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Springfield City Council Deliberating Future Of Mobile Home Park

Brian Bull
/
KLCC

Note: An earlier version of this story suggested a vote could happen tonight (9/16/19), but a city official says such an action will take place at a later meeting.  KLCC regrets the error.

Monday night, the Springfield City Council is giving a second reading on a rezoning request for the Patrician  Mobile Home Park.  The owner, Urban Transitions LLC, wants the site rezoned for commercial development. Many tenants worry they’d be thrown out onto the street.

Tim Morris, Board President of the Eugene Springfield Tenant Association, acknowledges the owner’s plans have been discussed for nearly a decade.  But he says it’s not always been well publicized and he worries what will happen should rezoning be approved.

“The next step would be that the owner would give notice to the residents," Morris tells KLCC.  "They would have a year to move out or find another opportunity, it’s not going to be the biggest surprise.

"Talking with some of the residents myself, even with a year of saving every penny that they could, it’s just not going to be enough to be able to find new or different housing.”  

Earlier this year, the Springfield City Council’s Planning Commission recommended denying the rezoning proposal.

Copyright 2019, KLCC.

Brian Bull is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Oregon, and remains a contributor to the KLCC news department. He began working with KLCC in June 2016.   In his 27+ years as a public media journalist, he's worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional),  the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from  the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.