Resident comments give developer pause

LOWELL — Residents could be facing another manufactured home neighborhood in the heart of the city even after expressing their concerns to the city.

Planning Commission on Monday considered a request to rezone a 12.5-acre plot intended to become McClure Mobile Home Park at 406 McClure Ave., property that is only twotenths of a mile from City Hall.

The request was withdrawn after a contentious public hearing.

“We just got rid of that trailer park, why put another in?” resident Melissa Craig said in a written complaint to the city.

“A housing subdivision would be better suited for the area.”

A mobile home park existed on the same property in the past.

The manufactured home development would look similar to the prior one, but would have better maintenance, said Phil Swope, president of Swope Engineering.

He requested that the land be rezoned from estate single family and medium-density to manufactured housing.

Swope said in a letter to the Planning Department that the traffic increase expected was minimal and the project would include street improvements to widen McClure Street.

He encouraged those present in the public hearing to not judge the current project on the past experience with a different manager.

This development would be handled by Dixieland Renovations, which Swope said has a history of managing its properties well.

Another written complaint mentioned a trespassing issue from the current tenants of the property who, he said, cross the fences that border others’ private property.

“I think that single family [estate] is the best zone for this area,” resident Geraldine Neil said in a written objection.

Resident Loretta Wartgrue’s comments echoed that, saying that leaving it as single family zoning would be the best choice.

The problem is far more than how the project looks to passers- by, said Matt Bailey, Building Services director.

“This property currently is under condemnation,” Bailey said in an email prior to the Planning Commission meeting.

“Nothing should happen to this property until all the unsafe and unfit structures are removed from this property.”

Any development of the property would require replacing the existing utility infrastructure, Bailey said.

So far “this project has been progressing very slowly and the owners have not shown a willingness to comply,” he said.

Other residents, such as Kim B. Johnson, were far more concerned with the potential for their property values to decline. Johnson’s written submission simply said “future property values.”

“The appraisal is based on the homes around you,” said resident Melanie Wood. “I’m concerned … it would drastically drop the value of my property.”

Lloyd Showalter, a planning commissioner, said he, too, has concerns about the project.

“I’m not certain a mobile home park fits there,” James Milner, commission chairman, said. Thomas Kieklak, city attorney, clarified that commissioners referred to manufactured homes, not mobile homes, since the latter is a federally made structure built before 1976.

Milner recommended Swope revisit the matter with the title company and provide the commission with more information before the next Planning Commission meeting.

Swope withdrew the rezoning request at that time.

Kris Sullivan, planning and economic director, said letters of notice will not go out to surrounding residents prior to the next meeting as they did this time, but residents will have a chance to speak at the next meeting as well.

Another written complaint mentioned a trespassing issue from the current tenants of the property who, he said, cross the fences that border others’ private property.