Politics & Government

Proposed Development Sparks Protest Against Mobile Home Park Closure

Proposed townhome and single-family home projects on Route 66 and W. Colorado Avenue could result in the closure of a mobile home park.

Residents of the Magnolia Mobile Home Park along Route 66 in Glendora attended Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting vehemently opposed to proposed development projects that threaten to close their park down.

Tuesday’s meeting was a non-action presentation on the design concepts of proposed townhome and single-family home projects at 401 to 427 W. Colorado Ave. and 350 to 436 W. Route 66. Although the projects are still in their preliminary planning stages, public speakers at Tuesday’s meeting voiced frustration and fears that the projects would displace the mobile home park residents currently residing on the property.

The projects, developed by Glendora Route 66 Investors LLC, are split between 106 three-story planned townhomes on the northern side of the site and 20 two-story single-family homes to the south. The single -amily homes are 2,4000 to 2,800 square feet with four bedrooms.

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Developers told the commission that the projects are intended to revitalize Route 66 and eliminate numerous parcels of vacant land plaguing the area.

But the project would require the closure and vacating of Magnolia Mobile Home Park, 422 E. Route 66.

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Boyd Hill, a lawyer overseeing the mobile park closure plan, said developers will submit a closure impact report to the planning commission and the city council for approval, and give the residents a 6-month notice of park’s closure.

“We urge the public to withhold judgment and speculation until the report is ready and it has had its vetting with the public,” said Hill.

But residents at the meeting were ready to oppose the project.

“We are being dispossessed of our homes, the homes that we own,” said resident Terry Howe. “We are being cast out and the intention is to give us very little in return.”

Mary Jo Baretich, president of the Golden State Manufacture Homeowners League, argued that the park’s closure would violate the city’s affordable housing ordinance.

“Replacing low income housing with moderate to high income housing really is unacceptable unless you were setting aside affordable housing in those units that is equivalent to what those people are paying who are going to be displaced,” said Baretich.

City Attorney D. Wayne Leech said discussion and decision on the mobile home park closure would come at a later date.

“We anticipate the developer will develop a mobile home park closure plan and submit it to the city council for approval at a future date,” said Leech. 

 


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