Wednesday, August 4, 2004

Trailer park residents brace for departure

First mobile home moved out of mid-valley park Tuesday


By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

The 100-foot-long mobile home of Gary Maxwell is the first to leave the J&C Mobile Home Park in response to a Sept. 10 deadline for all occupants to vacate the park south of Ketchum. Photo by Greg Stahl

With the roar from a diesel engine and a jolt from a large truck Tuesday morning, a trailer at the J&C Mobile Home Park became the first of 30 to be moved or torn down by a Sept. 10 deadline.

The 100-foot-long mobile home, owned by Gary Maxwell, pulled smoothly from its plot. Wood scraps, cinder blocks and a dirt patch were all that was left behind.

The Tuesday morning scene at the mid-valley trailer park, located be-hind the Sun Valley Animal Center and the Clear Creek Disposal offices, is a sign of events to come. Because of a shortcoming with the park?s septic system, the South Central District Health department and Department of Environmental Quality are forcing its owners to close the park or expand the sewage system.

The park?s tenants received notices from Joe and Cherie Goitiandia, who own the park, on Sunday and Monday, May 9 and 10. The residents were told they had until Sept. 10 to move out and get rid of their trailers. They are living there rent-free in the meantime.

For Maxwell, the move is more of an inconvenience than a blow to his livelihood or home. The local electrical contractor planned on retiring this year anyway. What?s more, upon receiving an eviction notice, he promptly secured a spot on a waiting list for a plot at The Meadows Trailer Park, about a half-mile down the highway.

?That is the first spot that has come up,? he said. ?It?s impossible to find anything.?

Though he found a new location for his home, Maxwell said he is moving on. He is going to sell his trailer and move to Oregon.

Everett Brazzell is also in a relatively good position. He, too, is retiring and plans to move out of the area.

?I?ve got an apartment lined up for the rest of the time I need to be here,? said Brazzell, who has lived at J&C for 24 years. ?I planned on selling in the spring anyway. It?s more an inconvenience to me.?

Maxwell and Brazzell agreed, however, that they are much better off than some nearby residents.

?You can?t move it,? Maxwell said, pointing to his neighbor?s trailer. ?It?s going to the dump.?

He pointed to another trailer in the middle of the court: ?She?s filing for bankruptcy and moving to Boise,? he said.

Mike Goitiandia, who manages the park for his father, said he believes most responsible tenants at J&C have made arrangements for the impending Sept. 10 deadline. As for those who are still there when the deadline arrives, they will be removed, he said.

Walking up the park?s central driveway, Goitiandia pointed to various trailers, explaining what some residents are doing, ?the ones who will talk to me, anyway.?

?This guy?s in trouble. You can?t move his trailer, and he?s a local painter.?

With a sweep of both arms he eventually said pretty much all the park tenants are working people in town.

?My dad has done this between 35 and 40 years,? Goitiandia said. ?He has always had a soft spot in his heart for working people. He has been able to provide that until now.?

On the issue of whether the septic system could have been improved to accommodate deficiencies, Goitiandia said he looked at several options.

?In investigating several scenarios to resolve the septic issue, the economics just didn?t pencil,? he said.

There are 31 families living in the trailer park. Many have children, and many have lived there for five to 12 years, said Jose Guercaechevarria, one of the park?s residents.

Goitiandia stressed that the septic system issue is not unique to his trailer park. It is something that has happened with a number of local parks. How-ever, he decided to deal with it in a different manner.

Wendy Pabich, a biogeochemist who headed a Blaine County nitrogen study last year, said septic contamination can cause microbial, nitrogen and phosphorous contamination.

?Waste water is a problem, regardless, but it?s made worse by a septic system that?s not functioning properly,? Pabich said.

But the issue is more than an environmental matter. It?s about affordable housing in a county where the inflation of rents and home prices continues to outpace local salaries.

?It?s a large percentage of the valley?s inventory of affordable housing. It?s just going to make our need for housing more important,? said Blaine-Ketchum Housing Authority Director Michael David.

David said mobile homes typically cost between $20,000 and $50,000, plus the cost of the land rental.

What?s more, David said he is suspicious about the timing of the park?s closure. On Monday, May 3, the Blaine County Commission passed an affordable housing overlay zone that dictates ?no-net-loss? of community housing units. David said he is 99 percent certain the J&C Mobile Home Park is within the borders of the new overlay.

?The cynical side of me says this is an easy way out for the landowner,? he said.

But Goitiandia said he has not yet begun looking at his options.

?I?m going to start looking into it pretty quick here,? he said.




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