Hunter
03/23/22
The Iowa City City Council is considering using American Rescue Plan Act funds to allocate relocation packages for residents at the Forest View Mobile Home Park.
KWWL TV reports that the park has become dilapidated over the years, with mobile homes roofs covered with tarps, mismatched siding repairs, and some vacant homes rotting away.
The temporary repairs were being made with the promise of a developer rezoning 73 acres near the intersection of Dubuque Street and Interstate 80 and relocating the residents into rent-to-own affordable housing as part of a mixed-use residential and commercial development.
KCJJ reported back in June of 2019 that Des Moines-based developer Blackbird collaborated with tenants at Forest View at the time, and told the city council who approved the rezoning that it would be five-to-seven year process before everything was completed.
Blackbird CEO Justin Doyle told KWWL in November 2020 that the project was being slowed down due to a lack of interest from commercial tenants, and issues getting an affordable housing agreement with the city.
During Tuesday’s work session, City Manager Geoff Fruin told councilors that the project is not moving forward, and proposed a relocation package for the tenants that would allow $15,750 per eligible household to support a family’s moving expenses and paying increased rent for a two-year period.
Initial estimates put the cost at between $787,500 and $945,000. Councilors are still debating on whether the money should be limited to the roughly 60 residents currently at the park or those who lived there when the zoning agreement was reached in 2019 and have since relocated.
The city believes that if they don’t act, the park will close on short notice and leave people at the park homeless and without aid. The initial date for move-out was proposed to be December 9th. Future development plans at the site would be discussed after residents moved out.