Commission Votes Down Trailer Park Ordinance
Tuesday September 12, 2006
By CAMDEN EASTERLING Chronicle Staff Writer
Residents of Bridger View Mobile Home Park are still in limbo after a decision Monday by the Bozeman City Commission. The commission voted 3-2 against an interim ordinance that would have prevented the park owner from using the land for little else than a mobile home site for six months to 2½ years.
“While my heart is really heavy and with the people,” Commissioner Kaaren Jacobson said, “I think in the long run, the best thing to do is skip the interim ordinance and go straight to a relocation plan (for the residents and their trailers) with the developer.”
State law lets cities enact temporary restrictions as a way to give officials “breathing room” while they study a change in zoning, City Attorney Paul Luwe told the commissioners.
Bozeman development company GoBuild Inc. wants to raze the park and place a new neighborhood, including single-family homes, on the land as part of its redevelopment of the Story Mill.
But GoBuild hasn’t yet purchased the property from Bridger View owner Linda Holland.
Bridger View residents now must wait and see what decisions GoBuild and Holland make.
Passing the ordinance likely would have given Bridger View residents false hope that the city would permanently eliminate their need to relocate, Jacobson said, echoing the sentiments of other commissioners.
Commissioners voting against the ordinance also stated that adopting the delay would have created a gray area in terms of interfering with private property rights and unfairly changing zoning regulations on a developer.
Some commissioners, however, said they hated to see the loss of an affordable-housing option. Homes in the Story Mill redevelopment would be significantly more expensive than the trailers.
“I don’t know why this needs to go into a fancy development,” Commissioner Steve Kirchhoff said.
Commissioner Jeff Rupp, who voted with Kirchhoff in favor of the restriction, also pointed out that the ordinance would apply to any area in the city zoned as “residential manufactured home communities.”
The city could benefit from taking the time provided by an interim ordinance to figure out how to handle future development plans similar to GoBuild’s, Rupp said.
He described turning down the temporary ordinance as “a lost opportunity.”
The company has said that it will move slowly through the planning and development process and that residents wouldn’t have to leave the property for some time.
GoBuild late last week submitted a letter to the city outlining options for relocating the more than 90 trailers in Bridger View.
But neither commissioners nor developers mentioned details of those plans Monday night.
Only two people other than a representative for the developer addressed the commission at the sparsely attended meeting.
“It’s the dirtiest business I’ve ever seen in my life,” Bridger View resident Ken Kraft said of GoBuild’s plans and the way the company deals with trailer park residents.
A former resident of the park also expressed concern about the future of people living in Bridger View.
Commissioners said they were interested in developing a binding relocation plan with GoBuild.
The commission, during a work session before the meeting, also talked about an offer from private developers to buy city-owned land and develop a mobile home park.
Stockyard LLC of Bozeman wants to buy about 8 acres of city land on North Rouse Avenue, near the city shops complex on North Bozeman Avenue.
Commissioners made no firm decisions, but several officials said they were interested in the idea.
Camden Easterling is at ceasterling@dailychronicle.com
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