The city of Indianola decided not to accommodate Matters Property in its bid to bring mobile housing to the city.
On Monday night, the Indianola Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to deny the request by developer Chris Matters to rezone property that he purchased, from single-family residential to multi-family residential, so he can develop a mobile home subdivision.
The property in question is located on the south side of Beaverdam Road and east of Airport Road and is currently zoned R-1B for single-family use.
And according to Sec. 58-3 of the city’s codes under definitions, single-family means a detached residential dwelling unit, other than a mobile home, designed for and occupied by one family.
Matters reportedly made his appeal before the Indianola Area Planning Board on Thursday and was turned down unanimously, so he came before the city lawmakers to restate his plea to have his newly acquired property rezoned.
“This will allow us to bring upwards of 200 new homes to Indianola, which will allow us to bring 200 homeowners into Indianola as well,” Matters said.
In his presentation Matters mentioned that he has done similar projects in multiple states and that the residents will be homeowners and not just renters.
“We don’t like to rent our homes, we actually sell them to the customers. We act as the bank, which allows them to purchase homes and become homeowners,” said Matters.
Addressing the concern he said some residents had with regard to their property values going down because of the type of housing he was proposing, he said his property’s value would rise by 10-fold. “Theirs is probably going to go up similar,” he said.
Although the public notice submitted to the newspaper for publication stated the request for rezoning was for a mobile home subdivision, when questioned by Alderman Ruben Woods, Matters said, “At this point we haven’t exactly concretely answered that.”
Matters said if he could get the property rezoned to R-3, it would give him a “range of options,” from mobile homes to section-8 housing. City Attorney Gary Austin wanted to know why the property needed to be rezoned for multi-family if he plans to have homeowners. Matters indicated that it had to do with the restrictions associated with the R-1B zoning definition.
Woods then asked what was his actual intent and Matters responded that his area of expertise was in manufactured homes and mobile homes and mentioned that he had more than a thousand units and 67 percent of the people in those homes are homeowners.
Real estate broker Charles Davis also spoke on behalf of Matter’s project, however he stressed that he was not serving in any paid capacity. Davis told the city board that Matters was simply looking to expand and continue with what had already been started out there years ago.
He also mentioned how the transferring of land has brought other businesses to Indianola and said Matters was just trying to provide some alternative, affordable housing for people who may not be able to get it otherwise. “I would just ask y’all in your heart to allow this to happen,” he said.
Alderman Marvin Elder raised issue with the condition of the existing mobile homes on property Matters already owns in that area, citing exposed wires and dirty units. “If your property that you’re talking about developing, 250, if they are going to look anything like what’s out there now, there’s no way possible.”
Although Matters attempted to defend his project and plans for the proposed housing units, Elder still said he was totally against it.
Members of the planning board, in addition to Beaverdam Road residents, were also in attendance on Monday night to voice their concern. Resident Dorsey White presented the mayor and aldermen with a petition said to be signed by all of the residents in that area who are vehemently opposed to the rezoning.
White said he didn’t understand why it was a debatable issue since city ordinances already prohibit mobile homes. Sec. 34-21 of the city code states that it is unlawful for anyone to locate a house trailer or mobile home on any lot in the city, except in an authorized trailer camp or park.
White also mentioned his concern over the kinds of residents that would be inclined to move into Matter’s subdivision, however Matters assured him that he conducts a background check and potential residents must have had employment for at least 90 days. He added that he was offended by the derogatory reference.
More discussion ensued, but when asked about why the planning board denied Matter’s request, City Inspector Elvis Pernell said their decision was based on the fact that trailers are not allowed within the city.
Citizen Sam Rosenthal said he was at the meeting and every last one of the citizens who showed up were against it. Alderman Gary Fratesi asserted to the group that in previous times if the immediate property owners disagreed with a proposed change, then they sided with the property owners, although there have been exceptions.
He also added that they usually backed the planning board’s decision.
