Three
Beaverton mobile home parks with 222 spaces will
close in a year to make room for a proposed commercial/residential
development. Residents of the Beaverton Mobilodge
park (128 spaces), Nut Tree Estates (68 spaces)
and Young’s Mobile Estates (26 spaces) were
told Monday that they have until Aug. 4, 2007, to
move out. The three mobile home parks are
on about 21 acres along Southwest Jenkins Road near
Murray Boulevard. According to Washington
County tax records, the property, which is outside
Beaverton’s city limits, is valued at about
$9 million.
Sawara Property Group of West Linn, the project’s
developer, sent notices to the parks’ residents
Monday. Developer Edwin Kawasaki said his company
was working with Washington County planners to change
the land-use zoning on the properties to allow commercial/retail
developments. The sites are zoned for residential
use. Kawasaki said he and consultant WRG Design
Inc. of Beaverton have worked on a tenant relocation
program to move many of the people to new mobile
home parks or provide money so they can find other
accommodations.
“Throughout our discussions and preparations
for this project, one of the central goals has been
to create a tenant relocation program consisting
of both financial and relocation assistance for
the displaced tenants such that the inconvenience
of their relocations can be minimized as much as
possible,” he said. “We are very sensitive
to the disruption created by the park closures and
how difficult the transition can be for the people
and families involved.”
Most of the company’s relocation help was
part of a new state law adopted last year that requires
mobile home park owners to provide assistance when
closing parks. The company’s program
offers a $5,250 payment to any of the residents
who agree to move before mid-February. The company
also will absorb the cost of abandoned mobile homes,
Kawasaki said. The company also will have
representatives at the three parks during August
to answer questions and provide information.
We continue to monitor this closure phenomenon as
takes place in certain urban areas in and around
Seattle, Washington, and Portland and Bend Oregon.
Developers in the Pacific Northwest are hungry for
land, especially big, flat parcels on public services.
Until something is done to address this feeding
frenzy we may see a few more of these closure/conversions
take place. Most in the media and on a regulatory
level see this as a land issue and affordable housing
issue, not so much a manufactured/mobile home issue.
However, I maintain that anytime our name is associated
with pain, suffering or just a bad experience the
subliminal message is “manufactured housing
---- bad experience --- stay away”.
