirement.
When Stone told the council that he was first told to address some concerns by the trailer park owners two years ago, and then was given an eviction notice six months ago, Councilman Dave Burris said the city council was not even discussing any changes to trailer park ordinance until very recently.
“Sir, it sounds to me that the trailer park is using the city as it’s scapegoat,” Burris said.
“Yeah, they’re the ones that are pretty much saying that the city is requiring this,” Stone responded.
A meeting was to take place at City Hall with Stone and City Administrator Allison the following afternoon to discuss the matterfurtherandtoprovide Stone the requirements for trailer parks. In a followup with Allison on Monday, Sept. 14, she said Stone was understanding of the situation during their meeting and was appreciative of receiving the requested information.
Despite arriving to the council meeting shortly after Communications from the Public was held, city resident Theresa Rutz was given the opportunity to speak on the topic as well. Rutz, who is a local realtor, asked the council to not give trailer park owners any additional allowances by permitting trailer homes built in the 1990s or later to be moved into the city.
Rutz said she was responding to an article she read in the Fall River County Herald-Star which covered the Aug. 3 council meeting when Zach Dixon, who owns the El Rancho Trailer Court as well as the trailer court by the city’s water fill station, attended via phone and asked the city to reconsider a proposed ordinance change to not accept any trailers into the city which were older than 20 years. This is the same ordinance change that City Administrator Allison addressed earlier in this meeting which was now being considered to prevent trailers older than 50 years old to be brought into the city limits.
At that Aug. 3 meeting, Dixon, as well as Martin Melenke of Hot Springs, both asked the city to extend their consideration to allow trailers built in the 1990s, which met standards to be allowed into the city to ensure more affordable housing options for residents.
Rutz’s concerns were based on her experiences with having home listings near the Dixon-owned trailer park by the city’s water fill station, which she called their conditions “embarrassing” for the community. She said trailers built in the 1990s were too old and that trailer park owners should be held to higher standards rather than lower standards.
City Administrator Allison told Rutz that currently there is not an age requirement for trailers on the books, but as she said earlier in the meeting, the city is considering an ordinance change that would make 1976 as the cutoff date, provided the trailer also pass a third-party inspection and meet certain other standards.
Councilman Burris however chimed in and said the city is still also considering 2006 as a potential cutoff date as well, but nothing has been decided. Allison however clarified and said that the current proposal being considered by Public Works only takes into consideration the 1976 cutoff but still passing the thirdparty inspection, as well as by Code Enforcement Officer Wesley Foss.
“A big part of this discussion is affordable housing,” added Finance Officer Summers-Walton. “And if there is something that meets HUD standards and passes our inspection and is more affordable to go into an existing mobile home park, I don’t know why you would want to restrict that.”
When asked how soon this potential ordinance change would take effect, Allison responded and said likely not until December, if the process started now, since there are many steps to a zoning ordinance change of this nature. Mayor Nelson said more discussions will be taking place during the Planning & Zoning Committee meetings.
On Monday, Allison said she expects Planning & Zoning to have a hearing on the topic on Oct. 21, with the city council having a hearing and first reading of the ordinance change at its Nov. 2 regular meeting.