Fort Collins puts moratorium on mobile home park redevelopment as staff considers resident protections

Jacy Marmaduke
The Coloradoan
More than 300 units make up Poudre Valley Mobile Home Park on North College Avenue just outside Fort Collins city limits.

In an effort to preserve Fort Collins' dwindling mobile home parks and protect their residents, City Council is putting a moratorium on redevelopment of those sites until August 2020.

City staff are exploring several mobile home park-related reforms to city code, including resident rights regulations, a new mobile home park-specific zoning district, increased time requirements for notices of redevelopment, and creating rights of first refusal so residents and nonprofits have the first shot at buying parks when they go up for sale.

The moratorium on development will give staff time to research those options, said Tom Leeson, director of community development and neighborhood services. It will end either Aug. 30, 2020, or whenever council adopts related measures — whichever comes first.

Council member Emily Gorgol asked for the moratorium after some mobile home park residents told her and other council members about livability and equity issues at the parks.

“The intent was that we’re going to have some delicate and controversial conversations about mobile home parks, and the moratorium gives us the room to have those conversations without frightening anyone and causing either people to move or cause a sale,” Gorgol said.

Mobile home parks, which house thousands of residents in and just outside Fort Collins’ city limits and growth management area, are an integral affordable housing option whose residents have gone largely overlooked for years, several council members said at their Tuesday meeting. Council unanimously approved the moratorium, with council member Susan Gutowsky absent.

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Some residents have reported to council members they face issues like poorly maintained and unlit roads, gouging on utility bills and fear of retaliation from park management if they speak up about their concerns. Some parks prohibit residents from selling their units when they move so the park manager can sell the unit for a profit, Gorgol said.

“The quality of life that people are experiencing in mobile home parks and the undue burden they’re experiencing is astronomical,” Gorgol said at a July 9 council work session, adding later, “we need to do some more legwork for residents and stop asking them to come to us.”

Mobile home park residents are also at a unique disadvantage because they own their homes but rent the ground beneath them, so redevelopment or price gouging forces them to move both themselves and their homes. Spots can be pricey, and parks often won’t rent space to older units, which leaves some residents trapped in bad situations.

Mobile home parks are mostly in zoning districts that are “ripe for redevelopment” because they allow mixed uses, Leeson said.

The city isn’t currently processing any applications for mobile home park redevelopment, but “we are hearing rumors that there is going to be some movement in this space,” city manager Darin Atteberry said.

“We’re learning on a daily basis what other communities are doing around the country in this space, and candidly, I think we’re behind,” he said. “The risk of losing this housing option has become really important from a staff perspective, and for some members of council as well.”

Jacy Marmaduke covers government accountability for the Coloradoan. Follow her on Twitter @jacymarmaduke. Support stories like this one with a digital subscription to the Coloradoan.