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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 01 Mobile Manufactured Home Parks AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: 11/12/2013 Meeting Type: Work Session Staff Contact/Dept.: Courtney Griesel, Economic Development Jeff Towery, Assistant City Manager Staff Phone No: 736-7132, 726-3627 Estimated Time: 20 minutes S P R I N G F I E L D C I T Y C O U N C I L Council Goals: Community and Economic Development and Revitalization ITEM TITLE: MOBILE/MANUFACTURED HOME PARKS ACTION REQUESTED: None at this time. ISSUE STATEMENT: Earlier this year, staff met with area housing advocates to further explore a united effort in anticipating the needs of those residents potentially affected by future park closures or related issues. As no park closures are currently anticipated, staff is working to explore different options and resources from a broad perspective. ATTACHMENTS: Attachment 1 – Mobile/Manufactured Home Park Council Briefing Memo, November 2013 Attachment 2 – South Willamette Valley Regional Solutions Team Mobile Home Park Issue Paper DISCUSSION/ FINANCIAL IMPACT: While no park closures in Springfield are currently identified, City staff continues to explore possible issues facing mobile home parks in the area. Some issues are related to impacts of potential redevelopment, while others are related to aging park infrastructure and aging residential structures. Because of these issues, staff continues to engage with area and state housing advocates in an effort to generate reliable resources and information for citizens concerned with, or impacted by, park closure. Near and future efforts proposed by City staff and state partners are discussed in further detail in Attachment 1 and include; • Formation of a statewide working taskforce. On November 8th, City and State staff presented concerns and requested support from the Regional Solutions Team Advisory Committee. Attachment 2 is the Issue Paper presented during the November 8th meeting. • Investigation of land-banking opportunities and partnerships. Next Steps: Staff will continue to work on fostering partnerships and developing resources to support citizens impacted by park closures in the future. Council will be updated as to the progress of the working task force as well as land-banking exploration. M E M O R A N D U M City of Springfield 11/7/2013Page 1 Attachment 1, Page 1 of 2 M E M O R A N D U M City of Springfield Date: 11/12/2013 To: Gino Grimaldi From: CMO, Courtney Griesel CMO, Jeff Towery BRIEFING Subject: Mobile/Manufactured Home Parks MEMORANDUM ISSUE: Earlier this year, Staff met with area housing advocates to further explore a united effort in anticipating the needs of those residents potentially affected by future park closures or related issues. As no park closures are currently anticipated, Staff is working to explore different options and resources from a broad perspective. COUNCIL GOALS/ MANDATE: Encourage Economic Development and Revitalization through Community Partnerships DISCUSSION: While no park closures in Springfield are currently identified, City staff continues to explore possible issues facing mobile home parks in the area. Some issues are related to impacts of potential redevelopment, while others are related to aging park infrastructure and aging residential structures. Because of these issues, staff continues to engage with area and state housing advocates in an effort to generate reliable resources and information for citizens concerned with, or impacted by, park closure. Described below are near future efforts proposed by City staff and state partners. • Formation of a statewide working taskforce. The South Willamette Valley Regional Solutions Team is assembled by Governor Kitzhaber to allow regional leaders and citizens to leverage all available funding to complete the highest priority projects. With the recommendation from the Solutions Team Advisory Committee to make development of resources for communities impacted by mobile/manufactured park closure a priority and under the leadership of the State of Oregon Housing and Community Services Department, a working task force could be convened and charged with identifying and defining the pertinent issues impacting residents and their needs and solutions. The City of Springfield has been asked to take a leadership role on this Advisory Committee. If recommended as a priority by the Committee, possible resource development might include resident and community education and compensation options as well as assistance with relocation, establishing home ownership and exploring alternative housing development. This work would be used to help guide cities around Oregon, including legislators and policy makers. By creating a statewide set of identified issues and needs, policy makers can be included in conversations regarding needed policy and programs to assist impacted communities and residents. • Investigation of land-banking opportunities and partnerships. The process of land-banking can be described as the assembly of property by a single entity for the purpose of future sale or development. City staff will begin to examine opportunities for acquiring property in Springfield for the purpose of incentivizing housing development for impacted residents. Part of the exploration might include; o Identification of specific parcels, areas of opportunity, and housing types. o Communication with area housing development partners to better understand their MEMORANDUM 11/7/2013 Page 2 Attachment 1, Page 2 of 2 interest and potential roles in housing development for impacted populations. o Clarity on level of incentive necessary to make development successful and beneficial to the intended partners, impacted residents, and community as a whole. These are only some of the many details to be explored by staff. REQUESTED ACTION: None at this time. The intent of this memo is to inform leadership and Council of the progress and direction of City efforts related to supporting community members impacted negatively by mobile/manufactured home park closure. Attachment 2, Page 1 of 1 Manufactured Home Parks in Glenwood The Glenwood Refinement Plan Update project was initiated by the City Council for the City of Springfield in 2008, as a way of furthering the Council Goal to “Facilitate the redevelopment of Springfield.” The planning project has two phases with the first completed and adopted. Updating this first phase included extensive citizen involvement with 18 Citizen Advisory Committee Meetings between March of 2009 and September of 2011. These meetings resulted in the recommended adoption of Phase 1 of the Glenwood Refinement Plan Update – Riverfront Area as follows: o 6/18/2012 - Ordinance Adopted by City Council o 9/5/2012 – Ordinance Adopted by Lane County Board of Commissioners o 9/5/2012 – Final Refinement Plan Adopted In Glenwood’s Phase 1 area, there are seven parks totaling approximately 470 individual spaces and 260 tax records. The differentiation between known individual spaces and individual tax records is an important indicator of a mix of vacant spaces and units not recognized by the assessor’s office as mobile homes (possibly RVs or camper trailers). The Phase 1 area encompasses the bulk of impacted mobile homes, but there are additional units within the residential core anticipated to remain LDR, either on single family lots or in a larger park. Mobile home parks across the State of Oregon wrestle with a number of issues ranging from aging structures and park infrastructure, resident health and safety , ground water contamination, environmental concerns, energy cost and consumption, and impacts of encroaching redevelopment. These parks often represent the most affordable housing options currently available to low- and very-low-income residents. The redevelopment of Glenwood provides the City of Springfield with an opportunity to create a tool kit of development options and resources for MH park residents, owners and developers within the context of the refinement plan and regional housing goals. These problems are not unique to Springfield, but exist throughout Oregon and require strategic and innovative solutions. The Springfield City Council has instructed city staff to develop tools for assisting residents faced with relocation when their park is impacted by redevelopment. The following questions need to be explored and the South Willamette Valley Regional Solutions Team would like to assist with this process. The City of Springfield welcomes this support and assistance: o What, if any, additional relocation assistance can be provided? o How can we best engage the residents and community to gain a mutual understanding of the types of housing needed or desired? o How can we engage the development community in understanding the limitations and constraints to developing new housing types? o Where can we best work with the professional design and development communities to explore different and innovative types of housing solutions? o What, if any, alternative housing development incentives might be created and provided to assist transitions caused by redevelopment? o How do we best incorporate social justice issues, health, safety, ability to ‘age in place’, asset building for tenants, and helping maintain the residents’ sense of community in all solutions? If these issues can be addressed and a tool kit developed this model could be replicated in other cities within the State of Oregon. Today we are asking the Advisory Committee to adopt this as a priority project for the South Willamette Valley Regional Solutions Team.