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Char Sherriff holds a crying Sharon Lee as they and other residents of Saddle Butte Mobile Manor react after the Douglas County Planning Commission approved Sid Leiken's proposed housing project. About 140 families may face eviction when the housing project is begun.
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ENLARGE
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Saddle Butte Residents Association President Mary Diedrich pats Planning Commisioner Brian Parkinson on the back after he cast the lone dissenting vote Thursday night against approving the new housing development at Saddle Butte Mobile Manor. At right is Richard Diedrich.
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The Douglas County Planning Commission on Thursday voted to approve an application to construct a housing development on land currently housing the Saddle Butte Mobile Manor.
The commission voted 5-1, with Commissioner Brian Parkinson opposed, to grant the request from L&H Lumber Co. to create 133 zero-lot-line, single-family homes over a three-phase project. The plans call for 140 mobile home spaces — about half of the entire mobile home park off Highway 99 in Winchester — to be replaced with stick-built homes.
At the same time, the commission rejected a condition recommended by the Douglas County Planning Department for L&H Lumber to pay residents of the mobile home park $2,000 each in moving expenses or to pay half of their actual relocation costs.
While several planning commissioners sympathized with the burden placed on residents forced to move because of the development, they said they were only following the law. They said landowners have the right to change the use of their property.
“The fundamental issue has been for me from the very beginning property rights, the ability of a person to own their property and to dispose of that property,” Chairman David Jaques said. “Whether that sounds callous or not, that is a foundation block to a free republic and is what sets us apart from all other nations of the world.”
The economic impact on the residents forced to move will be compounded, Parkinson said, by the lack of available space in other mobile home parks. Many of the mobile homes in the park are older models that he said don’t have much value and can’t be moved. That, he said, will create a great hardship.
“Most of these people fall into the underprivileged segment of the community, with many being elderly people dependent solely upon Social Security,” Parkinson said. “The argument that this will replace one form of affordable housing with another is ludicrous for those individuals who now reside in Saddle Butte Park, especially when starting unit prices for these new homes has been quoted ... in the high 100,000-dollar range.”
The commission voted 5-1, with Commissioner Brian Parkinson opposed, to grant the request from L&H Lumber Co. to create 133 zero-lot-line, single-family homes over a three-phase project. The plans call for 140 mobile home spaces — about half of the entire mobile home park off Highway 99 in Winchester — to be replaced with stick-built homes.
At the same time, the commission rejected a condition recommended by the Douglas County Planning Department for L&H Lumber to pay residents of the mobile home park $2,000 each in moving expenses or to pay half of their actual relocation costs.
While several planning commissioners sympathized with the burden placed on residents forced to move because of the development, they said they were only following the law. They said landowners have the right to change the use of their property.
“The fundamental issue has been for me from the very beginning property rights, the ability of a person to own their property and to dispose of that property,” Chairman David Jaques said. “Whether that sounds callous or not, that is a foundation block to a free republic and is what sets us apart from all other nations of the world.”
The economic impact on the residents forced to move will be compounded, Parkinson said, by the lack of available space in other mobile home parks. Many of the mobile homes in the park are older models that he said don’t have much value and can’t be moved. That, he said, will create a great hardship.
“Most of these people fall into the underprivileged segment of the community, with many being elderly people dependent solely upon Social Security,” Parkinson said. “The argument that this will replace one form of affordable housing with another is ludicrous for those individuals who now reside in Saddle Butte Park, especially when starting unit prices for these new homes has been quoted ... in the high 100,000-dollar range.”
About 50 people attended the hearing. Several people walked up to Parkinson and shook his hand as they left the meeting room in the Douglas County Courthouse.
“I’m pretty much disappointed,” Saddle Butte resident Sheila Lawrence said while promising there would be an appeal to the county Board of Commissioners. “We’re not going to do down. If we do, we’re going to go down fighting.”
Lawrence and other residents said they planned to continue their efforts to purchase the park. Under Oregon law, mobile home park residents have the right to negotiate with the landowner to buy the park.
Mobile home residents who are displaced must be given at least six months to move once they’ve been given notice. Under state law, landowners do not have to provide relocation expenses if they provide at least a year’s notice.
Despite the land use application, L&H officials previously said they had not made a decision on whether to move forward with the housing project. Thus far, residents have not been given a notice to vacate.
On Saturday, a meeting of the Saddle Butte Residents Association will be held to provide information on the Planning Commission decision and to discuss the positive and negative effects of forming a housing cooperative. A vote will be taken on whether to form a co-op or an incorporated, nonprofit association.
Several outside experts who have worked with mobile home residents in other parts of the state will also speak.
The gathering will take place from 1 to 3:45 p.m. at the New Beginnings Christian Assembly, 518 N.E. Nash St., Roseburg.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
“I’m pretty much disappointed,” Saddle Butte resident Sheila Lawrence said while promising there would be an appeal to the county Board of Commissioners. “We’re not going to do down. If we do, we’re going to go down fighting.”
Lawrence and other residents said they planned to continue their efforts to purchase the park. Under Oregon law, mobile home park residents have the right to negotiate with the landowner to buy the park.
Mobile home residents who are displaced must be given at least six months to move once they’ve been given notice. Under state law, landowners do not have to provide relocation expenses if they provide at least a year’s notice.
Despite the land use application, L&H officials previously said they had not made a decision on whether to move forward with the housing project. Thus far, residents have not been given a notice to vacate.
On Saturday, a meeting of the Saddle Butte Residents Association will be held to provide information on the Planning Commission decision and to discuss the positive and negative effects of forming a housing cooperative. A vote will be taken on whether to form a co-op or an incorporated, nonprofit association.
Several outside experts who have worked with mobile home residents in other parts of the state will also speak.
The gathering will take place from 1 to 3:45 p.m. at the New Beginnings Christian Assembly, 518 N.E. Nash St., Roseburg.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
