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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008 - Residents meet with MayorShady Rest residents meet with mayor of Sebastian: TCPalm.com Page 1 of 2 TCPALM* FLORIDAS TREASURE COAST AND PALM BEACHES READ MORE AT WWW.TUALM.COM Shady Rest residents meet with mayor of Sebastian By Ed Bierschenk Saturday, February 9. 2008 SEBASTIAN — Jane Adams fears the annexation of the Shady Rest Mobile Home Park into the city could result in the loss of the home where she has lived for the past seven years. The 85 -year-old resident said the mobile home park is convenient to hospitals, stores and even the local cemetery. "I just hope and pray it stays as a park until I go to the cemetery across the street," she said. Adams and about 70 other people, many of them elderly and veterans, met with Sebastian Mayor Andrea Coy and Indian River County Commissioner Gary Wheeler on Friday to discuss the potential annexation of the park and what it could mean to them. Many people, including Wheeler, feel the mobile home park owners' recent request to be annexed into the city is a way to get around new county regulations that make it more difficult to convert it to other uses. The annexation request, however, recently was taken off the Feb. 27 City Council agenda at the request of the owner, noted Coy. The county's new regulations require mobile home park owners to petition to amend the land -use designation if they plan on having the park used for other purposes. In the past, the owners would only need to seek a rezoning if they planned to sell or develop it for condominiums or subdivisions. Wheeler said he would like to see a similar ordinance adopted by the county's municipalities. Although the City Council has not been formally presented with the annexation request, the city's Growth Management staff issued a report last month that said they were prepared to recommend approval of the annexation "as a natural extension of our city boundaries, with conditions to be imposed by City Council." A possible condition may be to allow no redevelopment of the property for five years. http://www.tcpalm. cominews/2008/feb/09/3 0shady-rest-residents-meet-with-mayor-of/... 2/11/2008 Shady Rest residents meet with mayor of Sebastian: TCPalm.com Page 2 of 2 The city's Planning and Zoning Commission last month also recommended the property be zoned for commercial use with a land -use designation of riverfront mixed use. Coy said she is "concerned that an annexation and changing it to commercial property may be circumventing the county's recent change to their ordinance, resulting in making people homeless." Clay Price, who said he is a friend of a couple of the owners of the property, said the owners want to continue operating the property as a mobile home park and, at this time, the site is not for sale. The annexation effort, he said, is an attempt by the owners to protect their investment and their property rights in the future. He added the owners are good people who invested a lot of money into fixing up the property after the 2004 hurricanes. Price attempted to attend Friday's meeting of the homeowners' association, but was not allowed to stay. Adams and 88 -year-old Ruth Branks, the homeowners' association secretary, noted many of the parks residents are elderly and on fixed income and that other affordable living accommodations are hard to find in the area. "I hope we can stay independent and not have to depend on the taxpayers or our children to help us," said Adams. ® © 2008 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/feb/09/30shady-rest-residents-meet-with-mayor-of/... 2/11/2008