Park upkeep an issue

As vice president of the Association of Manufactured Home Owners of Washington, let me clarify that a “mobile home park” zone would be structured like any other zone with specified permitted/conditional uses. That these businesses would be forced to never change is completely false. The landowner can seek a rezone if it is no longer economically viable to operate a manufactured/mobile home park.

How does a community/park become empty in the first place? From ever increasing rents or unlivable conditions. Who is responsible to maintain the park and keep it beautiful, safe, or able to function? Rundown parks become so because management/park owners have ceased upkeeping the community, putting little into their investment while reaping the rewards of increasing rents on their tenants.

We appreciate the few park owners who maintain their parks. Enacting a mobile home park zone cannot change poor management, but it can give those negligent owners more incentive to maintain their investment. When the risk of losing their homes is no longer a threat, home owners will also invest more into their homes.

Randy Chapman

Spokane Valley