Council, Planning Commission, Housing Committee held joint study session Tuesday

By Craig Breon for Ashland.news

The Ashland Planning Commission was joined by the City Council and the Housing and Human Services Committee on Tuesday night for a joint study session to look at the future of manufactured home parks in the city. What emerged from the meeting was a discussion on the delicate balance of protecting the existing residents of the three parks in the city while allowing landowners to continue making a profit and perhaps expand and modernize their operations.

The city staff memo prepared for the study session identified manufactured home parks as “naturally occurring affordable housing.” Preserving these parks was identified as one of 15 strategic actions in Ashland’s 2023 Housing Production Strategy.

The intent of the study session was to look at the concepts advanced to date by staff, consultants, and stakeholders, to hone in on agreed upon concepts and those lacking consensus, and to direct staff to prepare draft language for specific proposals to come before the city’s decisionmakers in future, with possible final action to come this summer.

Ashland currently has three manufactured home parks: Wingspread off lower Clay Street, with 116 units; The Pines off Siskiyou Boulevard, with 51 units; and Tolman Creek, off Tolman Creek Road, with 38 units. In addition, there are three parks near Ashland – Siskiyou Village, Nauvoo Park Estates, and Jackson Wellsprings – which could at some time in the future be annexed to the city.

Commissioners and council members at the session repeatedly showed enthusiasm for and seriousness towards preserving and improving what they see as an essential affordable housing component for the city.

Councilor Derek Sherrell said, “I haven’t been this excited in a while …. This is a really big potential zone change.”

Councilor Bob Kaplan added, “I’m really excited about this coming before us.”

The most far-reaching action the City Council could approve would be creation of a Manufactured Housing Park Zone to encompass the three existing sites and possible future sites. With this in mind, city staff and consultants analyzed such zones in Portland, Oregon; Bellingham, Washinton; and Fort Collins, Colorado. While all larger cities, these three jurisdictions provide approaches for the council to choose pieces from that might work in the Ashland context.

Based on stakeholder interviews, the park landowners appear opposed to being placed in a new zone, believing that their existing zoning allows more flexibility for the future of their parks. As an example, The Pines is currently zoned for commercial development, allowing the landowner to convert the site to commercial uses if desired. According to staff, this resistance remained despite proposals to allow more density and flexibility of improvements under the possible new zone. 

One potentially significant impediment to creation of a new zoning district stems from 2004 Oregon ballot measure number 37, which under some circumstances allows landowners to sue local governments when governmental actions reduce their property values. While city staff acknowledged this risk, they noted that measures to increase density and flexibility would be a form of landowner compensation.

Another approach for the city would be to maintain existing zoning but to apply a zoning “overlay” with new regulations and modernization for the parks. Mayor Tonya Graham spoke in favor of this approach.

Part of any final action will be a clean-up of the language currently addressing the manufactured home parks. Incorporating language from recent state laws would be a part of this, as well as more clear definitions, such as the distinctions between manufactured homes, recreational vehicles, tiny homes, and cottages – all of which may be allowable for the parks in the future.

Other possible changes for the parks include amending rules, such as setbacks, to allow for greater density of units, allowing two-story structures and permitting limited commercial uses, such as a coffee shop or clubhouse.

Lingering in the background of the study session was the shadow of the 2020 Almeda Fire, where 1,500 of the 2,500 homes damaged or destroyed were manufactured homes. Limited spacing between homes and building materials used in often older structures fueled that wildfire. Referring to the fire department, Planning Commissioner Eric Herron said, “They should totally have a lot of say here.”

Ashland’s manufactured home discussion occurs within a context of a nationwide reality of manufactured home parks redeveloping to more typical suburban development and local “mom and pop” ownership shifting to institutional and equity investors fronted by management companies, often leading to rent increases. Both trends can displace existing residents.

Protecting existing residents seemed of paramount importance to several council members and commissioners. “The investor-owned park model is an example of a market failure,” said Commissioner John Maher, noting that residents, who typically own the structures, have a depreciating asset, while landowners have an appreciating asset due to market forces.

Planning Commission Chair Lisa Verner expressed a preference for a co-op ownership approach, noting that Talent has one. Councilor Hansen followed Verner, saying, “Yes, this (concept) is very exciting.”

While no city has yet required manufactured home parks to move to a resident-owned structure, some have implemented requirements for advanced notice to residents of an impending sale or a right-of-first-refusal provision, allowing residents to purchase the underlying land when a potential sale is announced.

Councilor Kaplan noted that most any effort towards co-ops or similar models would require “organizing ahead of time,” and that the city could play a role in such organizing.

Based on feedback from the study session, staff and consultants will now begin drafting language for specific proposals and options regarding the manufactured home parks. Brandon Goldman, Ashland’s Director of Community Development, said planning for an open house is being firmed up, but no specific date is set.

Email Jackson County resident, consultant and former environmental law instructor Craig Breon at [email protected].

Feb. 13: Corrected quote from John Maher regarding “the investor-owned park model” is a “market failure,” not “essentially a failure.”

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