KERENS–Kerens City Council voted Sept. 6 to change the zoning of land in the northeast part of town from single-family homes to manufactured homes, further clearing the way for a proposed manufactured home park named Richland Gardens to be built.
Of the five council members, three voted for the rezoning, while two other members abstained. During a public hearing that lasted nearly an hour, three landowners who own property adjacent to the proposed manufactured home park spoke against rezoning the property.
One man said he doesn’t think the development can bring the targeted 150 families to fill the park. Another married couple stated they have no feelings against mobile homes or selling private property but oppose the zoning change because they believe there isn’t adequate water pressure for fire protection, saying adding homes would threaten such services even more.
That couple said property values would decline and the park “looks all nice and pretty like in your presentation but they don’t stay that way.” A third landowner worried about theft at her business and also thinks property values will decline.
City Administrator Katherine Combs said 21 letters were sent seeking the opinion of adjacent landowners, with five coming back not in favor and three stating support for the manufactured home park. The other unreturned letters are considered to not oppose the issue, aligning with standard city policy, said Mayor Jeffrey Saunders.
The mayor said corporations seeking to move to the city look at housing, “that’s one big question they all have and we haven’t been able to supply the housing” to attract industry and jobs “that pay the taxes,” Saunders stated.
Council Member Darren Lane said that with proper management, “it’s not automatically going to be a bad thing,” adding that he thinks the developers “have good intentions.”
Property developers said during the public hearing that the park will have high standards with a homeowners’ association and that once built fully, the park will have taxable property values of $6 million-$9 million. “I think we’ll have good neighbors,” Saunders said.
In other business, council approved setting the property tax rate for 2022 at $0.6208 per $100 valuation, down from $0.6805 the previous year. Saunders acknowledged a rise in property values and said the new tax rate brings in about $23,000 in additional funds than last year.