SPRINGFIELD – Residents at the Patrician Mobile Home Park feel like their ground is being pulled out from under them – literally, and Springfield City Council got an earful from park residents about it at the Sept. 16 meeting.
A request came to council from park owner Richard Boyle, who asked that the site be rezoned to mixed-use/mixed-use commercial zoning. But park residents fear they’ll be kicked to the curb without being compensated properly for their homes.
Last week’s meeting included a second reading of a proposal to rezone the 13.6-acre property on Game Farm Road; 30 people signed up to speak. The Patrician is a 55-and-older mobile home park of 80 mobile homes with 130 residents. The majority of the residents are elderly and/or disabled with low or fixed incomes.
Of the 30 people, only one, Mike Eyster, spoke in favor of the rezoning.
“The Patrician Court is destined to become a commercial site,” Eyster said. “It was purchased with the intent of someday making it a commercial site. The outstanding questions are when and how this transition will take place.”
Patrician resident Ron Meyers said his home was the first one installed at the park 49 years ago. He said his home had been appraised for sale with a value of between $64,000 and $70,000.
Meyers advocated for the city to pass an ordinance such as other communities such as Portland, Bend and Eugene have put in place, which would require fair compensation for the value of their homes beyond the minimum $8,000 allowed by the state.
If “I only get $8,000 for that home, that is 12-and-a-half cents for each dollar my home is worth,” Meyers said. “That is theft. You’re stealing homes. You have the power right here, right now to solve this, for not just the Patrician, but for every mobile home park in the city of Springfield.”
Homeless advocate David Strahand said, “I think everybody knows that the $5,000 to $8,000 these people would be awarded for their homes is not enough to move and relocate them. These people stand to be my next clients. There is no housing available at that housing level.”
Linda Peterson said that many in Springfield are threatened with losing their homes. “It is so sad because I heard that there are 900 in Glenwood that could lose their homes,” she said.
“We’ve got over 130 residents at the Patrician that could lose their homes. What kind of cruel world do we live in? All of us someday will stand before the pearly gates, and St. Peter is going to take a look around and he is going to see these faces, and he is going to see Richard Boyle and I’m wondering if he is going to let you all in. Seriously. We’ve got to have a heart somewhere.”
Laurie Haber of Lane County Legal Aid proposed that the City of Springfield purchase the Patrician. She said it would be one solution that would work for all stakeholders. She said that then, “131 vulnerable seniors, most on fixed incomes, would not be displaced to substandard housing or homelessness.”
“Take care of these people. They’ve paid their dues. It isn’t easy getting old, ” Patrician resident Jimmy Teammate said. “We live on Social Security. We have no place to go,” echoed his wife Barbara Matejka.
Teresa Bishow, of Bishow Consulting, LLC, spoke on behalf of the applicant, Richard D. Boyles, manager of Urban Transitions, LLC, owner of The Patrician. She said that in 2007 a Springfield Conference Center Consortium, which included City of Springfield leaders, the Chamber of Commerce and Travel Lane County were tasked with identifying a suitable site: “A preferred site within the Springfield area and that included an examination of sites within Glenwood.” Bishow said. “After extensive due diligence, the Patrician Mobile Home Park emerged as the preferred site. We believe this remains a top priority for the stakeholders.”
The primary concerns heard in public testimony appear to be based on the assumption that denial of the zone change will preserve the Patrician Mobile Home Park, Bishow said.
“To reiterate, the city council’s denial of the applications will not result in long-term preservation,” Bishow said. “The property still has zoning that allows for redevelopment to occur, at a low-density residential use.”
IN OTHER BUSINESS
Hayden Bridge Meadows
Project update
After the discussion on The Patrician was closed, a resolution to create a public right-of-way of 306 feet from 5th Street between Q and T streets was introduced as business from the city manager, along with a related matter of allocating a $300,000 Community Development Block Grant loan to Homes for Good for the Hayden Bridge Meadows Project.
The right-of-way would give access into the Hayden Bridge Meadows Project located in the six lots of vacant land directly adjacent to the Fred Meyer on 5th Street. This project is sponsored by Homes for Good, formerly known as the Housing and Community Services Agency of Lane County, or HACSA. The multimillion-dollar housing project there is scheduled to be 12 residential buildings with 70 units of housing. One additional building will serve as a community area.
Planned are 19 two-bedroom, 34 three-bedroom and 17 one-bedroom units at the project. “Apartments will be targeted to very low and extremely low-income households including units targeted to persons living with HIV/AIDS,” according to an awarded request for proposals. Anticipated construction is scheduled to start in November 2019.
Glenwood low-income
housing project
Another multi-unit low-income housing project is planned for the future in Glenwood Place. This housing project will be located on lots between Franklin Boulevard and the river off North Brooklyn Street in Glenwood. The preliminary plan calls for 147 apartment units divided among three four-story buildings of 49 units each. The project is a combined effort of Homes for Good Housing Agency and Cornerstone Community Housing.
